{"id":42319,"date":"2019-01-06T12:37:34","date_gmt":"2019-01-06T17:37:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=42319"},"modified":"2019-01-06T12:37:34","modified_gmt":"2019-01-06T17:37:34","slug":"energy-transfer-uses-workaround-to-open-mariner-east-2-pipeline-amid-hazard-worries-criminal-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=42319","title":{"rendered":"Energy Transfer Uses Workaround to Open Mariner East 2 Pipeline Amid Hazard Worries, Criminal Investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 id=\"page-title\" class=\"page__title title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.desmogblog.com\/2019\/01\/03\/energy-transfer-opens-mariner-east-2-pipeline-criminal-investigation-pennsylvania\">Energy Transfer Uses Workaround to Open Mariner East 2 Pipeline Amid Hazard Worries, Criminal Investigation<\/a><\/h3>\n<article class=\"node-13396 node node-blog node-promoted view-mode-full clearfix\">\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.desmogblog.com\/sites\/beta.desmogblog.com\/files\/styles\/full_width_blog_image\/public\/blogimages\/ME2%20Protest.jpeg?itok=O3UNP-jx\" alt=\"Mariner East 2 pipeline opponents protest the pipeline project with signs \" width=\"826\" height=\"618\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"new-horizontal-social-bar clearfix\">\n<div class=\"new-horizontal-share-wrapper new-horizontal-fb-wrapper clearfix\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"new-horizontal-share-wrapper new-horizontal-tw-wrapper clearfix\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"new-horizontal-share-wrapper new-horizontal-rd-wrapper clearfix\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"new-horizontal-share-wrapper new-horizontal-gp-wrapper clearfix\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"new-horizontal-share-wrapper new-horizontal-email-wrapper clearfix last\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<p>Energy Transfer has begun shipping natural gas liquids\u00a0through one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/pennsylvania\/2018\/12\/24\/spills-shutdowns-and-legal-challenges-a-tumultuous-year-for-mariner-east-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">most troubled<\/a> pipeline projects in Pennsylvania, sparking calls for additional investigations as residents say safety concerns remain\u00a0unresolved.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.desmogblog.com\/2018\/10\/28\/field-guide-petrochemical-plastics-industry\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Natural gas liquids<\/a> (<span class=\"caps\">NGL<\/span>s) are fossil fuels found in large volumes in \u201cwet\u201d shale gas wells. They include the highly flammable fuels propane and butane, plus ethane, which is used extensively in the petrochemicals and plastics\u00a0industy.<\/p>\n<p>A year ago today, Pennsylvania temporarily <a href=\"https:\/\/www.desmogblog.com\/2018\/01\/03\/pennsylvania-suspends-mariner-east-ii-fossil-fuel-pipeline-work-citing-egregious-and-willful-law-violations-sunoco\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">suspended permits<\/a> for Mariner East 2 pipeline construction, citing the builder\u2019s \u201cegregious and willful violations\u201d of state\u00a0laws.<\/p>\n<p>Portions of Mariner East 2 construction remain under a separate injunction, this one issued by a state administrative law judge in May, after sinkholes opened up in West Whiteland Township in the densely populated suburbs of\u00a0Philadelphia.<\/p>\n<p>The Mariner East projects are the subject of a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.philly.com\/business\/chesco-da-wolf-sunoco-mariner-pipeline-criminal-investigation-20181219.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">criminal probe<\/a> by the Chester County district attorney\u2019s office, which announced in December that it was investigating potential charges including risking a catastrophe, criminal mischief, and environmental\u00a0crimes.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"dquo\">\u201c<\/span>We expected the state regulators and the governor to step in and assure the safety of Pennsylvanians,\u201d District Attorney Tom Hogan said in a statement announcing the investigation. \u201cThey have not.\u201d (Energy Transfer has <a href=\"https:\/\/in.reuters.com\/article\/energy-transfer-mariner\/pennsylvania-prosecutor-opens-criminal-investigation-of-mariner-east-pipe-idINL1N1YP1SB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cvehemently\u201d denied<\/a>wrongdoing.)<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, just before the New Year, Energy Transfer, which owns Sunoco, announced that it was starting to operate the Mariner East 2 pipeline, bypassing more than 20 miles of unfinished construction by using a small 12-inch pipeline originally installed in the\u00a01930s.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.desmogblog.com\/sites\/beta.desmogblog.com\/files\/1024px-Sunoco_Logistics_Sign_near_Mariner_East_II_Pipeline_credit-SamHolt6_creative-commons.jpg\" alt=\"Sunoco Pipeline sign near Mariner East II pipeline site in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.\" \/><br \/>\n<em><a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Sunoco_Logistics_Sign_near_Mariner_East_II_Pipeline_Site.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sunoco Pipeline sign near Mariner East <span class=\"caps\">II<\/span> pipeline site in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.<\/a> Credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/User:SamHolt6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SamHolt6<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/deed.en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"caps\">CC<\/span> <span class=\"caps\">BY<\/span>&#8211;<span class=\"caps\">SA<\/span>\u00a04.0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Residents were\u00a0displeased.<\/p>\n<p>\u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Energy Transfer Uses Workaround to Open Mariner East 2 Pipeline Amid Hazard Worries, Criminal Investigation Energy Transfer has begun shipping natural gas liquids\u00a0through one of the most troubled pipeline projects in Pennsylvania, sparking calls for additional investigations as residents say safety concerns remain\u00a0unresolved. Natural gas liquids (NGLs) are fossil fuels found in large volumes in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5317,23726,23727,619,11167],"class_list":["post-42319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","tag-desmog-blog","tag-energy-transfer","tag-mariner-east-2-pipeline","tag-pennsylvania","tag-sharon-kelly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42319"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42320,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42319\/revisions\/42320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}