More Pushback from PA Residents on Proposed Mariner East Pipeline
As part of the good news story about the “makeover” of the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia, MDN came across more details about Sunoco Logistics’ plans to potentially use eminent domain in order to lay pipeline that will bring natural gas liquids, like ethane, to Marcus Hook. You may recall a few weeks ago we told you Sunoco Logistics had made a request with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) to exempt the Mariner East pipeline from local zoning regulations in building some 31 pump and valve control stations across the length of the pipeline (see Sunoco Logistics’ New Roadblock in Building Mariner East Pipeline). A court case in Washington County, PA challenged that right in light of the decision from the PA Supreme Court that grants zoning rights, even for oil and gas development, to local municipalities.
Sunoco Logistics is now being challenged in court in Chester County, questioning their right to become a “public utility corporation” with the right of eminent domain. Just to confuse the issue further, a public utility corporation is not the same thing as being a public utility in PA. However, if Sunoco Logistics is granted public utility corporation status, it means they have the right of eminent domain but are overseen by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and not by the PA PUC. In other words, they get the benefits of being a public utility, without the “burdens” of PA state oversight. That has some residents up in arms…
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MDN editor Jim Willis attended the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) scoping hearing for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Constitution Pipeline last Wednesday night (April 2nd) in Afton, NY. Held at the local Afton High School auditorium, there were 250-300 people in the audience. Some 50 or so signed up to address the three FERC representatives who were there to listen to public testimony about the DEIS and proposed plan to build a 30-inch, 124-mile pipeline from Susquehanna County, PA to Schoharie County, NY to carry cheap, abundant Marcellus Shale gas to markets that include New York City and New England. The pipeline project is projected to cost $683 million (money pumped mostly into the upstate New York economy), and provide 1,300 temporary jobs while it’s built.