Spurred by environmental violations in the construction of Sunoco Pipeline LP's Mariner East 2 and Mariner East 2X NGL pipelines, a Pennsylvania state senator is spearheading the formation of a new oversight committee to recommend improvements in pipeline regulation and construction.
The Pennsylvania bill, S.R. 373, calls for a 23-member panel to represents both houses of the Legislature, cities and towns, fire departments, first responders and the Marcellus Shale Coalition, the oil and gas industry's major trade group in the state. The panel will recommend pipeline regulations to lawmakers, according to the bill's text.
From left, Pennsylvania state Sens. John Rafferty, Larry Farnese and John Yudichak listen during a February 2016 floor debate over a resolution on whether to remove Attorney General Kathleen Kane from office. Source: Associated Press |
State Sen. John Rafferty made no secret of the fact that his bill was in reaction to inadvertent spills of drilling muds by contractors of Sunoco, an Energy Transfer Partners LP affiliate, and the discovery of sinkholes in Chester County, Pa., along the shared path of the Mariner East 1, 2 and 2X pipelines.
"Our communities now face increased safety risks due to these high pressure pipelines being situated in close proximity to homes, schools and population centers," Rafferty said in a memo accompanying his bill. "The construction of pipelines has also resulted in hundreds of environmental and safety violations along with the contamination of private water wells and public waterways."
"The safety of our pipelines is our first priority," Energy Transfer Partners spokeswoman Lisa Dillinger said June 1. "The safety of the environment, the safety of the communities through which we pass, and the safety of our employees. We believe that Pennsylvania's current regulatory oversight structure is properly and effectively ensuring the continued safety of the pipelines that run throughout the state."
Construction on Mariner East 2 and 2X has halted along a 3.5-mile segment in Chester County after a Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission administrative law judge issued a May 21 order in response to a complaint by Rafferty's neighboring legislator, Democratic state Sen. Andrew Dinniman. The judge's order questioned whether Sunoco was motivated by profits or public safety as she halted construction on Mariner East 2 and 2X and shut down of operating Mariner East 1.
Sunoco appealed Barnes' order May 31 and asked for an expedited hearing, saying Barnes missed the mark on both the facts and the law and that Dinniman lacked standing to bring a complaint. Dinniman lives about two miles from the Mariner East line, by his own estimate. Barnes found Dinniman had standing as a member of the legislature representing the town where sinkholes were discovered beneath Mariner East 1.
The Mariner East family of pipelines is designed to move ethane, propane and butane from wet Marcellus Shale wells in western Pennsylvania east to a marine terminal outside Philadelphia. From there, the NGLs are shipped to buyers in the U.S. and Europe.
Rafferty's press secretary Sean Moll said May 31 that Rafferty's bill was "absolutely" inspired by Sunoco's practices. "When you have a good operator, you don't have these problems," Moll said. "[Williams Cos. Inc.] is a name that comes to mind. They are a good operator. What do you hear about Atlantic Sunrise?"
Williams has had few difficulties with Pennsylvania regulators while building 183 miles of dry gas pipeline in Pennsylvania as part of its Atlantic Sunrise project, which will connect Marcellus Shale fields in northeast Pennsylvania to the Washington, D.C., metro area, Dominion Energy Inc.'s Cove Point LNG terminal mile in Maryland, and other markets. In contrast, Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection has fined Sunoco nearly $13 million after dozens of violations, mostly drilling mud spills into fresh water streams and wetlands.
Appalachian shale driller Range Resources Corp., the anchor shipper on Mariner East 1, filed a May 30 motion asking the PUC to lift the order of its judge. Range said the order makes no sense in light of the PUC's decision 21 days prior to lift a previous shutdown order after its own investigation of Mariner East 1's 1930s-era pipe. In addition, Range said, the continuing halt causes "substantial harms to Range, its Pennsylvania-based royalty owners, and numerous other segments of the natural gas liquids supply chain." Range redacted the amount of damage from the publicly released version of its brief to the commission.
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