Delaware County (PA)

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Chester County | Delaware County (PA) | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | NGLs | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics

Latest Bizarre PR Attack on Mariner East 2 Pipeline
February 27, 2017February 27, 2017

Anti-drilling zealots are sometimes maddening, sometimes funny, and often just plain bizarre. As they are with their latest publicity attack (aided and abetted by PBS reporters) by claiming a couple of townships along the pipeline’s proposed route have ordinances in place that would potentially stop the pipeline in those locations “if only” those lazy, corrupt townships would just enforce the ordinances. That’s the upshot of the argument. One of the towns, Thornbury (Delaware County, a Philly suburb) has a requirement that the subdivision where the pipeline will run must maintain at least 40% of the land in the subdivision as “open space.” The antis claim the pipeline will use enough acreage to reduce the “open space” to below 40%. Ah, Mr. & Ms. Anti, did you know that the pipeline will run underground? And that pipelines lead to MORE permanent open spaces? Nice green fairways that are well-maintained? Lawyers from the usual radical suspects are getting ready to file lawsuits for “force” the townships to pay money defending against this latest inanity…
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Delaware County (PA) | Energy Services | Huntingdon County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics | Washington County

Mariner East 2 Pipeline Constructions Begins Across PA
February 21, 2017February 21, 2017

Pop the cork on the champagne bottle! Sunoco Logistics Partners has begun construction of the Mariner East 2–a $2.5 billion, 306-mile natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline that will run from eastern Ohio through the state of Pennsylvania to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia. Last week the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) gave its final approval for the project (see Finally! PA DEP Issues Final Permits for Mariner East 2 Pipeline). It didn’t take long for a coordinated attack from the the enviro left–THE Delaware Riverkeeper, the Philadelphia-based Clean Air Council and the Mountain Watershed Association (see Maya & Friends Sue (Once Again) to Stop Mariner East 2 Pipe). However, their efforts have (so far) failed, as we observed yesterday (see Last Minute Attacks Fail to Stop Mariner East 2 Pipeline Progress). Although you can’t discount a liberal judge throwing up roadblocks, the very good news is that construction has begun across PA–in Delaware County in the east, Huntingdon County in central PA, and Washington County in the west…
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Delaware County (PA) | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics

Middletown PA Decides to Blow $45K (not $100K) on Mariner 2 Study
January 27, 2017January 27, 2017

Rabidly anti-drilling organizations like the Philadelphia-based Clean Air Council (CAC) have been using the deep pockets of their contributors to stir up dissent against Sunoco’s Mariner East 2 NGL pipeline, particularly in towns in the Philly orbit (see Towns Near Philly Collude with CAC to Block Mariner East 2 Pipe?). CAC has towns like Middletown (Delaware County) so agitated, Middletown’s town council foolishly voted to allocate $100,000 out of $1.8 million the town received for leasing rights-of-way for the pipeline to assess risks and create an emergency response plan for the pipeline (see Mariner East 2 Tells PA Town: You’re Flushing $100K Down Toilet). Sunoco politely told Middletown they’re flushing 100 grand down the toilet. Federal guidelines already provide most if not all of the information (and planning) required to protect the good citizens of Middletown. So instead of blowing $100K, the town council voted this week to blow $44,500 instead…
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Delaware County (PA) | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics

Mariner East 2 Tells PA Town: You’re Flushing $100K Down Toilet
January 13, 2017January 13, 2017

Rabidly anti-drilling organizations like the Philadelphia-based Clean Air Council (CAC) have been using the deep pockets of their contributors to stir up dissent against Sunoco’s Mariner East 2 NGL pipeline, particularly in towns in the Philly orbit (see Towns Near Philly Collude with CAC to Block Mariner East 2 Pipe?). CAC has towns like Middletown (Delaware County) so agitated, Middletown’s town council foolishly voted to allocate $100,000 out of $1.8 million the town received for leasing rights-of-way for the pipeline to assess risks and create an emergency response plan for the pipeline. Sunoco is politely telling Middletown–you’re flushing 100 grand down the toilet. Federal guidelines already provide most if not all of the information (and planning) required to protect the good citizens of Middletown. So why is the town council throwing good money away?…
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Delaware County (PA) | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Sunoco Logistics

PA Town’s Angst Over Mariner East 2 Pipeline Near School, Park
September 14, 2016September 14, 2016

There is no doubt Sunoco Logistics Partners has been pushing a boulder up a hill when it comes to the Mariner East 2 pipeline project–a $2.5 billion, 350-mile natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline that will run from eastern Ohio through the state of Pennsylvania to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia, carting ethane, butane and propane to the facility from both the Utica and Marcellus region. For over a year the project was mired in legal challenges of whether or not it can claim public utility status, with a right to use eminent domain. In July, PA’s Commonwealth Court ruled it is a public utility with a right to use eminent domain (see Sunoco LP Wins Major Court Decision for Mariner East 2 Pipeline). But the fight continues–town by town. Nowhere is that more evident than Middletown Township in Delaware County, PA. Monday night the town council voted, unanimously, to put an ordinance on the docket for council members to vote on at the Sept. 26 meeting, an ordinance that if passed, will allow Sunoco LP to move forward with building the pipeline on public land in the town–in one case across a park, and in another close to an elementary school…
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Delaware County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Washington County

Business & Labor Unions Join Forces to Promote Pipelines in PA
June 18, 2015June 18, 2015

You don’t normally think of local Chambers of Commerce (business owners) and labor unions (rank and file workers) as breaking bread together. And they NEVER commingle their membership roles in order to lobby local, state and federal authorities on policy and regulation. Until now, that is. In Pennsylvania, two Chambers of Commerce on opposite sides of the state, the Delaware County Chamber and the Washington County Chamber, along with two labor unions, the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA) with 25,000 members and the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 66 with 7,000 members, have all joined forces. And what has the power to cause management and labor to join forces? The Marcellus Shale. The four organizations together have formed the Pennsylvania Energy Infrastructure Alliance, a “broad-based coalition in support of timely approval for critical energy infrastructure in the Commonwealth.” The main focus of the Alliance is to promote the benefits and building of pipelines…
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Delaware County (PA) | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | PVR Midstream

Happy Ending? ULS Awarded $24.3M from PVR for Unpaid Invoices
May 14, 2014May 14, 2014

In March MDN brought you the story that Utility Line Services Inc. (ULS), a construction company that works for utility companies–like digging trenches and laying pipeline–sued PVR Marcellus Gas Gathering in a Delaware County, PA court (see ULS Says PVR Marcellus Bankrupted Their Company by Not Paying). ULS says PVR owes them more than $17.7 million in unpaid invoices and another $7.8 million in lost profits–and that the unpaid invoices caused the company to declare bankruptcy, closing their doors. A sad story.

Good news (?) for ULS. In what is believed to be the biggest jury award of its kind in PA, the court ruled in favor of ULS and awarded them $24.3 million to be paid by PVR. The problem remains that ULS had to go out of business and 600 jobs were lost and they had to liquidate their equipment. So although this is good news, it’s small consolation after the company had to declare bankruptcy…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Delaware County (PA) | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Dems: No Leg to Stand on Criticizing $75M Forest Drilling Plan
March 18, 2014March 18, 2014

Another hypocritical PA House Democrat takes a potshot at the sitting Republican governor over the issue of drilling in PA state forests. As you may recall, Gov. Tom Corbett included a plan to raise $75 million for the state budget by allowing a bit more drilling than there already is in state forests (see PA Gov. Corbett’s Bold Plan for More Drilling in State Forests). The $75 million he would raise is out of a $29.4 BILLION budget–or exactly 0.00255 of the budget. Essentially a rounding error. And yet, hypocritical Democrats like State Rep. Greg Vitali (Delaware County, PA) chairman of the Pennsylvania House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, continue to heckle Corbett over that $75 million (see his letter below).

Here’s the hypocrisy that needs to be thrown right back in Vitali’s face: His committee previously approved plans that allowed then-Gov. Ed “Fast Eddie” Rendell (a Democrat) to raise $444 MILLION from doing the very same thing! It was only after Fast Eddie had his cash that he closed down drilling in state forests with an executive order. Corbett had the guts to lift that order and ask for another $75 million on non-invasive, under the ground (not on the surface) drilling to raise some more money for the budget, and the Dems throw a hypocritical cow. Shame on them…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Delaware County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA’s Ranking Dem on House Enviro Committee Big-Time Anti-Driller
March 20, 2013March 20, 2013

Need proof that many (most?) of Pennsylvania’s elected Democrats are anti-drilling dunderheads who have gorged themselves at the man-causes-global-warming-we-must-quickly-end-the-use-of-all-fossil-fuels buffet? How about this opinion piece, written by State Rep. Greg Vitali (Delaware County), the ranking Democrat on the PA House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee:

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Delaware County (PA) | Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Sunoco Logistics

Marcellus to the Rescue: Marcus Hook Refinery to Reopen
July 12, 2012December 19, 2012

The Marcus Hook Refinery in the Philadelphia, PA area was closed down in April. Owned by Sunoco, it is one of three refineries in the greater Philly area. A few weeks ago MDN told you about a study that Marcus Hook and Delaware County spent $100,000 on detailing potential uses and markets for the refinery (see this MDN story).

At the time, MDN asked the question if the Marcellus Shale would save the Marcus Hook refinery. Looks like it did. Yesterday, PA Gov. Tom Corbett’s office announced that some of the Marcus Hook Refinery assets have been purchased by Braskem America. Braskem will use it to manufacture polypropylene plastics. The press release says Braskem will secure feedstocks (raw materials) from “multiple sources,” without naming those sources. You can be sure natural gas liquids from the Marcellus and Utica Shale will be a big source—perhaps the main source—for the refinery.

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Delaware County (PA) | Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Sunoco Logistics

Will Marcellus Shale Save Philly Marcus Hook Refinery?
June 28, 2012June 28, 2012

Last year the Philadelphia region was hard-hit when both Sunoco and ConocoPhillips announced they would shut down a combined three refineries in the area. Since then, ConocoPhillips sold its refinery for $180 million to Delta Air Lines which will convert and use the plant for jet-fuel production. Sunoco is in talks to sell its one of two refineries (in Philly) to a joint venture headed by the Carlyle Group—but if that doesn’t develop, they’re going to shut it down.

And then there’s the Marcus Hook refinery, which closed it doors “for good” in April. Officials from the town of Marcus Hook and Delaware County are working hard to get it reopened. As part of that process, they commissioned a $100,000 study, just released, from IHS Consulting. The study identifies seven possible uses for the idled refinery, and pegs its best chances of reopening based on the abundance of natural gas and gas liquids coming from the Marcellus and Utica Shale region.

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Delaware County (PA) | Economic Impact | Energy Services | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Preferred Sands

Philly Frack Sand Company Expands, Buys WI Company
January 5, 2012January 5, 2012

Preferred Sands, a privately-held company headquartered in the Philadelphia suburb of Radnor, PA, has just bought out another sand company—Winn Bay Sand, located in Blair, Wisconsin—for $200 million. Preferred Sands is a frack sand and proppant company launched in 2007. It’s the largest frack sand producer in Canada, and one of the top three in the U.S.

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