State Sen. Andy Dinniman (D-Chester County) sent a letter to Patrick McDonnell, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), urging the department to deny a recent permit modification request from Sunoco/ET for the Mariner East pipeline.
Sunoco/ET requested to use a new drilling method called “direct-pipe boring” for the pipeline in the area of Lisa Drive in West Whiteland.
“Lisa Drive is ground zero for everything wrong with the Mariner East project and example of how ET/Sunoco has been permitted to operate in our communities with disregard for public safety, environmental protection, private property rights, and basic respect and decency,” Sen. Dinniman, who serves on the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, said. “Now, after their drilling methods have failed twice and we’ve been left to pay the price, they want to try a third time. Enough is enough. How many do-overs will this company get before we face a real safety or environmental catastrophe?”
Dinniman wrote that Sunoco’s use of conventional auger bore and FlexBore methods failed and that the conventional bore process resulted in geologic issues. He also noted there is an 80-year-old pipeline transporting natural gas liquids in immediate proximity and that previous construction attempts to cross have caused the formation of sinkholes and forced the eviction of residents from homes along the pipeline route.
“I am deeply troubled that Sunoco is seeking approval to utilize yet another intrusive and potentially disastrous construction method in an attempt to install the 20-inch pipeline under the Exton Bypass . . .” Dinniman wrote. “By my count, this is the third request of this sort, with each of the previous methods realizing grievous results that have injured private property, devastated environmental conditions, and threatened public safety. Simply put, thus far Sunoco has had a free pass to destroy a picturesque suburban community with zero repercussions and I am once again calling on the DEP to act in accordance to the interest of Pennsylvanians.”
Dinniman is holding a public meeting on this issue and other issues related to the Mariner East pipeline project today at 7 p.m. at the West Whiteland Township Building.