Funded By Sunoco Fine, Delco Gets $624K For Conservation Projects

DELAWARE COUNTY, PA — Sunoco was fined $12.6 million for safety violations related to construction of its Mariner East 2 pipeline, and Delaware County County is reaping the benefit.

Five different projects across the county were given a solid chunk of that fine — $624,511, in fact — for environmental projects.

A total of 61 projects across the state, including 11 in Chester County and thefive in Delaware County — the counties which Sunoco's pipelines pass through — received portions of the $12.6 million. Awardees include school districts, municipalities, and nonprofits:

• Middletown Township – $198,472 – Stormwater management, streambank restoration, and invasive species removal in Middletown Township
• Thornbury Township – $75,864 – Retrofitting a stormwater retention basin into a rain garden to help reduce stormwater runoff pollution in Thornbury Township
• Upper Chichester Township – $89,175 – Stormwater management project to reduce runoff pollution and improve recreational access in Upper Chichester Township
• Rose Tree Media School District – $151,000 – Improvements to the drinking water infrastructure at Glenwood Elementary School in Middletown Township
• Brookhaven Borough - $110,000 – Stormwater management to reduce runoff pollution into Chester Creek and Ridley Creek in Brookhaven Borough

"These projects do not absolve Sunoco of its responsibility to restore any damage to Pennsylvania waters and wetlands through the construction of the pipeline," DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell said in a statement. "But it is nice that this penalty could be put directly towards other deserving improvement projects in the communities along the right-of-way."

>>Sunoco Fined $12.6 Million For Mariner East 2 Violations

While many of the projects are different, they are connected by one factor: they all involve water, whether that means watershed restoration, runoff reduction, or something else.

Some of the staunchest opponents of fracking and Sunoco's Mariner East 2 pipeline are water activists who have expressed concerns over tainted drinking water in wells and other pollution. The concerns are multi-faceted: there is the fracking itself, then the construction of the pipeline, and then the possibility of accidents once the pipeline is complete.

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.

Image via Justin Heinze/Patch