New Study Says Mariner East 1 & 2 will Deliver $9B to PA Economy
In February 2015, Philadelphia-based economic consulting firm Econsult Solutions released a study looking the potential economic impact of the Mariner East 1 & 2 projects, concluding the two project together would result in $4.2 billion coming to Pennsylvania (see New Study: Mariner East 1 & 2 Pipelines Mean $4.2B Windfall in PA). However, projects like Mariner East change over time. Econsult revisited and revamped their original study to reflect those changes. Know what they found? ME1 & ME2 together will result in over $9 billion of economic impact in PA! How could it be that much? Just consider, the two projects together will have created 57,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs between 2014 and 2019 (9,500 jobs annually) with earnings of $2.7 billion impacting multiple industries. And that’s just the jobs piece of the puzzle! Although total economic impact will exceed $9 billion, the pipeline will continue to generate revenue for PA state coffers for years into the future, via taxes and by feeding the petrochemical industry in the Philadelphia area. It’s not $9B total–it’s $9B initially. Sadly, the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection last week halted all work on Mariner East 2, delaying the economic benefits of the project in PA (see PA DEP Caves to Big Green Pressure, Stops All Work on ME2 Pipeline). Let’s hope ME2 resumes work quickly. In the meantime, we have a copy of Econsult’s new report below, along with comments by antis who ignore the hard science in front of their faces that the Mariner pipelines are a bonanza for PA…
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The news that the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has suspended all construction work on the Mariner East 2 Pipeline project until further notice continues to reverberate (see 
A lot of the talk and chatter this week has been about the spike in the price of natural gas (see today’s lead story, NatGas Trading in NYC Hits $175/Mcf – Highest Ever Recorded!). The other hot topic of the week is the decision by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) to temporarily suspend all construction work on the Mariner East 2 (ME2) Pipeline. What antis in the Philadelphia area don’t realize is that ME2 is vital to their own region and their own pocketbooks. Yesterday we brought you one take on why Philly residents are missing the boat in opposing ME2 (see 
We suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has caved to intense pressure from a cabal of Big Green groups and has told Sunoco Logistics Partners to suspend all work on the $2.5 billion Mariner East 2 (ME2) NGL pipline–from one side of the state to the other. Just yesterday MDN told you about the mounting pressure on the DEP to halt ME2 work, particularly work on underground horizontal directional drilling (see 
Yesterday the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection suspended all work on the Mariner East 2 NGL Pipeline project (see today’s lead story, PA DEP Caves to Big Green Pressure, Stops All Work on ME2 Pipeline). The project has been vigorously opposed by antis in the greater Philadelphia area from the beginning. Their opposition stems from a deeper philosophical preference to end the use of fossil fuels. Last September, MDN editor Jim Willis had the pleasure of meeting and talking with Garland Thompson at the Shale Insight event in Pittsburgh. Garland, who lives in Philly, has written for the Career Communications Group of publications, including US Black Engineer & Information Technology, Hispanic Engineer & IT, and their siblings Woman of Color and Science Spectrum, for many years. He’s covered the shale revolution for those publications since 2008–before MDN began writing about it! Jim had an interesting conversation with Garland, about the need to educate folks, particularly the folks in the greater Philly area, about the benefits of pipelines. Springboarding on yesterday’s news, Garland has written a great opinion piece pointing out that opposition to the Mariner East pipelines (plural) is misguided and shortsighted. Garland builds a case for why everyone in the Philly region should want to see these important projects get built…
Sunoco Logistics Partners continues to feel the heat over their construction of the Mariner East 2 (ME2) natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline project. Most of the heat comes from underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD)–drilling holes to install pipelines under structures like roads and streams, in places where you can’t just dig a trench. The problem is that sometimes the mud used to cool the drill bit for HDD work “leaks” or disappears into cracks and crevices, and sometimes the drilling mud ends up coming back to the surface. It’s called an “inadvertent return.” Bear in mind that drilling mud is otherwise known as bentonite–a nontoxic clay mixture. Bentonite is the same chemical compound used to make kitty litter, toothpaste and all sorts of cosmetics. It’s totally safe for the environment–unless you spill a lot of it and smother little critters like salamanders and fishies. Several Big Green groups sued to stop ME2’s HDD work last year. In August, Sunoco “settled” that lawsuit. The terms of the “settlement” called for Sunoco to reevaluate and resubmit plans for HDD drilling at 47 locations for review by the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). Since that time more spills have occurred, and keep occurring (see 
In July, West Goshen Township, in the Philadelphia suburb of Chester County, won a temporary victory in their efforts to stop Sunoco Logistics’ Mariner East 2 (ME2) NGL pipeline in their community (see 
A group of six radical Democrats who oppose the Mariner East 2 pipeline through southeast Pennsylvania met yesterday with Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf to gripe and moan–and to ask Wolf to illegally shut down construction of the pipeline (a pipeline which is now 91% done). Wolf politely listened–and then did nothing. Which is good. The radicals hold out hope that Wolf will change his mind and use his executive authority under Title 35 (dealing with health and safety) as an excuse to shut down all ME2 construction. Good luck with that. A statement issued later in the day by a Wolf spokesman seems to indicate the governor is punting any decisions about shutting down construction over to the Public Utility Commission. Yesterday the PUC vote to allow already-shut-down ME2 construction in one SE PA town to resume (see today’s story, PA PUC Votes to Let ME2 Pipeline Restart Construction in West Goshen). All of which says to us that Wolf won’t do a thing to stop completion of ME2, which angers the radicals all the more…
Weak-kneed, swamp-dwelling politicians from the Philadelphia area continue to ratchet up the noise on stopping all work for the Mariner East 2 Pipeline. State Sen. Andy Dinniman (Democrat from the 19th District) and State Sen. John Rafferty (RINO from the 44th District) say the impacts of ME2’s construction are “unacceptable.” A few of their loudmouthed constituents (mostly likely members of Big Green groups) are complaining to these weak-kneed politicians and in turn the politicians have introduced four new bills in the PA Senate that will not do a @#$% thing about ME2, but will potentially stop future pipeline projects in the state. The aim of the bills is to tie up pipeline projects with so much red tape in various reviews, and by paying new fees for so-called “safety” measures, as to make the pipelines unbuildable. Here’s the latest effort from the Philly area to derail the Marcellus miracle in PA…
A township supervisor in East Goshen (Chester County), PA doesn’t like a pipeline coming through a portion of his township. So he’s asking PA Gov. Tom Wolf and state legislators to overturn 200+ years of law in the United States to empower him to either prohibit the pipeline from coming through his town, or drastically alter its course (making it unfeasible). Apparently Supervisor Marty Shane missed an important civics lesson in his elementary school social studies class. (Maybe he was taught in a Philadelphia school–that would explain it.) Mr. Shane wants municipal ordinances to supersede state and national regulations when it comes to pipelines. That is, he wants to reverse the way the law has worked for over 200 years–which is federal on top, then state, then local. Apparently Mr. Shane wants to grant his local fiefdom the same powers as (in this case) the state government. What Shane advocates, perhaps without realizing it, is a path to anarchy–where mobs of people determine what happens. The ultimate end of that is Lord of the Flies (read it sometime). Our founders, who (ironically) met in Philadelphia, crafted a system that created the single greatest country on earth. We the people elect representatives to represent us (called a republic, NOT a straight up democracy). Mobs do not make good decisions and our founders knew it. Under the U.S. Constitution, the federal government reigns over all. Then the state. And finally, local governments. The federal government reserves the right, under laws and statutes, to regulate interstate pipelines–precisely to prevent small-minded people from blocking them. After the feds come the states, who regulate oil and gas activity, and any pipelines not regulated by the feds (which covers the pipeline going through East Goshen). Local governments can and do pass ordinances on land use–but not ordinances that supersede the power of the state or the feds to site and regulate pipelines. Shane wants to reverse the order…
Why are we not surprised that antis are NEVER happy. EVER. Sunoco Logistics Partners has, after experiencing problems using underground horizontal direction drilling (HDD) at a couple of locations near Philadelphia while building the Mariner East 2 NGL pipeline, decided to abandon HDD and instead switch to another method to get the pipeline installed. Even with the change in methodology, antis are still fussing and moaning. The only outcome that will make them “happy” is for Sunoco to abandon building the pipeline, which isn’t going to happen. Even if Sunoco did quit building ME2, we doubt the antis would really be happy. Have you ever noticed they’re perpetual sourpusses?…
Sunoco Logistics Partners (part of and owned by Energy Transfer Partners) has had its fair share of “inadvertent returns” (i.e. leaks of drilling mud) while drilling underground for the Mariner East 2 pipeline project that stretches across the width of Pennsylvania. Some would say Sunoco has had more than its fair share of mud spills. Bear in mind that drilling mud is otherwise known as bentonite–the nontoxic clay mixture used to cool the drill bit as it chews away underground. Bentonite is the same chemical compound used to make kitty litter, toothpaste and all sorts of cosmetics. It’s totally safe for the environment–unless you spill a lot of it and smother little critters like salamanders and fishies. When installing a pipeline, you don’t just dig a trench across a roadway or dam up a creek or river. Instead, you use horizontal directional drilling (HDD) to dig under it. ME2 is some 350 miles long, so there are a number of places where HDD must be used. There are always small drilling mud spills, or inadvertent returns, associated with HDD work. However, Sunoco has had, at last count, 96 such instances (see the list below). Antis seek to make the most of each and everyone spill episode. The most recent such spill is associated with a sink hole believe caused by HDD drilling in Delaware County last week (see 
Sunoco Logistics Partners has had another “inadvertent return” (i.e. leak of drilling mud) while drilling underground in Delaware County, PA–in a Philly suburb. Every time it happens, no matter how little mud comes out of the ground (even less than a gallon), extremist antis jump up and down and declare an environmental holocaust. What makes this most recent episode different is that a sink hole has opened up near where the drilling mud and water came out of the ground. Not a good situation as the sink hole is not far from a home. The homeowner is not pleased. However, the homeowner is an anti, which makes it even worse. As soon as the mud came out of the ground and the hole appeared, the homeowner called in a swarm of other antis, supposedly to “document” the situation. They were really there to obstruct Sunoco workers who were trying to clean it up and prevent any further damage. Because the antis wouldn’t move their rear-ends out the way, Sunoco had to call in the police to move them. The anti homeowner got all hot-and-bothered that Sunoco had the nerve to call the cops on his anti buds. So far we’ve only found one mainstream media article about the episode, which is quite biased against Sunoco…
Energy Transfer’s top brass delivered some bad news and some good news on yesterday’s analyst phone call to discuss third quarter 2017 performance. Two projects vital to the Marcellus/Utica are being built by ET–Mariner East 2 (ME2) and Rover Pipeline. The bad news is that ME2, a natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline project that stretches from eastern Ohio across the state of PA to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia, will be delayed an extra nine months. ME2 has a new in-service target date of “second quarter 2018.” Progress on ME2 is not as fast as it could be primarily due to an ongoing onslaught of lawsuits by Big Green organizations, coupled with delays from the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection. The good news for ME2 is that by Dec. 31st, 99% of the pipeline will be in the ground and buried. The news for Rover is all good. Rover is a $3.7 billion, 711-mile natural gas pipeline that will run from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and eventually into Canada. Rover had been dogged by problems with horizontal directional drilling (HDD), but those problems are now behind it. Yes, head of the Ohio EPA, Craig Butler, continues his Captain Ahab routine to try and stop the project (see 
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) continues its quest to put Mariner East 2 (ME2) Pipeline construction under a microscope. Two days ago MDN told you that the DEP had issued a Notice of Violation (NOV) for ME2 work in Lebanon County, PA, for spilling LESS THAN 1 gallon of non-toxic drilling mud (see 
We chalk this one up as outrageous. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has just shut down further drilling for the Mariner East 2 Pipeline project at Snitz Creek in Lebanon County, PA–because of a “less than one gallon” spill of non-toxic drilling mud. Drilling mud is composed of bentonite–the same clay compound used in kitty litter, toothpaste and cosmetics. A spill of less than a gallon is NOTHING. It’s not even worth reporting. Yet Sunoco Logistics, the company drilling, was honest and reported the “inadvertent return” as it is called. And because Sunoco previously had another small spill at the same location, the DEP, bowing to pressure from radical environmental groups, has halted any further horizontal directional drilling (HDD) work at the Snitz Creek location. This is bizarre, but perhaps not unexpected. It all stems to a deal Sunoco made with the devil…