Trench digging for pipeline wins approval over drilling
NORRISTOWN » The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection completed a review to approve Mariner East pipeline modification requests in Chester and Delaware counties.
Drilling sites near Tunbridge Apartments in Delaware County and Lisa Drive in Chester County are impacted.
The route and installation method for the 16-inch and 20-inch diameter pipelines will change from the Horizontal Directional Drill installation method for the
20-inch and portions of the
16-inch diameter pipelines to open trench construction through wetlands at the Tunbridge Apartments in Delaware County, with conventional auger bore under Glen Riddle Road, a direct pipe bore under Riddlewood Drive and the Southeast Pennsylvania Transportation Authority’s Railroad adjacent to Glen Riddle Road.
In Upper Uwchlan Township, the route and installation method for the 16and 20-inch diameter pipelines requested by Sunoco/ Energy Transfer, to convert the installation method of both the 16-inch and 20inch diameter pipelines from an HDD to an open trench construction and one conventional bore to minimize impacts to Waters of the Commonwealth at Meadow Creek Lane and avoid potential future expansion of the PA Turnpike
I-76 was given the go-ahead. Tammy Krumbhaar lives on Meadow Creek Lane and said she was asked at a township meeting whether she and her neighbors would prefer the pipeline follow down her street or through private properties. It was later decided that the pipeline would be dug through the street.
“Residents didn’t choose this pipeline,” Krumbhaar said. “We don’t want this in our development.”
In West Whiteland Township, this permit amendment modifies the installation method for the 20-inch diameter pipeline requested by Sunoco to change the installation method for the
20-inch diameter pipeline from an HDD to a direct pipe bore and open trench construction. The direct pipe bore will go under the Exton Bypass (State Route
30) and, the AMTRAK and Norfolk Southern Railroad rail lines near Lisa Drive.
The remaining 1,269 feet will be installed using open trench construction. The change in installation method will not result in any increase in permanent impacts to the same wetland area or any other Waters of the Commonwealth as set forth in the original Chapter 105 permit for Chester County.
“These approvals have undergone substantial and thorough reviews by technical staff, with careful consideration given to comments received from the public,” said DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell. “DEP remains committed to exercising its regulatory authority to the fullest extent possible under applicable laws, regulations, and permits. We expect and anticipate that by approving these modifications, potential future impacts to the environment will be minimized, if not avoided entirely.”
More detailed information regarding these modifications, including the amended permits and comment response document, can be found at DEP’s Mariner East 2 webpage on its Pipeline Portal at www.dep. pa.gov/pipelines.
Filmmaker and Upper Uwchlan resident Christina “P.K.” Digiulio commented after hearing the news: “Is this another case of the DEP rubberstamping engineering reports from the same engineers they rubberstamped in the past, who gave them incomplete geophysical data which lead to aquifer, environmental, and property damage? Has the DEP done their due diligence and performed their own independent hydrological and geophysical studies to ensure that what Energy Transfer’s engineering firm presents is accurate?
“If they have not, then I would say this is most definitely another case of rubberstamping, and in that, I believe it is criminal negligence on part of the leadership at DEP. If the DEP has the ability and resources to do the scientific studies, which I know they do, to ensure safety, then why aren’t they?
“If they don’t have the resources, then maybe they are not qualified to handle such a project. Either way, the commUNITY watchdogs will be waiting, watching, and documenting everything. The change in this round: we also prepared the community by encouraging and guiding them how to collect the baseline data they need to protect their water and property.”
Lora Snyder is a Delaware County resident.
“The DEP approved the amended permits without public hearings and/ or community input,” Snyder said. “This is another case of DEP trying to fast track this dangerous project without any input from the residents and communities affected.
“The permit change to open trench in wetlands and auger/direct pipe boring under the roads in Middletown Township at the Tunbridge apartments will continue to create environment destruction in this sensitive geology region. As we have seen in West Whiteland at Route 30 Laborers Drill site, the change from HDD to direct bore created 10 to 12 sinkholes that formed adjacent to the active HVL 90-yearold pipes and valve station, risking a catastrophic explosive event!”
State Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-19th, of West Whiteland, has been a vocal pipeline opponent and recently called for the permanent halt of all Mariner East construction.
“We have been back and forth on this project so many times and DEP has allowed Sunoco/ET to go through change after change when it comes to permit modifications,” Dinniman said. “Meanwhile, we have never addressed the underlying issue – the lack of a thorough review of geological conditions prior to construction approval.
“As a result, residents and communities along the pipeline route continue to pay the price in potential impacts to the environment, their safety, and their quality of life day after day after day.”
Plans call for the Sunoco Mariner East pipeline to weave from the Marcellus shale deposits in western Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, 350 miles to the refinery in Marcus Hook, Delaware County. Highly volatile fuels would be transported for overseas use to make plastics, through high density areas of Chester and Delaware counties.