Over Two Dozen Environmental Organizations Demand DEP Revoke Mariner East Permit

PHILADELPHIA, PA (October 5, 2020) –   Nearly thirty non-profit organizations from across Pennsylvania submitted a second letter to Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Patrick McDonnell today, demanding the DEP immediately and permanently revoke all Mariner East construction permits.  The groups cited hundreds of spills of horizontal directional drilling (HDD) fluid, an industrial waste, across Pennsylvania and into waters of the Commonwealth. 

This second letter comes in the wake of continued and repeated spills at Snitz Creek in Lebanon County. There have been at least a dozen and a half incidents at the site over the course of more than three years of construction, collectively releasing hundreds of thousands of gallons of drilling mud into local waterways, contaminating both surface and groundwater. The first letter was submitted to DEP back in August by thirty environmental and conservation organizations after a massive spill of over 8,000 gallons of drilling fluid into Marsh Creek Lake, a reservoir for much of Chester County’s drinking water.  According to FracTracker more than 300 spills have released over a quarter million gallons of drilling fluid into Pennsylvania’s waterways since DEP issued the Mariner East 2 permits. 

The organizations that have signed these two letters represent a diverse array of environmental organizations as well as conservation groups, grassroots community organizations, civic associations, faith-based groups, and legislative action groups. The groups have stated that DEP has failed to protect the public and environment by allowing Sunoco to continue construction despite numerous permit violations and that “Sunoco/ Energy Transfer has lost its social license to operate in Pennsylvania.”  The groups caution that previously issued fines have not deterred this pipeline operator from further repeated violations. 

“The repeated spills of drilling fluid into Snitz Creek are yet another example that Energy Transfer refuses to comply with laws that protect our water resources,” said Joseph Otis Minott, Esq., Executive Director and Chief Counsel. “Fines and penalties issued by DEP have done nothing to deter the operator from continued violations.  The only corrective option at this point is to revoke the permits and shut this criminal enterprise down.”