Sunoco Fined $12.6 Million For Mariner East 2 Violations

The state of Pennsylvania has levied a historic $12.6 million fine on Sunoco for violations related to Mariner East 2, they announced this week. As a condition of paying the fine, Sunoco will be permitted to continue drilling for their highly controversial pipeline project. All operations have been suspended since Jan. 3, when the state cited violations of the Clean Streams Law.

However, lawmakers and activists had been applying pressure on the state to suspend the pipeline for public and environmental health reasons for months.

The state said the fine levied on Sunoco is one of the largest civil penalties they have ever collected.

In statements issued by the Department of Environmental Protection, they addressed their own "high standards" for safety more than the material of Sunoco's violations. They did acknowledge the severity of Sunoco's violations in their statement, which was issued Thursday.

"A permit suspension is one of the most significant penalties DEP can levy," DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell said.

However, critics say that DEP has been anything but stringent on Sunoco, and that this fine is simply not enough.

"You cannot put a price tag on the health, safety, and well-being of our communities," said State Sen. Andy Dinniman (D-Chester). "Nothing in this agreement – or in any action or correspondence from the current administration for that matter – adequately addresses our ongoing concerns regarding the proximity of the pipeline to schools, daycare facilities, parks, libraries, and senior living communities."

Specifically, Dinniman and others want an independent risk assessment on Mariner East 2 to be completed. Not by Sunoco, not by the DEP, but by an impartial third party.

Dinniman said that residents had already raised $14,000 toward this goal and that some of Sunoco's fine should have gone to this fund (it was directed instead to the Pennsylvania Clean Water Fund).

"Keep in mind, the very agency (DEP) that is collecting this fine is the same one that failed to strongly enforce its permit from the get-go and, in doing so, allowed many of these violations, including drilling fluid spills and damage to local wells and aquifers, to occur," Dinniman said. "It’s almost as if they are completely tone-deaf in that regard."

DEP said that while Sunoco had violated various permit agreements leading up to the suspension, they had satisfied the state that they would "conduct the remaining pipeline construction activities in accordance with the law," McDonnell said.

Supporters of the pipeline point to the economic benefit.

"The restart of this project is good news for the workers who were idled and hoping for a speedy resolution after construction was halted, and good news for commonwealth residents who are eager to realize the benefits of one of the state’s largest energy infrastructure projects," said Kurt Knaus, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Energy Infrastructure Alliance.

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, in addition to fifteen other counties around the state, on its way. The oil will then be shipped overseas, largely for use in creating plastics.

The pipeline has been a point of major controversy in Chester County, where "frack outs," oil spills, damaged water, and disagreements over use of private property have occurred over the past year. Protests have followed in the wake of the pipeline.

Patch file photo