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Chester Co DA Bullies Mariner East Pipe into Signing Consent Order

The Chester County, PA District Attorney, Democrat Deb Ryan, has pressured and bullied Energy Transfer (ET) and its Sunoco Pipeline subsidiary into signing a “consent decree” that guarantees if ET spills one cup of drilling mud or creates any kind of “public nuisance” in finishing up work on the Mariner East pipeline, the DA gets to haul the company into county court and charge it with a crime. The consent decree means in addition to the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) breathing down their necks, ET now gets a second master (AG Ryan) breathing down their necks too. Joy.
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Happy 25th Birthday to Energy Transfer – Ranked 59th on Fortune 500

Cue the music and begin singing: Happy Birthday to You! Energy Transfer (ET), the midstream (pipeline) giant headquartered in Dallas, Texas, is celebrating its 25th year in business. The company began as a small intrastate pipeline company with 200 miles of natural gas pipes in east Texas and 20 employees. Today it owns more than 90,000 miles of pipelines crossing 38 states and Canada with nearly 10,000 employees. All in just 25 years. Hats off to co-founders Kelcy Warren and Ray Davis. ET owns a number of important pipelines in the Marcellus/Utica region.
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Sunoco Proposes ME2 Pipe Reroute at Marsh Creek Lake Location

Last October Energy Transfer (Sunoco Pipeline) pushed back against a demand by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) that the company’s Mariner East 2X pipeline project be rerouted one mile around Marsh Creek State Park (in Chester County, PA) following a drilling mud spill in August (see Sunoco Appeals DEP Order to Reroute ME2 Pipe from Marsh Creek Park). Sunoco asked the PA Environmental Hearing Board, a special court created to hear appeals of DEP decisions, to override the DEP’s demand to reroute ME2X. ET/Sunoco has just proposed its own tweak to the Marsh Creek plan, a slight reroute of 1,400 feet instead of the DEP’s one mile, and a change to using open trench construction, away from using underground horizontal directional drilling.
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PA PUC Judge Fines ME Pipe $2K, Orders it to Talk More to Locals

In what can only be characterized as a complete and utter failure of a Big Green lawsuit, yesterday a Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) judge ordered Sunoco Logistics, builder of the Mariner East pipeline system, to pay a $2,000 fine (the equivalent of a few high-priced lunches) and talk more to local groups around Philadelphia that want to complain about the project. That’s the end result of a request by seven antis that began in November 2018 asking the PUC to shut down the entire three-pipeline project (see Desperation: 7 Philly Antis Ask PA PUC to Stop ME1, Block ME2).
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Antis Claim Muddy Water at ME2 Pipe Site Hurts Trout Fishing

click for larger version

Yet another ginned-up, faux controversy. Another fake news story emanating from the left (PBS in this case) about muddy water coming from a construction site near Philadelphia where the final pieces of the Mariner East 2 pipeline are getting installed. Without being able to point to a single dead fish, neighbors “fed up with the noise from Sunoco’s trucks and construction operations” are pointing to “murky brown water” and claiming “trout have a hard time surviving in muddy water.” Yet the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) says flat out there are no violations happening at the site.
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Fed Judge Allows Investor Lawsuit Against ME2 Pipeline to Advance

In January 2020, the retirement systems for public employees of various cities, including the Allegheny County Employees’ Retirement System, filed a lawsuit against Energy Transfer and subsidiary Sunoco Logistics alleging top management made false and misleading statements about the construction of three Mariner East natural gas pipelines across Pennsylvania. The lawsuit alleges because of those statements, the share price of their stock fell and investors lost a boatload of money. Yesterday a federal judge in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled some of the allegations made by the investors do not pass muster and dismissed them. However, the judge ruled other allegations do pass muster and therefore the remaining parts of the lawsuit can continue.
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PA Antis Still Trying to Shake Down ME2 Pipe for Attorney Fees

In July 2018 three radical environmental groups dropped their objections to permits the Pennsylvania DEP previously granted for the Mariner East 2 Pipeline. Clean Air Council, Mountain Watershed Association, and THE Delaware Riverkeeper “settled” their appeal of 20 permits issued to Sunoco for the ME2 project (see Enviro Groups Back Down on Challenging DEP Permits for ME2 Pipe). After settling, the radicals demanded that Sunoco/Mariner East pay $228,246 in legal fees, even though the radicals are the ones who did the suing! Last month Commonwealth Court told the radicals to go pound sand (see ME2 Pipe Does NOT have to Pay Anti Attorneys in Lawsuit Settlement). The radicals are now petitioning the PA Supreme Court to hear the case and force ME2 to pay for sky-high attorney fees that the radicals chose to pursue!
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Sunoco Fights DEP’s “Arbitrary and Capricious” Marcus Hook Plan

Marcus Hook site

Once again Energy Transfer (ET), via subsidiary Sunoco Partners Marketing & Terminals, is squabbling with the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection. ET is also at odds with the special court set up to hear appeals of DEP rulings called the Environmental Hearing Board (EHB). ET says a series of proposed and signed-off modifications to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia has been reopened and numbers/assumptions changed by the DEP, and combined together in a way that makes meeting air quality regulations more difficult and expensive. The DEP combined sources after the individual projects were previously approved by the agency.
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PA DEP Picks Pocket of Sunoco Another $497,000 for ME2 Pipe

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is sticking its sticky fingers into the pocket of Energy Transfer/Sunoco one more time, and this time drawing out nearly half a million dollars to pay for a series of small spills of nontoxic drilling mud in Snitz Creek in Lebanon County. It isn’t the first time the DEP has fined ET for Mariner East 2 (ME2) work. We’ve lost track of how many millions of dollars ET/Sunoco has paid in various fines–some of it legit, some of it (in our opinion), not legit.
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Chester Co DA’s “Buy a Badge” Case Against ME2 Pipe Complete Bust

Last August we told you about the politically-motivated prosecution (by the Chester County, PA District Attorney’s office) of men connected to a security firm providing off-duty constables to protect Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline construction sites (see Chester DA Persecution of Off-Duty Constables Guarding ME2 Pipe). Last June a Chester County Magisterial District Judge dismissed the entire case against the local head of security for Energy Transfer (builder of ME2) in what the Chester DA’s office lyingly calls a “buy a badge scheme” (see Chester DA Charges Against ME Pipe Security Chief Tossed by Judge). Since it couldn’t hurt Energy Transfer, the DA’s office decided to go after the security firm hired by Energy Transfer instead. Talk about low. After several more dismissals, the case is now almost completely resolved–with NO convictions of any kind. That is, the entire case against ET and the security guards is a bust. A waste of time and taxpayer money.
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ME2 Pipe Does NOT have to Pay Anti Attorneys in Lawsuit Settlement

Here’s a small victory to celebrate. In July 2018 three radical environmental groups dropped their objections to permits the DEP previously granted for the Mariner East 2 Pipeline. Clean Air Council, Mountain Watershed Association, and THE Delaware Riverkeeper “settled” their appeal of 20 permits issued to Sunoco for the ME2 project (see Enviro Groups Back Down on Challenging DEP Permits for ME2 Pipe). After settling, the radicals demanded that Sunoco/Mariner East pay $228,246 in legal fees, even though the radicals are the ones who did the suing!
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Judge Tosses Chester DA Charges Against ME2 Security Worker

Last August we told you about the politically-motivated prosecution (by the Chester County, PA District Attorney’s office) of two men connected to a security firm providing off-duty constables to protect Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline construction sites (see Chester DA Persecution of Off-Duty Constables Guarding ME2 Pipe). A Chester County judge has just completely tossed the case against one of those men, exonerating and restoring his good name.
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Woman Small Biz Owner Thanks ME Pipe for Dreams Come True

Brenda Matias-Falco

Week after week and month after month anti-fossil fuel “environmental” groups, aided and abetted by their willing accomplices in mainstream “media”, bash away at Energy Transfer’s Mariner East (ME) pipeline projects, particularly in the southeast PA region near Philadelphia. What you don’t hear are stories of how ME has transformed and benefited individuals and entire companies–for the better. We have one such story below, written by a woman who owns a small business in the Philly area.
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Court Overrules DEP – ME2 Does NOT Need to Reroute Around State Park

The Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board (EHB), a special court set up to hear appeals of decisions by the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), ruled on Wednesday that Sunoco Pipeline’s Mariner East 2 project does NOT have to reroute around Marsh Creek State Park in Chester County as ordered by the DEP. At least, not yet.
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Mariner East 2 Pipe Begins Construction Thru Apartment Complex

Sunoco Pipeline is beginning construction work this week on some of the final bits of the Mariner East 2 pipeline project in Delaware County. One of the projects is to install the pipeline through the Glen Riddle Station Apartment complex. The owner and tenants are not happy. They should have known this day would come.
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Anti Wins ME2 Pipe Victory but Still Not Happy, Wants In-Person Mtg

Mainstream media is spinning the story of a Cumberland County, PA man who doesn’t feel safe living 1,000 feet away from the Mariner East pipeline into a David and Goliath cliche. The man won a small victory from a left-leaning, Sunoco-hating administrative law judge last December (see PA Judge Fines Mariner East Pipe $1K for Scaring Homeowner). As part of his “victory,” the man won a Sunoco public information session in his area. A session where folks can gripe and moan and carry on. Because of COVID-19, the session will be virtual. He doesn’t like it.
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