Radical Groups Ask PA Hearing Bd Judge to Revoke ME2 Water Permits
A cabal of three, rabid, radical so-called environmental groups are once again trying to obstruct the legally-permitted Mariner East 2 (ME2) natural gas liquids pipeline project in Pennsylvania. Clean Air Council, THE Delaware Riverkeeper and the Mountain Watershed Association filed a motion with the PA Environmental Hearing Board, a special court set up to hear appeals of decisions made by the Dept. of Environmental Protection, to revoke permits previously issued by the DEP for the ME2 project–WITHOUT holding a trial. The groups are attempting to rush through a decision to block work on the pipeline by claiming there are “facts” in the case “not in dispute” and that the judge can simply take the reigns of justice into his own hands and rule by fiat. The heart of their case is that DEP granted federal water crossing permits for ME2 for “exceptional value” swamps, er, a, wetlands–and ya know, that just ain’t right. Even the attorney for the odious (and odoriferous) Clean Air Council says the judge won’t rule on the motion for at least two months–which is about the time the pipeline will be done anyway. So we’re not quite sure what these rabid groups hope to accomplish with their latest stunt. Perhaps it’s yet another fundraiser? The holidays are fast approaching…
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Sunoco Logistics has been slapped down in a ruling by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Service (PUC) with respect to a valve station, part of the Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline project. In March, MDN told you about an attempt by liberal anti-pipeliners in West Goshen (Chester County) to block the ME2 project (see 
In August Energy Transfer’s Sunoco Logisitics unit struck a deal with the devil–the devil being the Philadelphia-based Clean Air Council, THE Delaware Riverkeeper and Mountain Watershed Association–in a move to lift a ban on underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD) for the Mariner East 2 NGL pipeline project (see 
In May six anti-pipeline residents living near where the Mariner East 2 pipeline will pass asked the Middletown (Delaware County, PA) town council to reject the path of the pipeline near their property because it would, supposedly, pass closer than town code allows. The town council told the residents they’re out of luck–the town will not pursue any action to block Mariner East 2. Period. The residents, amped-up, agitated and funded by Big Green groups filed a lawsuit against the pipeline, to force it to conform with Middletown’s ordinance (see 
Blasting and drilling work in Lebanon County, PA related to building the Mariner East 2 Pipeline may have caused old deposits of MTBE (a gasoline additive) that had been stored at an old Sunoco facility to dislodge and migrate–into a nearby farmer’s water well. A subcontractor doing blasting work on Sept. 11 experienced “complications” during a detonation. Pieces of rock and debris hit a nearby house and swimming pool. Not a good thing. That blasting may also have led to the migration of MTBE to a nearby farm where MTBE had not previously been detected. Also not a good thing. Sunoco used to operate the Quentin terminal from 1940 to 1993 that served as a petroleum storage facility for the original Mariner East Pipeline–that flowed petroleum. That pipeline has since been repurposed and now flows natural gas liquids. Leaks from the old storage facility were known to have contaminated the ground in the area. It appears the blasting may have disturbed some of the pollution sitting under ground…
A group of lawless anarchists–people calling themselves “anti-capitalists” from the Philadelphia area, have admitted in a blog post that they engaged in illegal, criminal (we’d call it eco-terrorist) activities against construction equipment being used in Media (Delaware County), PA for the Mariner East 2 Pipeline project. The criminals, from the anti-American group Philly Anti-Capitalist, said they filled the fuel tanks of a flatbed truck and several excavators with sand and sugar–meant to ruin the engines. They even outline how to inflict maximum damage to the engines by removing the fuel filters. These idiots justify their criminal actions by saying, “Human-caused ecological collapse and mass extinction are upon us.” In other words, they’re loony tunes. Crazy. Driven to commit criminal acts because they’ve been brainwashed into believing mankind is poisoning Mom Earth by extracting and using fossil fuels. And brainwashed against liberty and freedom as personified in the United States. They are serious (and dangerous) nutjobs. We sincerely hope the FBI, Homeland Security and other police organizations hunt them down and jail them for destroying private property…
“Loss of circulation” sounds like a terminal condition–and perhaps it is, in a human body. But that phrase applied to drilling underground to install pipelines holds a different meaning. Loss of circulation is the technical term used when drilling fluid migrates out of the hole being drilled, and into (eeks) groundwater. Thing is, drilling fluid used to drill for pipelines is non-toxic–the primary component being bentonite clay. Bentonite is the same thing used to make kitty litter, cosmetics and toothpaste. So a little bentonite clay escaping into a water supply is not a big deal–unless it’s a LOT of bentonite escaping. Then it can foul a water supply, at least until the clay settles and the water clears again. A former geologist working for the Texas Railroad Commission (the government body in charge of regulating oil and gas in Texas) has written a thoughtful column in the Harrisburg Patriot-News to talk about loss of circulation that has happened in several locations while drilling for the Mariner East 2 pipeline in PA. The former geologist knows a thing or two about drilling, about benonite, and about spilling a little mud here and there. He provides some much needed perspective on the issue–a counterbalance to the wild speculations and false claims made by anti-fossil fuelers…
Rich, snobbish homeowners in an “upscale” Philadelphia suburb development are asking an appeals court to stop Sunoco Logistics from building the Mariner East 2 pipeline through the edge of their high-priced development because, they claim, the digging is disturbing the dirt (which is what digging does) and disturbing the dirt is causing lead and arsenic to become dislodged. The lead and arsenic are supposedly in the dirt as a result of pesticides used when the land was an apple orchard. The claim is flat out BS–Barbara Streisand. The Andover Homeowners Association in Thornbury Township (Delaware County) is the same group that a few weeks ago acted like five year-olds by intentionally stepping over a painted line put there to protect them from a ME2 construction zone (see 
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 
Acting like 5-year olds who have been told not to do something, but defiantly do it anyway, several homeowners in a housing development in Delaware County who were specifically instructed not to interfere with clearing work for the Mariner East 2 Pipeline in a Philadelphia suburb. The homeowners intentionally crossed a clearly-marked line into the construction zone, putting themselves at risk. The homeowners, who object to the pipeline, wanted to “push the buttons” of the workers at the construction site. The workers promptly called the cops and of course, work could not commence while the police interviewed everyone to see what’s what. In the end, no arrests were made. The homeowners were on jointly-owned housing development property. Their lawyer told them they could enter the work area as long as they didn’t stop the work being done. One of the 
Will anti-fossil fuel Big Green groups succeed in turning a molehill into a mountain? That’s what they are attempting to do with the latest tiny spill (50 gallons) of drilling mud by Sunoco Logistics Partners in underground drilling work for the Mariner East 2 pipeline project in Dauphin County, PA. Over the past several months, Sunoco has experienced some “inadvertent returns” (i.e. leaks) of drilling mud at various locations. One of those was in Chester County, where a serious leak temporarily fouled a water aquifer and clouded drinking water for 15 local households (see 
Those opposing two major Energy Transfer projects–Rover Pipeline and Mariner East 2–will not be happy with the good news coming from ET this week. The company issued its second quarter update and held a conference call yesterday. During the call we learned that Phase 1 of Rover, a $3.7 billion, 711-mile Rover Pipeline project that will run from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and eventually into Canada, is “substantially complete” with Phase 1A expected to be done next week and online asap. Phase 1A stretches from Cadiz to Defiance, which is most of Ohio. Phase 1B is a short segment from Seneca to Cadiz, and once ET gets clearance from FERC to drill horizontally under Captina Creek, it will only take them about 40 days to complete Phase 1B. If ET can convince FERC to allow them to restart more horizontal directional drilling (HDD) work, Phase 2 will be done soon as well–and the entire project will be up and running by the end of the year. More good news for Rover: The temporary ban on HDD work for Rover in two West Virginia counties that began two weeks ago has now been lifted by the WV Dept. of Environmental Protection. As for ET’s Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline project that stretches across Pennsylvania, 80% of the pipeline has been strung, more than 70% is welded and over half has been lowered in and covered up. As we reported yesterday and again today, ET subsidiary Sunoco Logistics Partners (building ME2) has brokered a deal with several radical environmental groups that will slow the project down some, but slow and done is better than no progress at all. Here’s an update on the good news about Rover and ME2…
Yesterday MDN brought you the news that Sunoco Logistics Partners had cut a deal with the devil, meaning three radical Big Green groups, to slow down but eventually complete work on the Mariner East 2 natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline project in Pennsylvania (see