MASSIVE NEW SINKHOLE OPENS ALONG MARINER EAST ROUTE AS PUC DENIES SUNOCO ASK TO RESTART CONSTRUCTION

 

PHILADELPHIA, PA (April 25, 2019) A new, massive sinkhole and a vote to continue a ban on construction at a Chester County site reveal ever-deepening problems with Sunoco / Energy Transfer’s Mariner East pipelines.  According to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, a 12x12x12-foot sinkhole emerged on Wednesday morning in Delaware County in front of the Troop K State Police Barracks in the right-of-way for the currently operational Mariner East 2 workaround pipeline.  The 20-inch Mariner 2X and 16-inch Mariner East 2X are being installed using horizontal directional drilling (HDD) at the same location, and PUC is investigating the relationship between the use of HDD at this site and this latest sinkhole. Sunoco’s Mariner East 2 HDD installations have previously caused sinkholes in multiple other locations, leading to Sunoco being forced to shut down Mariner East 1, which was exposed by one of the sinkholes.  Sunoco pumped the newest sinkhole full of a concrete-like substance (“flowable fill”) before the incident was fully investigated Wednesday, and possibly before PUC had even reached the scene.

“This latest in a series of Mariner East sinkholes makes clear that the process for approving pipelines in Pennsylvania is broken,” said Joseph Otis Minott, Executive Director and Chief Counsel of Clean Air Council. “How many times can pipeline operators put lives at risk before we take decisive action? Until PUC, DEP, and the rest of state government can come together and fix the process, we should not be rushing forward with more new pipelines.”

Even as a new sinkhole was forming at this Delaware County construction site, Sunoco attempted to secure PUC approval to restart construction at another HDD site, Schoen Road in Chester County.  PUC denied that approval Thursday morning in a public meeting of the Commissioners. Restart of construction at Schoen Road–and additional locations–had been prohibited by PUC Administrative Law Judge Elizabeth Barnes in May of 2018 in the case of State Senator Andrew E. Dinniman v. Sunoco Pipeline, L.P.   The case is currently on interlocutory appeal at the Commonwealth Court, and at Sunoco’s request, all proceedings in the case have been put on hold at the PUC.  This hold allowed Sunoco to delay the case significantly and to avoid disclosing documents and other evidence Senator Dinniman and public interest intervenors in the case requested.  On Wednesday though, the full implications of this hold became clear. Faced with Sunoco’s request to restart construction at Schoen Road, the PUC determined that it did not have the jurisdiction to allow the restart because the Commonwealth Court had halted PUC proceedings.

“Thankfully, in the case of Schoen Road, Sunoco’s own delay tactics have backfired,” said Eve Miari, Advocacy Coordinator at Clean Air Council. “But residents living along all parts of the route need protection now.  PUC needs to shut down the Mariner East pipelines.”