It looks like Big Green has succeeded in conflating a mole hill into a mountain in Pennsylvania. In early August, Sunoco Logistics struck a deal with with several Big Green groups to provide stricter regulation for Mariner East 2 Pipeline’s underground drilling (see Sunoco Strikes Deal with Devil, “Settles” with Anti Groups re ME2). Part of the deal says if Sunoco experiences two leaks of drilling mud at the same location, they must shut down drilling in that location and wait for the state Dept. of Environmental Protection to further review drilling plans before they can restart. On August 24th there was a 50-gallon drilling mud spill into the Susquehanna River in Dauphin County related to ME2. A quick reminder: drilling mud, or “bentonite,” is non-toxic–the same stuff found in toothpaste and kitty litter. The 50-gallon spill would be like spilling 50 one-gallon jugs (maybe 10 bags) of kitty litter into the enormous Susquehanna River–a non-event. However, the Philadelphia-based Clean Air Council cried foul over the spill (see Big Green Group Makes Big Deal Out of Tiny ME2 Mud Spill). And now the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has agreed, saying that spill plus spills in two other locations violate Sunoco’s agreement with Big Green…
