Funded By Sunoco Fine, West Chester SD Gets $61K For Conservation

WEST CHESTER, PA — Sunoco was fined $12.6 million for safety violations related to construction of its Mariner East 2 pipeline, and West Chester is one of dozens of municipalities across PA reaping the reward.

The West Chester Area School District received a $61,656 to help remove invasive species and restore natural diverse forest in Westtown Township, the state Department of Environmental Protection announced this week.

A total of 61 projects across the state, including 11 in Chester County and five in Delaware County — the counties which Sunoco's pipelines pass through — received portions of the $12.6 million.

"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.

Awardees include school districts, municipalities, and nonprofits.

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 West Chester Area School District