WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2019
A new sinkhole was recently found along the Mariner East 2 pipeline in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, late last week, according to reports. This marks the second sinkhole in the Middletown area since April.
According to Philly Voice, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission confirmed the sinkhole and announced that a safety investigation was launched. The hole measured five feet by eight feet.
Mariner Pipeline Projects
In January 2018, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection issued the order suspending construction on the Mariner East 2 pipelne after issuing 32 notices of violation to Sunoco between May 9 and Dec. 22, 2017. Violations were largely related to “inadvertent returns” of fluids from horizontal directional drilling, considered to be industrial waste.
Mariner East 2 is set to move ethane, propane and other petroleum products from Ohio and West Virginia east to the Philadelphia region. The DEP’s order, however, halted all construction (other than basic site maintenance activities).
New sinkhole opens up along Mariner East 2 pipeline in Delaware County https://t.co/E0I2DPzV0Z
— PhillyVoice (@thephillyvoice) September 14, 2019
Mariner East 2 is being constructed of 350 miles of 16-inch pipe and 250 miles of 20-inch pipe, most rolled, milled and coated in the United States, according to Sunoco. The first Mariner East pipeline, 300 miles long, was completed in 2016 and conveys liquid propane and ethane from the Marcellus shale drilling region of Western Pennsylvania east to Sunoco’s Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, refinery.
Sunoco Pipeline is a subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline, which runs from North Dakota to Illinois.
In May 2018, PUC Judge Elizabeth Barnes ordered the suspension of gas transportation through Sunoco’s Mariner East 1 pipeline, while also stopping any further construction on the Mariner East 2 pipelines, citing contaminated water wells, sinkholes and poor managerial decisions on the company’s part.
By late March, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro and the Delaware County district attorney’s office announced that both would be launching an investigation into Mariner East 2. In late April, the Mariner East 1 pipeline returned to service after a three-month shutdown, according to reports. The shutdown occurred after a sinkhole was found in Chester County, Pennsylvania, which exposed a section of the pipeline.
Sinkhole Issues
In April, a 12-foot-by-12-foot sinkhole was found in Delaware County, though neither pipeline was exposed at the time. No injuries or pipeline leaks were reported at the recent sinkhole formation, though the persistence of these problems continues to prompt questions about safety for nearby residents.
According to Philly Voice, between May 2017 and November 2018, two of the company’s pipelines, running through Pennsylvania and Ohio and including Mariner East 2, drew over 800 state and federal violations.
Shortly after the sinkhole was found, Sunoco spokesperson Vicki Granado told NPR reporting site State Impact Pennsylvania that there was “no risk to the surrounding community as the length of the exposure was well within the maximum allowable span length for exposed pipe.” No other pipelines in the area were impacted.
On Tuesday (Sept. 17), Sunoco made progress on resuming construction of the Mariner East pipelines in Chester County, largely due to an appeals court blocking an attempt by Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-Pennsylvania, to block construction. The Commonwealth Court said that the senator did not have the standing to bring an emergency that would have stopped construction.
An injunction that blocked pipeline construction was also ordered to be ended; the injunction had blocked construction in the West Whiteland Township since May 2018.
According to State Impact Pennsylvania, Sunoco has yet to complete the two pipelines, Mariner East 2 and 2X, due to a roster of problems that have persisted since the beginning of construction in February 2017. If new concerns about public health arise, however, the PUC could roll out a fresh injunction against the project.
Tagged categories: Government; Infrastructure; Oil and Gas; Pipelines; Program/Project Management
