Trout season never looked like this in Chester County. Penna.

From an Article by Susan Phillip, StateImpact Pennsylvania, April 10, 2021

PHOTO — Sunoco construction site behind the Meadowbrook Manor development in West Whiteland Township. Muddy water continues to flow and pollute the West Valley Creek, a stocked trout stream.

It was Easter Sunday when, retired schoolteacher Libby Madarasz said, a neighbor noticed muddy water flowing from beneath a barrier to Sunoco’s Mariner East 2 pipeline construction site. The water filled a wetland behind the Chester County Library, across from Exton Square mall, where the clay-like runoff continues to pollute a tributary to West Valley Creek.

Madarasz said she and her neighbors in the Meadowbrook Manor neighborhood of West Whiteland Township are fed up with the noise from Sunoco’s trucks and construction operations, and the fear that they could lose their homes if the work causes more sinkholes.

Earlier this week, as she walked behind a row of homes through a wooded area filled with blooming buttercups covered in murky brown water, her feet sank into the ground as if into quicksand. Several blue filtration socks lined the area but failed to catch all the clay particles. Madarasz is frustrated by what she sees as a lack of accountability for a project that she feels moves “full steam ahead” no matter the consequences.

“They come into our town, an out-of-state corporation, and they’re trashing this,” she said. “And I’m sure the question for them is, ‘What’s the worst that can happen? They’ll slap us with a fine, but we’ve got to make progress. So let’s just do this.’”

A statement from the company says the muddy discharge is permitted by Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection —

“The water leaving the site is colored because of the clay layer through which we are currently working,” the statement from Sunoco said. “It is being filtered through approved erosion control measures. We expect the water to remain this color until we hit a different geology. Additionally, we have an environmental inspector on site 24/7 to monitor the filtration.”

PA-DEP says the company is complying with the permits, which require it to use a series of best management practices to contain the sediment. The mesh in the filtration socks, however, is not fine enough to capture the tiny clay particles, according to PA-DEP spokesperson Virginia Cain. “Despite what it looks like, there’s no clear violation,” Cain said. She added that it’s unclear why the water continues to flow, and why the remedies outlined in Sunoco’s permit are not working.

“It’s ridiculous and it’s been going on for days.” — Pete Goodman, environmental chairman for Trout Unlimited’s Valley Forge chapter.

Sunoco submitted a new plan Friday to mitigate the flow, which includes using a flocculant to force the clay particles to settle, as well as additional sand filters and sediment filter bags.

Though residents are worried about sinkholes, Cain said there is no connection between the current groundwater flow and the sinkholes that developed on site.

The area lies above limestone, or karst geology. It’s not clear what the company means when it says the water will look as it does until workers hit “a different geology.” But since construction began, sinkholes have developed in this area, including some so large they forced the company to buy several homes on nearby Lisa Drive.

The company has also run into problems with drilling through a region notorious for its complex and tricky geology, and is several years behind schedule. This stretch of the Mariner East 2 pipeline is one of the last to be completed. The line runs about 350 miles across the state carrying Marcellus Shale gas to an export terminal in Delaware County, where it gets shipped to Scotland to make plastics.

A workaround pipe, using an idled line, is carrying the gas while the new line is completed. There is also the parallel Mariner East 1 line that was laid back in the 1930s to carry gasoline to rural Pennsylvania, and has been repurposed to carry natural-gas liquids. The construction on this route is using an auger bore to create a pathway for the Mariner East 2 between the two lines.

Several sinkholes at this site have developed close to the two operating natural-gas liquids lines and at a nearby valve station. When sinkholes developed along Lisa Drive in 2018, the state Public Utility Commission forced the operating lines near the sinkholes to shut down. An exposed line is subject to cracks or leaks, potentially causing the highly flammable natural-gas liquids to explode, as the company’s Revolution pipeline did after a heavy rain event exposed the line in Beaver County in 2018.

Those incidents weigh heavily on the minds of Meadowbrook Manor residents, Madarasz said. The company’s instructions in case of a leak of the gas, which has no smell, is to run upwind. “Where would I go?” she asked. “There’s a woman living here with a 7-year-old, a 4-year-old, and an infant, you want her to run?”

In the meantime, Sunoco is sending a caravan of trucks to suck up as much water as possible. One day this week, the trucks entered a work site behind chain-link fencing covered in black plastic. “The other day, I tallied and there were 42 that drove by the front of my house,” Madarasz said. “They hold anywhere from 2,500 gallons to 5,000 gallons. It’s full speed ahead. Let’s get through here as quickly as we can, and let’s put up black fences. So if we have a sinkhole, maybe we can fill it before anybody even knows.”

The damage couldn’t have come at a worse time for trout fishermen. The season began just a day before the water started flowing, on April 3. West Valley Creek, which flows into the East Branch of the Brandywine Creek, is a trout-stocked stream. “It’s ridiculous and it’s been going on for days,” said Pete Goodman, the environmental chairman for Trout Unlimited’s Valley Forge chapter. “It’s choking out the life that lives in the stream as well as the stocked trout further down.”

Though the discharge is groundwater, and not toxic, the clay particles can smother the trout’s main source of food — macroinvertebrates. Goodman said the tiny insects, like mayflies, as well as the trout have a hard time surviving in muddy water. “From the fisherman’s perspective, why would you bother, it’s like fishing in a cup of coffee,” Goodman said. He too is frustrated by the seeming lack of regulatory authority. “I’ve watched for the past 20 years as the DEP has been defunded. I think there’s no teeth left in DEP,” he said.

PA-DEP’s Cain said that the agency is reviewing Sunoco’s new plan and so far, there have been no reported impacts to aquatic life.

Marcus Hook Refinery being modified to process hydrocarbons from natural gas

From an Article by Bill Rettew, Delaware County Times, January 10, 2019

PHILADELPHIA >> A state Environmental Hearing Board ruled the state Department of Environmental Protection unlawfully issued an air-quality permit for Sunoco at its Marcus Hook facility.

The Marcus Hook facility is the end point for Sunoco and Energy Transfer Partners Mariner East 2 pipeline project. The pipeline will deliver hundreds of thousands of barrels of liquid gases such as ethane, butane and propane to the facility every day. Once there, they will be stored and eventually shipped for the most part to overseas destinations.

On Wednesday, the environmental board ruled that DEP unlawfully issued an air-quality permit for natural gas liquids processing equipment at the Sunoco Partners Marketing & Terminals L.P. facility in Marcus Hook. The processing equipment is designed to handle liquids from the Mariner East pipelines, which run across Pennsylvania. The decision came in response to Clean Air Council’s appeal in April 2016, leading to a trial in May 2018.

Specifically, the board said that DEP was mistaken when it considered various portions of the plan as separate entities. Instead the board noted DEP should have reviewed the project as a whole.

Alex Bomstein, senior litigation attorney for Clean Air Council, hailed the ruling. “The board’s ruling really shows that no one – not even Sunoco – is above the law,” Bomstein said. “The industry’s practice of dividing up big projects into smaller pieces that sneak under pollution thresholds, what we call segmentation, has gone on for too long. This decision is a major step towards restoring the protections that help ensure we have clean air to breathe.”

Sunoco/ETP spokeswoman Lisa Dillinger took a different view of the ruling Thursday. “Today’s ruling has no impact on the construction and operation activities authorized under Plan Approval E while the PA DEP conducts an analysis of the permit, which we feel was permitted correctly,” Dillinger said. “We will work with the PA DEP to provide them with the appropriate information for their review, and we are pleased that the overriding outcome was the Environmental Hearing Board’s denial of the Clean Air Council’s request to revoke the permit.”

The board held that the project in question was really part of an overarching project to transform the former Marcus Hook refinery into a natural gas liquids processing facility. The larger project was unlawfully broken up into smaller projects for the sake of permitting. Where separate construction activities are really all part of the same project, the emissions from all of those projects must be aggregated to determine if more stringent requirements are triggered. Ultimately, the board sent the air permit back to DEP so that DEP can re-evaluate how the project should be permitted.

The board’s decision enhances existing law by providing detailed guidance on when multiple related projects should be considered one project in a review of an air permit application.

“The Environmental Hearing Board’s decision is not only a victory for Clean Air Council, it is a victory for public health and the neighboring communities,” said Joseph Otis Minott, executive director and chief counsel for Clean Air Council. “Too often, big industry players have avoided pollution controls by creating loopholes that jeopardize air quality protections. Sunoco/ETP has been one of the worst offenders in this regard, time and again circumventing the rules and putting the public at risk. The board decision has finally closed this loophole.”

Mariner East 2 is a multi-billion dollar project that will carry liquid gases from the state’s Marcellus Shale regions across the full 350-mile width of Pennsylvania, ending in Marcus Hook. Mariner East 2 is now online, utilizing a mix of different size pipes because of delays and shutdowns on the full, 20-inch pipeline.

The board’s opinion is available in full at: http://ehb.courtapps.com/efile/documentViewer.php?documentID=44482.

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Editorial: Is it Mariner East 2 Pipeline or ‘Frankenpipe’

From the Delaware County Daily Times, West Chester, PA, January 2, 2019

Sunoco and Energy Transfer Partners decided to ring in the new year with a little announcement.

On a Saturday of a holiday weekend, they announced that their controversial – and much-delayed – Mariner East 2 pipeline was now online and ready to move liquid gases from the state’s Marcellus Shale regions to Marcus Hook.

Don’t expect the fierce critics of this project to be popping any champagne corks at this news. In fact, they are not buying the fact that this is really Mariner East 2, at least the original version Sunoco proposed. And they have a point.

Back in November 2014, Sunoco announced it would build a new, 20-inch pipeline to ferry hundreds of thousands of barrels of liquid natural gases such as ethane, butane and propane the full width of Pennsylvania. The 350-mile trek would emanate from eastern Ohio, traverse the entire width of Pennsylvania, and deliver the goods to a facility at the former Sunoco refinery in Marcus Hook, where it would be stored and then shipped out, mostly to foreign destinations.

The line basically followed the path of Mariner East 1, which is the old, original Sunoco petroleum pipeline that was refitted and already moving these highly volatile gases to Marcus Hook.

When fully up and operational, Sunoco/Energy Transfer Partners said Mariner East 2 would move hundreds of thousands of barrels of product a day. But Mariner East 2 was billed as a new, state-of-the-art 20-inch pipeline. What went online Saturday was neither of those things.

Construction of Mariner East 2 was plagued from the outset by a series of spills and runoffs. It also was met with fierce community opposition, fueled by the fear of moving these kinds of materials through densely populated neighborhoods, in close proximity to elementary schools and senior centers.

Construction was halted several times by the state, including a major shutdown after sinkholes believed linked to drilling for Mariner East 2 popped up in a neighborhood in West Whiteland, Chester County, at one point actually exposing the old Mariner East 1 pipe.

Despite the delays, Sunoco and ETP remained consistent in their stance that they would have Mariner East 2 online by the end of the year. But in order to do that, they had to alter their plan. The full, 20-inch Mariner East 2 pipeline now is not expected to be completed until 2020. In order to put what the company is referring to as “Mariner East 2″ online, the company is filling in gaps where the 20-inch line has yet to be installed with something of a hybrid mish-mash of different pipelines.

Sunoco vows all the pipes, including one that was first installed eight decades ago, have been tested and deemed safe. It mimics what the company has been saying about construction in general, that they will build and operate Mariner East 2 to the highest standards in the industry.

Its legions of critics aren’t nearly that sure. They are referring to the hybrid line put into service over the weekend as “Frankenpipe.” Pipeline foes have for months now urged anyone who would listen to shut the project down.

A state Public Utility Commission administrative law judge continues to mull a request from residents in Delaware and Chester counties to shut the project down completely. This comes after rejecting an initial plea to halt work.

Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan announced last week that he was opening a criminal investigation into construction of Mariner East 2, in part stemming from the company’s announcement that it would be using several older pipelines in this hybrid mix to get product moving through the line. Hogan also made it clear he was taking the action in part to reassure residents that someone is looking into their concerns and safety, something he suggested state regulatory officials and Gov. Tom Wolf have failed to do.

Tom Casey is a grassroots organizer who has been fighting Sunoco’s plans now for years. He believes the company made the announcement Saturday in order to reassure investors.

“With the announcement of the 12-inch line coming online, Sunoco can now tell their investors that they have fulfilled their promise to have it online by the end of 2018,” Casey said. “But is the service safe and reliable?” It was a concern shared by many.

Fierce critic Mike Walsh did not try to hide his feelings. “With the latest announcement by ETP, the majority of what Sunoco is calling ME2 in Chester and Delaware Counties is not ME2,” Walsh stated. “It’s a cobbled together Frankenpipe composed of a 12-inch, 16-inch and 20-inch lines of which the 12-inch line was installed in the 1930s and has a long history of leaks.”

Two public officials also weighed in on the latest news from Sunoco.

State Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-19 of West Whiteland, perhaps the most vehement critic of Mariner East 2, vowed the fight to ensure citizen safety is not over. In fact, he believes it is just beginning. “Our concerns regarding the safety of Sunoco/ETP’s Mariner East project and the lack of adequate emergency planning and response information are now more real than ever.”

State Rep. Chris Quinn, R-168 of Middletown, who won re-election in November despite fierce opposition from those who cited his stance on the pipeline while still a member of the township commissioners, questioned the timing of the announcement. “Using old technology without proper vetting for a project that directly impacts public safety is dangerous and irresponsible,” Quinn said. “And to do it all under the cloak of darkness on a Saturday night raises the question: What is Sunoco hiding?”

Sunoco and Energy Transfer Partners have been successful in getting Mariner East 2 – or at least some version of it – online by their projected date, the start of the new year.

But they still have a long way to go to reassure critics that the project is being done safely, and will be operated in the same way.

Why should our valuable chemicals be exported enmass?

From an Article by Bill Rettew, Daily Local News, West Chester, PA, August 25, 2018

MIDDLETOWN >> The Battle of Mariner East 2 continues to heat up. Three “Mama Bears” – local moms who fiercely oppose Sunoco’s pipeline plan – were arrested and led to off to jail in handcuffs early Saturday while protesting the massive Sunoco project near Glenwood Elementary School.

More than two dozen fellow protesters supported the three Mama Bears – two of whom are senior citizens – who sat in the Sunoco right-of-way while holding a “bake sale” or “picnic” on a pleasant morning.

The Mama Bears waited for about an hour, just 300 yards from the school, which is located in what pipeline foes often refer to as the “blast zone.” They were surrounded by dozens of stuffed teddy bears and even handed out homemade cookies.

Police led Abbie Wysor and Barbara Montabana, both of Delaware County, and Ann Dixon, of Philadelphia, to jail after they were ordered by police to dismiss. The three women refused to leave. They were charged with a summary offense, defiant trespass, and released after less than two hours.

The Mama Bear’s lawyer, Tanner Rouse, said the protesters have “tremendous gratitude” for law enforcement. “The state police treated them with great respect,” Rouse said. “These are people who respect the law but the law has left them exposed – with a great risk to the elementary school.”

Protesters were segregated into three categories. They were either, red, yellow or green, depending on the level of risk taken. Almost all the protesters wrote the phone number of legal support, with Sharpie pens, on an arm. The black marks resembled homemade tattoos.

The demonstrators were told by group leaders to carry only basic information, ID, a phone number for an emergency contact, and to leave their cell phones behind and be prepared to list their medications if detained overnight.

The protesters were organized, in part, by Middletown Coalition for Community, the grassroots organization that has been leading the charge against Sunoco’s project, which will transport hundreds of thousands of barrels of volatile gases every day across central Chester County and western Delaware County to a facility in Marcus Hook.

They group said they are promoting safety and showing solidarity in fighting the jailing of grandmother and retired special education teacher Ellen Sue Gerhart, who is serving a two- to six-month sentence, with a $2,000 fine, for fighting pipeline construction on her own property.

The protesters held several signs and banners high. Sentiments displayed included: “We live here;” “Safe schools no pipeline;” “Mama Bear brigade protects our cubs;” and “Revoke the permits.” Several wore T-shirts reading, “Defend what you love.”

As the Mama Bears were led away, with heads bowed, the group sang. “Gonna keep on walkin’, keep on talkin’ and gonna shut this pipeline down,” the demonstrators sang.

Nancy Harkins, of Westtown, asked once again for Gov. Tom Wolf to stop the project. “I’m here because we really want to raise awareness about Ellen and others harmed by this project,” she said. “It’s too dangerous.”

Lora Snyder lives in Edgmont. “I’m here to stand up for our community and our children – at the school in the blast zone – where children would be 600 feet from an explosion is unacceptable,” she said. “We are unwilling guinea pigs in this experiment.”

Spokesperson Eric Friedman noted that there have been two Sunoco pipeline “accidents” near the elementary school, a leak in 1996 and a recent incident in which a work crew from the Aqua Pa. water company struck the non-functioning ME2 line this year. The crew was told the pipeline was buried at 9 feet but they struck the still offline pipeline at 6 feet.

“We realize that Sunoco may feel differently about the safety of children than we Pennsylvanians do,” Friedman said, “It’s disappointing that Gov. Wolf continues to disregard the risk to children and seniors, but the people, in partnership with five impacted municipalities will fill the gap left by his inaction.

A spokesperson for Sunoco Logistics, which is building the multi-billion dollar, 350-mile pipeline that will traverse the width of the state, from the Marcellus Shale regions to Delaware County, did not return a request for comment.

A pipeline risk assessment will be presented by Del Chesco United for Public Safety at Fugett Middle School in West Chester, on Tuesday August 28th, at 7 p.m.

“We look forward to the public presentation this Tuesday of the Citizen’s Risk Assessment that will quantify the size of the blast zone associated with Sunoco’s dangerous proposed export pipeline,” Friedman said.

Also Saturday, 40 protesters waved signs and motorists honked at the corner of Boot Road and Paoli Pike in Chester County.

Demonstrator Jerry McMullen has lived near the site of the Chester County Library and Exton Mall for 43 years. He too is worried about the proposed pipeline’s distance from 40 schools, including SS. Simon and Jude, at 194 feet, and SS. Peter and Paul, at just 7 feet. His bedroom is 32 feet from the 1930s era and already-operating Mariner East 1 pipeline.

Sunoco is either “inept or irresponsible,” McMullen said. “Gov. Wolf has turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to the safety of our communities and our children.”

Joan Herman also was protesting at Boot and Paoli Pike. “Our neighbors, our children, our safety is being put in danger with this pipeline project,” Herman said. “It’s not safe.

“Sunoco is cutting corners. If this project proceeds as Sunoco has planned, they have to be accountable and safe.”

Sunoco Mariner East 2 Pipeline appears “high risk” for residents

Editorial of the Delaware County Daily Times, Swarthmore (Pa), January 25, 2018

A community group has asked Delaware County Council to do a risk assessment on the Mariner East 2 pipeline project, seen in the photo during construction. Council has agreed to the request.

Don’t look now, but those who for months have opposed Sunoco’s massive $2.5 billion Mariner East 2 pipeline project have just scored a couple of significant victories.

First, the PA state Department of Environmental Protection halted all construction on the pipeline project across the state. The PA-DEP cited “egregious” problems that have plagued work on the pipeline now for months, including several discharges and spills. In at least one instance, private water wells in Chester County were disturbed.

The state also noted that Sunoco Pipeline LP, the offshoot of Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners, which is planning to move hundreds of thousands of barrels of volatile gases across the state, from the Marcellus Shale region to Marcus Hook, had done some work for which it was not permitted. Mostly, it involved a controversial drilling technique called Horizontal Directional Drilling, which the company utilizes in tricky areas and which they say is actually less destructive to the environment.

But they got caught doing it out near Harrisburg in an area where they were not permitted to do so. So the PA-DEP finally shut down all work until Sunoco can come in with a report telling them how they plan to avoid any more mishaps and adhere to all PA-DEP regulations. Sunoco says it plans to do just that.

Then this week a group of citizens opposed to the pipeline appeared before Delaware County Council asking them to support their push for a full risk assessment study of the project and its effects on the county.

Council, which was one of the early supporters of the pipeline plan and the economic boost it held for the county, agreed.

Council Chairman John McBlain and new Democratic Councilman Brian Zidek will set up the parameters for the study, then council will put the project out for bid for outside consultants.

It’s one of the persistent cries of those who have watched in horror as Mariner East 2 has cut an ugly path through the county. Sunoco, having been granted the crucial public utility status by the courts years ago, went about acquiring property as close as possible to an existing pipeline, Mariner East 1. That line, which used to ferry oil to the refinery at Marcus Hook, already is up and running delivering the kind of ethane, butane and propane that for the most part will be stored at the Marcus Hook Industrial Complex before being shipped to markets overseas.

Look, putting in a pipeline is not pretty. And one look at the neighborhoods where Mariner East 2 has come in – 11 miles across western Delaware County and another 25 miles across Chester County – can easily attest to that. Eventually, Sunoco insists, the landscape will be restored and no one will know the pipeline is there. After all, pipelines are not exactly a new idea in this area of the state. There are hundreds of miles of pipeline criss-crossing all kinds of neighborhoods.

But none will carry the kind – or the amount – of materials that Mariner East 2 will ferry across Delaware County. Through densely populated neighborhoods. A few hundred feet from elementary schools such as Glenwood Elementary in Middletown.

Those who stand against the pipeline don’t buy all the hype about the economic benefits of this project. They are leery of almost anything Sunoco says, and they have the scars to prove it.

But while they grudgingly admit there is an economic benefit to the pipeline, they continue to question why that necessarily overrules their safety concerns, their hardships during construction, their property values, and their worries about problems once the pipeline is up and running.

And they question why no risk assessment was done before the project was approved.

In fact, several state legislators, including state Rep. Chris Quinn, R-168 of Middletown, and Chester County Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-19 of West Whiteland, have fired off letters to Gov. Tom Wolf asking for exactly that.

“There is no example of a pipeline of that size with this sort of material running through a built-up area like our county,” George Alexander of Media told County Council.

Eve Miari, a member of the Middletown Coalition for Community Safety, one of the most vocal critics of Mariner East 2, said no governing body in the state has stepped up to answer questions or at least delve into the potential for a problem.

“We have a huge regulatory gap where no one at the federal or state level is looking out for the safety of the residents and you have an out-of-state corporation basically putting their pipeline through the regulatory hole,” Miari told council.

For their part, Sunoco and their backers among labor unions and the oil and natural gas industry, insist that they are following all state regulations in construction of Mariner East 2, and that it is being installed and will be operated to the highest industry standards.

Sunoco spokesman Jeff Shields responded to the move by County Council by saying the project has been “thoroughly vetted” by federal, state and local agencies. He pointed out that pipelines have been used to move natural gas and other materials safely across Pennsylvania for nearly 100 years, including in many areas across Delaware County, and in close proximity to schools, hospitals, senior living facilities and homes.

“We have been living with these pipelines safely for decades, and we know that pipelines are the safest way to transport petroleum products,” Shields said. Opponents remain unconvinced. And the tide just might be turning in their direction. It’s late in the game, but their questions are not going to go away. It might be the only way to resolve their concerns. Bring on the risk assessment.

Anti-pipeline protesters marched at United Church of Christ -- East Goshen Prayer Walk

From an Article by Bill Rettew Jr., Daily Local News, West Chester, PA, December 2, 2017

WEST GOSHEN, PA — Three dozen peaceful protesters marched Saturday for a half-mile along the Sunoco Mariner East 2 pipeline right-of-way.

Many of the participants in the pipeline prayer walk are members of the United Church of Christ East Goshen.

Marchers carried signs and paused for prayer a couple of times along Boot Road, starting at Wellington at Hershey’s Mill, where pipeline construction runs within 100 feet of the assisted living facility. They ended up at the Goshen Fire Company.

UCC Pastor and teacher Rev. Angelee Benner-Smith led the group in prayer. She recited the Serenity Prayer and talked of hope.

“We have to believe that we can make a change,” she said. “Pray for hope. Hope does not disappoint us.”

The reverend then asked the demonstrators to act. “Speak of the things we can change. Give us the energy to move forward with hope and your grace.”

The pastor then asked the group what they were thinking. They told her they felt anger, disappointment, frustration, resentment, fear and betrayal by those they had elected.

Eve Miari said that faith communities are paying attention to pipeline construction. Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County and Swarthmore Friends will be holding pipeline-related events Sunday.

The group got down on their knees outside Ss. Peter and Paul Elementary School. Melissa DiBernardino said she has not received an adequate response from school officials.

Her children attend the school, which is less than 100 feet from construction. DiBernardino said that if the pipeline is completed and becomes operational, she will pull her kids from the school that she and her children love.

Al Benner-Smith is Angelee’s husband. He also led the group in prayer. “Remind us every day that the grass and trees and the water and the air is in our control,” he said. “Remind us that all of this is here to sustain us.”

Marchers carried signs that read “No Pipeline-Stop,” “Damage is Not Progress,” and “Respect Our World.”

Al Benner-Smith said after the rally that cooperation helps. “It’s much better when people work together than separately,” he said.

Eric Friedman of the Middletown Coalition and Andover Homeowners Association said that the rally was a “fine way for people to express their concerns” but “more than prayer” is needed to stop the pipeline.

Linda Ardao of West Goshen marched and is a member of the UCC congregation.

“We may take the easy way out on energy and we may need to pursue more environmentally friendly and lower risk ways to get energy,” Ardao said.

Jeff Shields, Sunoco Pipeline Communications Manager, released the following comment: “We support everyone’s right to protest peacefully. We understand that there are differing opinions on infrastructure projects. Safety is our company’s first priority and we have shown our commitment to safety by exceeding federal requirements with thicker pipe, enhanced testing, and X-ray inspection of welds far beyond what regulations call for. We have operated safely in Chester County for nearly a century, and we will continue that tradition with Mariner East 2.”

Plans call for the Sunoco Mariner East 2 pipeline to carry highly volatile liquids, ethane, butane and propane, 350 miles from Marcellus Shale deposits in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania to the former Sunoco Refinery in Marcus Hook, Delaware County.

Sunoco pipelines in PA

The planned Mariner East 2 trans-Pennsylvania pipeline is running into resistance from landowners

From an Article by Jon Hurdle, NPR StateImpact PA, August 12, 2015

As Sunoco Logistics steps up efforts to create a pathway for its Mariner East 2 natural gas liquids pipeline across southern Pennsylvania, some landowners are resisting the company’s moves to build the pipeline across their properties.

Residents in at least eight counties are rejecting the company’s offers of cash compensation as too low or unacceptable at any level, and say they will go to court to challenge any assertion of eminent domain that the company makes in an attempt to force its way across private land.

Landowners contacted by StateImpact Pennsylvania accuse Sunoco of making low-ball compensation offers; proposing to locate the $2.5 billion pipeline in places where it could endanger water sources or buildings in the event of a leak or explosion, and of failing to state its plans clearly. Some who have rejected cash compensation have been served with documents that initiate an eminent domain action in court.

The confrontations may represent just the beginning of a process that will pit local communities against energy companies that are sharply expanding Pennsylvania’s pipeline infrastructure in order to ship the abundant resources of the Marcellus Shale to domestic and international markets.

The state could see as many as 30,000 additional miles of new pipeline built in the next 20 years, Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Quigley said at the first meeting of a statewide task force on pipelines in July.

Meanwhile, Philadelphia-based Sunoco said it is committed to dealing “fairly” with landowners along the 350-mile route from Ohio and West Virginia to Marcus Hook, a suburban Philadelphia town on the Delaware River. The company argues that it has the authority as a “public utility corporation” – a status that is disputed by opponents – to seize people’s land under eminent domain but will only do so as a last resort.

“We recognize the enormous responsibility that comes with eminent domain authority and use that authority only as a last resort when negotiations with landowners have failed,” said Jeff Shields, a spokesman for the company.

For example, Shields said Sunoco has initiated action against Ellen Gerhart, a landowner in Huntingdon County, after she rejected the company’s offer of $14,000 for building two 24-inch pipelines on three of her 27 acres.

“The Gerharts were recently notified of our intention to file for condemnation in Huntingdon County under eminent domain authority,” Shields said.

Gerhart, 60, a former special education teacher, told StateImpact that she’s concerned about the pipeline’s safety and the risk of the natural gas liquids leaking into a pond on her property.

She said she considered seeking more compensation but decided she doesn’t want the pipeline on her property under any circumstances. “I’m totally against this pipeline going in,” she said. “I’m even more concerned now because we are unable to get any kind of straight answer out of the company on where it will run.”

In nearby Cumberland County, landowner John Perry said Sunoco initially offered him $14,000 for his permission to build two pipelines beneath a 75-foot-wide strip of his land in Upper Frankford Township.

He rejected that offer, and a later one of $43,000, saying neither came close to representing the value of the land he would lose through construction of the pipeline, which is expected to begin operation at the end of 2016.

Perry, 81, estimated that his land is worth about $10,000 an acre and that the pipeline would take between 30 and 40 acres. Even if the land had a fair market value of $5,000 an acre, a 40-acre parcel would be worth $200,000, far higher than the $43,000 that the company called its final offer, he said.

Perry, who has lived on his 200-acre property for 40 years, said he told the company he would accept compensation of $250,000. He said Sunoco hasn’t said anything yet about taking the land through eminent domain but he fears that it will eventually get its way, if only because of political support for the project.

“There is too much political horsepower behind this pipeline for us to get any sympathy from our political people,” he said. “So we accept the fact that probably eventually we are going to have to live with the pipeline.”

He rejected the company’s first offer on the grounds that it would significantly reduce his area of usable land, while cutting the value of what was left. Perry has an existing eight-inch Sunoco pipeline on his property which is now part of the parallel Mariner 1 system, and he spent part of the 1990s negotiating the maintenance terms for the older line.

“You’re not only taking 75 feet but you are planning to run a much larger pipeline through my property which will impact the value of the property,” he said.

Iris Marie Bloom of Protecting Our Waters at a protest in Philadelphia against the Mariner East pipeline which would transport natural gas liquids over 300 miles across Pennsylvania.

In mid-June, Sunoco made its final offer, telling Perry that if he didn’t accept it within 10 days, the company would begin “condemnation” proceedings that would lead to an assertion of eminent domain in court.

Perry said he has heard nothing from the company since then, and has hired attorney Michael Faherty, who is representing several property owners in the battle against Sunoco’s Mariner East 2. “I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop,” Perry said.

Bryant Minnich, a building contractor who owns 133 acres in Newville, Cumberland County, said Sunoco initially agreed to pay him $10,400 as compensation for cutting down trees to maintain access to the Mariner East 1 pipeline under an agreement dating back to the 1930s.

Minnich, 50, said he only received the payment after a delay of several months when Sunoco wanted access to his land to survey it for the new Mariner East 2 pipeline. He said he initially denied the company permission to enter because the company had not made the payment.

“I said: ‘You owe me damages that you’ve not even responded to, so you can just stay off my property permanently’”, he said. “Within three weeks, because they need something, I finally get my check for the damages.”

The company then presented its plans for the Mariner East 2 work on Minnich’s property, a project that involved cutting a 50-foot swath plus the creation of a work area and a parking lot.

In return, Sunoco offered $18,000, a sum Minnich rejected, saying he might consider a “six-figure” settlement but would prefer that the company stay away altogether. He also dismissed a subsequent offer for $35,600 on the grounds that it would not compensate for the loss of land, where he and his family have lived for 22 years, or for the aesthetic value of his pond, which would be impaired by the construction work.

Within the last three weeks, Minnich said he has received another letter from Sunoco, saying it plans to clear land for Mariner East 2 by pursuing the terms of the original 1930s agreement — which did not place restrictions on the amount of land the pipeline operator can clear – and providing compensation of just $1,100. The company appears to be ignoring a 2002 amendment to the agreement that sets a limit of 40 feet, Minnich said.

Minnich is also represented by Faherty, who has told Sunoco that it must comply with the terms of the amended agreement, Minnich said. “If they come in and try to take more, then we will end up in a court case against them,” Minnich said.

Faherty, who also represents Gerhart and other Mariner East 2 opponents, said Sunoco has begun eminent domain proceedings against about 10 landowners in the last two weeks.

Those property owners live between the West Virginia border and Lebanon County and the company appears to be working its way east along the proposed pipeline route, Faherty said. He predicted that resistant landowners in Chester and Delaware counties will be the company’s next target.

He argued that Sunoco has no right to assert eminent domain because, since the pipeline extends into Ohio and West Virginia, it is an interstate entity and is therefore regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and not by Pennsylvania authorities.

If Mariner 2 was planned to operate only in Pennsylvania, as Mariner 1 does, it would be subject to eminent domain but it is outside the state’s jurisdiction because of its interstate status, he said. The two pipelines jointly make up the Mariner East project.

Faherty said his argument was upheld by a York County judge in 2014 and that he, Faherty, will make it again in a Washington County case that is scheduled for trial in October. “The argument has already been decided so Sunoco should not get a second bite of the apple,” he said.

Opponents of Mariner East 2 include the Clean Air Council, an environmental group whose senior litigation attorney, Alex Bomstein, said the project has sparked more opposition than most pipeline plans. He argued that Sunoco has antagonized public opinion by making different arguments to the PUC, FERC and local zoning boards, depending on its needs at different times.

“It gives different answers to different agencies,” Bomstein said. “People are encountering this type of dishonesty at different levels.” He estimated that Sunoco has begun eminent domain proceedings against about 20 landowners so far.

Shields of Sunoco reasserted the company’s right to assert eminent domain based on its status as a public utility company regulated by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. “If we file for condemnation, we are proceeding under eminent domain authority, which we consider a last resort,” he said.

Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, a spokesman for the PUC, said the regulator first confirmed Sunoco’s status as a public utility corporation in 2002 and did so again in 2014.

Shields would not say how many cases of eminent domain the company is pursuing, how much compensation it has paid, or how many landowners have agreed to Sunoco’s plans.

He declined to confirm the compensation figures reported by Gerhart, Perry and Minnich but said the company’s plan on the Perry property involves a 10-foot extension of an existing 40-foot right of way, while the proposed easement on the Minnich property parallels a right of way for the existing Mariner 1 line.

Sunoco Mariner East 1 & 2

See also:  www.Marcellus-Shale.us

See also the August 18th  protest entitled: “Hands Across Our Land”