Sunoco Drilling Rips Open Sinkhole In Chester County

WEST WHITELAND, PA — As Sunoco continues to drill in Chester County, the accidents continue to pile up.

The latest incident occurred on Monday as the oil giant continued drilling for its Mariner East 2 pipeline in West Whiteland Tonwship.

The incident is being described as a "frack-out," wherein horizontal directional drilling into the ground returns drilling fluids back to the surface.

The Daily Local News reports that around a thousand gallons of water and drilling mud dispersed out of the sinkhole and spilled out around the area. The hole itself was located in a backyard on Lisa Drive, where the outlet reports the Allen family resides. The family sold Sunoco an easement to drill on their property three years ago, but is reportedly upset with the way Sunoco has been treating them and handling the situation.

“I can’t believe that Sunoco can come on my property and say this is what we’re doing. They treat me arrogantly. You feel bullied," T.J. Allen told the Daily Local.

According to eyewitnesses, the backyard is a "mess" and is like walking on a "waterbed."

Not far from the destabilized ground, near the back of the property, run SEPTA and Amtrak lines. Route 30 is just beyond that.

Dozens of Sunoco workers at the scene used sandbags and machinery to control the spill.

Mariner East 2 has been fraught with controversy since its beginnings, as landowners were concerned about impacts to their property and environmentalists were concerned about the damage that would be caused by drilling for the pipeline and the risk of a potential spill.

State Sen. Andy Dinniman (D-Chester) has introduced legislation with bipartisan support designed to improve pipeline safety. He expressed frustration with the pipeline in a statement Tuesday.

"Seems like every day there's another problem with #MarinerEast," he wrote in a Facebook post. "The common thread = repeated examples of inadequate information, sloppy work, and unanswered questions. You would think or, at least, hope that with such volatile and potentially dangerous gasses being transmitted by this pipeline, that Sunoco and DEP would have done their due diligence in ensuring that all geological research and surveys were thoroughly and meticulously completed. Again and again, it looks like that was not the case."

In July, after public drinking water was contaminated and residents were forced to drink bottled water, a judge ordered the company to immediately halt all drilling. Drilling did not resume until after an Aug. 9 hearing laid new ground rules regarding where and how they could drill.

Mariner East 2, if completed, would run a pipeline carrying natural gas liquids from the massive Marcellus Shale deposit in western Pennsylvania to Marcus Hook, on the Delaware River. It crosses through significant portions of Chester and Delaware counties on its way. The oil will then be shipped overseas, largely for use in creating plastics.

Patch file photo