NGL to be collected from OH, WV & PA for foreign countries
From an Article by Bill Rettew, Daily Local News, West Chester, PA, March 19, 2018
EAST GOSHEN >> Sunoco Pipeline was found guilty March 13 in district court of exceeding allowable noise levels during pipeline construction.
District Judge Thomas Tartaglio, of District Court 15-1-02, found Sunoco guilty of exceeding permissible noise levels in a residential community on seven instances occurring between October 11 and December 15. The judge found in favor of Sunoco on two other dates.
The township financed a study by Pennoni, a noise testing service, to test at a site of drilling for the Sunoco Mariner East 2 pipeline, near the Giant Market, at the Hershey’s Mill subdivision.
Sunoco was fined $1,000, plus costs, for each of seven violations for exceeding township ordinances limiting noise levels to 60 dBA, between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.
The testimony presented by the testing firm showed that Sunoco was well over the threshold of the ordinance. Testing showed, noise levels reached more than 70 dBAs at the residential development.
Sunoco has attempted to remediate the situation by placing sound barriers at the site.
Township Supervisor Marty Shane said if Sunoco chooses it might appeal to the Court of Common Pleas. Depending on the outcome, either side might then appeal to Commonwealth Court.
“We had worked closely with Sunoco during the entire process,” Shane said. “It’s unfortunate that we had to cite them for the noise violations. “Our residents have been very patient; however, they are beginning to run out of patience.”
When asked for comment, Sunoco spokesman Jeff Shields said that Sunoco Pipeline’s policy is to not comment on pending legal matters.
Plans call for the now-under-construction Sunoco Mariner East 2 pipeline to stretch 350 miles from Marcellus Shale deposits in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania to the former Sunoco Refinery in Marcus Hook, Delaware County. The pipeline would carry highly volatile liquids within feet of senior care centers, schools and homes, through densely populated Delaware and Chester counties.
The Pennsylvania Senate Environmental Resources and Energy and Consumer Protection and Licensure Committees will hold a joint public hearing on pipeline safety, Tuesday, March 20 at 11 a.m.
The hearing will take place in Hearing Room No. 1 of the North Office Building in Harrisburg.
Mariner East 2 goes thru farmland & suburbs
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Absent Sunoco is thrashed at PA pipeline safety hearing
By Andrew Maykuth, Philadelphia Inquirer, March 20, 2018
Sunoco Pipeline LP, which is building the contentious Mariner East project across Pennsylvania, was characterized at a legislative hearing on pipeline safety Tuesday as a “bad apple” and “rogue company,” whose transgressions have made it hard for all pipeline operators in the state.
Speaking at a hearing in Harrisburg, legislators of both parties along with pipeline opponents took turns vilifying Sunoco, whose Mariner East 1 pipeline was shut down temporarily this month after sinkholes developed in West Whiteland Township, and whose Mariner East 2 pipeline construction project was fined $12.6 million in January.
“Sunoco Pipeline’s seemingly wanton disregard for the safety of our constituents living in these communities demonstrates their inability to appropriately manage the laws, regulations, permits and logistics associated with this pipeline project,” said State Sen. John Rafferty (R., Montgomery).
Sunoco, a subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners LP, had nothing to say for itself during the 2½-hour hearing since it was not invited to appear, according to a spokesman for Sen. Eugene Yaw (R., Lycoming). Yaw is chairman of the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, which organized the hearing along with the Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee.
“We remain focused on being a valued member of the communities in which we do business, as we have done for decades,” Sunoco spokesman Jeff Shields said in an emailed statement after the hearing. “We look forward to safely completing the construction of this important infrastructure project.”
Rafferty, along with State Sen. Andrew E. Dinniman (D., Chester), said that Tuesday’s testimony demonstrated the need for a package of bills they have sponsored to increase pipeline oversight and to assess an impact fee on pipeline operators.
Yaw said Sunoco’s experience is “affecting every pipeline that wants to be built, or that people are planning for, in this state.”
With Sunoco not present, Keith J. Coyle, a Babst Calland lawyer representing the Marcellus Shale Coalition, testified on the industry’s behalf that pipelines are the safest way to transport fuels, but that the industry needs to be forthright about communicating the risks. “We live in a world that’s full of risk, and the best thing that we can do as an industry is manage that risk, and be honest about where it is, and come up with good ways to address the risk,” he said.
Sunoco is building two new pipelines along the route of an existing 8-inch-diameter pipeline that carries natural gas liquids such as propane from the Marcellus Shale gas region to a terminal in Marcus Hook. The multi-billion-dollar project has been largely supported by state business, political and labor leaders.
But Rebecca Britton of the Uwchlan Safety Coalition and Melissa DiBernadino of Goshen United for Public Safety said the pipelines pass very close to homes and schools and put their children, families and neighbors in danger.
The citizens groups have called on the state to order a public risk assessment of the pipeline, and are raising money online to pay for their own study.
The chair of Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, Gladys Brown, testified that a public risk assessment of the project “raises some difficult issues” because the PUC is prohibited by law from releasing some information publicly because of security concerns.
“We do risk assessment,” Brown said. “That’s part of our role and responsibility. But for it to be public, and everything released to the public, we believe that it violates the law.”
She said the PUC is monitoring the Mariner East project, and said its emergency order this month to halt operations on the existing Mariner East 1 pipeline after sinkholes developed was evidence the agency “will take prompt action to protect the public.”
The pipeline, shut down March 7, will remain out of service until the PUC takes a formal action to lift the emergency order.
SOURCE: http://www.philly.com/philly/business/energy/sunoco-mariner-east-pa-senate-pipeline-hearing-puc-20180320.html
Penna. senator files complaint to halt Mariner East pipeline project
By Sara Welch, Shale Gas Reporter, May 4, 2018
Pennsylvania State Senator Andy Dinniman has filed a formal legal complaint and a petition for interim emergency relief with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to halt construction on two natural gas pipelines in West Whiteland Township, according to StateImpact.
Alleging it poses a serious threat to public safety, Dinniman wants construction on the Mariner East pipeline project to cease. It includes three parallel natural gas liquids lines — the Mariner East 1, the Mariner East 2, and the Mariner East 2X.
Service on the Mariner East 1 line was halted earlier this spring. Dinniman’s complaint and petition relate to the second two lines — the Mariner East 2 and 2X.
http://shalegasreporter.com/news/pa-senator-files-complaint-halt-mariner-east-pipeline-project/61686.html/