Mariner East Pipeline(s) to Transport Ethane & Propane Across Penna?

Energy Transfer Inc. says Mariner East 2 pipeline construction is completed; others say not

From an Article by Michael P. Rellahan, Delaware County Local News(PA), Feb. 19, 2022

News of the completion of the controversial multibillion-dollar Mariner East pipeline system that connects the vast Marcellus Shale gas field in western Pennsylvania (+ WV & OH) to an export terminal near Philadelphia is misleading, according to a Chester County activist and a state lawmaker.

“Energy Transfer has put it out there that Mariner East 2 is complete,” said Ginny Kerslake, the West Whiteland woman and Pennsylvania Food and Water organizer who has been speaking out against the pipeline for years. “It’s not true.”

On Thursday, the Associated Press reported that Energy Transfer said Wednesday that construction work on its Mariner East pipeline network was completed this month. The announcement was included in the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report. The Texas-based company, which faces criminal charges that it fouled waterways and residential water supplies during pipeline construction, said it was preparing to put the newest pipeline into service.

The Mariner East 1, Mariner East 2 and Mariner East 2X pipelines are designed to carry propane, ethane and butane from the Marcellus Shale and Utica Shale gas fields to a refinery processing center and export terminal in Marcus Hook. The pipeline passes through Berks and Chester counties.

But Kerslake, along with state Rep. Danielle Friel-Otten, D-155th, of Uwchlan, another pipeline opponent, said that work continues on a portion of the 16-inch Mariner East 2X pipeline in Delaware County — the last leg of the project that runs across the state.

Moreover, the two said that Energy Transfer still must continue working on the restoration of worksites that were damaged during the construction process, and complete the cleanup of Marsh Creek Lake, which fouled in a spill of drilling fluid there. Sunoco Pipeline, Energy Transfer’s subsidiary, is expected to dredge part of the contaminated lake and pay more than $4 million in fines for the spill, which took place in August 2020.
It will also replace fish, turtle and bird habitat and restore the shoreline as part of a settlement with the state Departments of Environmental Protection and Conservation and Natural Resources.

“Energy Transfer is very cagey about this,” said Kerslake of the completion announcement. She pointed to a letter that Delaware County residents received dated Feb. 11 from a public affairs specialist alerting those who live near Glen Riddle Station to upcoming work in the area of Martin’s Lane. The letter, which she provided, warned of heavy constriction equipment, increased truck traffic, and possible flaring from the lines.

A spokeswoman for Energy Transfer, Lisa Coleman, said the company stood by its position. “As we said on the earnings call, construction of the final phase of the Mariner East project was completed this month and commissioning is in progress,” she said in an email Friday. “There are other activities underway such as restoration and remediation.

But Kerslake and Friel-Otten both said that even if construction of the pipelines is complete in Chester County and most of Delaware County, concerns remain. The pipeline company, they say, has never addressed public safety fears along the course of the project, nor completed a plan for residents should eruptions occur. “What keeps us involved is the bigger concern, which is public safety and which is ongoing,” Kerslake said in an interview Friday.

“As long as Mariner East remains in operation, we are put at unnecessary risk of a catastrophic explosion with no credible emergency plan to warn and protect the public,” she said. “Our elected leaders need to stop kicking the can down the road and take real action to protect families and communities put at unacceptable risk for this out-of-state corporation to profit from shipping fracked ethane overseas for more plastic junk. Relying on luck is not enough.”

Friel-Otten added that there are residents of Berks and Delaware counties that “don’t have access to clean drinking water.” When people in Chester County have complained about the state of their water, Energy Transfer has contended it is not their responsibility, she said. “Maybe they got the pipeline in the ground, but they have a lot of people in the Commonwealth who have unfinished business because of the pipeline,” the state representative said.

In October, Energy Transfer was charged criminally by the state Attorney General’s Office after a grand jury concluded that it broke Pennsylvania environmental laws and fouled waterways and residential water supplies across hundreds of miles as Mariner East was built. Prosecutors said Energy Transfer ruined the drinking water of at least 150 families statewide. The company has yet to enter a plea in the matter, which is being prosecuted in Dauphin County.

Energy Transfer has also been assessed more than $24 million in civil fines, including a $12.6 million fine in 2018 that was one of the largest ever imposed by the state. State regulators have periodically shut down construction.