Mariner East Invokes Eminent Domain Against 2 SWPA Landowners
Another “nobody wins” eminent domain lawsuit has been filed by a pipeline company. This time it’s Sunoco Logistics filing for their Mariner East pipeline against two different families/landowners in Washington County, PA. The landowners don’t want the pipeline but Sunoco insists it’s necessary to have those specific properties. The problem is, will an eminent domain claim hold up in court? Last July, two independent administrative law judges working for the PA Public Utility Commission (PUC) ruled that Mariner East is not, according to the definition, a “public utility” (see Setback for Mariner East NGL Pipe – Judges Say Not Public Utility). But then in October, the full board of Commissioners for the PUC voted to send the case back to those judges with instructions to “reconsider” their decision (see Major Milestone: PA PUC Rules Mariner East IS a Public Utility). Sunoco has a lot riding on whether or not their claim to be a public utility will hold up in court. If Mariner East is not a public utility, they have no claim to eminent domain powers…
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It’s about time. Twelve (12) leaseholders and a real estate developer in Middlesex and Adams Townships, in Butler County, PA (near the Mars School District) have filed a lawsuit against local anti-drillers as well as against THE Delaware Riverkeeper and the Philadelphia-based Clean Air Council, suing them for damages because their ongoing frivolous lawsuits have keep the leaseholders from realizing profits from their leased land. And get this, the Martians and Big Green groups being sued are upset, saying their free speech rights are being infringed. Talk about nuts! It’s OK for anti-drillers to launch lawsuit after lawsuit, but as soon as someone pushes back and files a lawsuit against them, they start squealing like little piglets…
In November 2014 Sunoco Logistics committed to building the $2.5 billion Mariner East 2 pipeline to increase capacity in moving natural gas liquids like ethane, propane and butane from western Pennsylvania to the Marcus Hook refinery in Philadelphia (see 
Here’s how it works in anti-drilling land. Students who want to make a name for themselves and earn some cashola accept “funding” (i.e. a bribe) from an anti-drilling organization. The “funder” (i.e. briber) determines the topic and result they want the “research” to report. The students, from a prestigious school, then doctor up the research with enough surface credibility to fool stupid mainstream media types. The students then publish that “research” in an online journal with very low standards. What do you get? Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health accepting money from the Heinz Endowments to publish a study claiming mommies who live close to Marcellus Shale wells have babies with low birth weights (copy of the study below), published in the online journal PLOS ONE, now being picked up by the likes of CBS and other news outlets who are reporting what the authors themselves say is research that doesn’t prove anything. News headlines are then generated linking fracking to a negative health condition. The low-information, headline-only reading crowd reads the headline and never bothers to question whether or not it’s true (which it isn’t), and voila–we have another case of public brainwashing, assisted by students prostituting themselves for money and fame, and damaging the reputation of the University of Pittsburgh. All bought and paid for by a big money donor to the school, Teresa Heinz-Kerry, using her dead first husband’s money…
Yesterday Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s pick to head the all-important Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), John Quigley, faced a confirmation hearing in the PA Senate. Quigley sparred with Republican Senators who challenged him over his two-year stint at the anti-drilling organization PennFuture. He also assured the Senators that if Gov. Wolf’s insidious severance tax is passed, the “industry’s not going anywhere” he said. In other words, we have them by the short hairs and they have no other options. Au contraire, Mr. Quigley. Au contraire. We’ve made no bones about our disdain for Quigley. He shouldn’t be the next Secretary of the DEP. But we’re under no illusion. He’ll likely get approved. What was interesting, however, is that at the conclusion of the hearing, the Senators on the panel voted to refer Quigley’s appointment to the full Senate–without recommendation. That’s extremely rare. It was a vote of no confidence by the senators, as in “here, we’ll let ya’ll vote on him any which way you want to, we wash our hands of it.” It will be interesting to see how many vote against his confirmation. It’s good to know we’re not a lone voice crying in the wilderness. There is someone else–a very important someone else–who also doesn’t think Quigley should be confirmed. That important someone else is John Peterson, former U.S. Congressman and Executive Director of the Allegheny Forest Alliance…