Mariner East 2 pipeline is up and running, Sunoco says

Scott Blanchard/WITF

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Marie Cusick / StateImpact Pennsylvania

In this 2018 file photo, Energy Transfer, the parent company of Mariner East 2 pipeline builder, Sunoco, works at Snitz Creek in West Cornwall Township, Lebanon County after a drilling mud spill during the summer. (Marie Cusick/StateImpact Pennsylvania)

December 29, 2018 | 8:35 PM

Scott Blanchard / StateImpact Pennsylvania

The map shows the Mariner East 2 pipeline’s path across 17 Pennsylvania counties on its way to the Marcus Hook industrial complex in Delaware County, where the natural gas liquids it carries will be shipped overseas to make plastics. The map was built using state Department of Environmental Protection shapefiles of the route for which DEP issued permits. The line extends west into Ohio.

Sunoco says its long-delayed Mariner East 2 pipeline is in service as of Saturday.

The company said in a notice on its website that the 350-mile line, which spans Pennsylvania, will be carrying ethane, butane and propane to the Marcus Hook industrial complex in Delaware County.

Mariner East 2 was planned as a 20-inch pipeline. But because the full length of the 20-inch line will not be finished until 2020, the company said, it would join three different pipelines to create a hybrid through which natural gas liquids will flow temporarily. The company says it is calling that hybrid line Mariner East 2.

Construction began in early 2017, and the project was already 18 months behind schedule when it missed a September start-up target for the bringing the line into service. It has faced multiple construction-related violations and regulatory shutdowns, and has faced strenuous opposition from people who live near the pipeline route and from activist and watchdog groups who raise public safety concerns.

Even though the line is operating, challenges remain.

A Public Utility Commission administrative law judge is reviewing a request from several Chester and Delaware county residents to shut down the pipeline completely, and the Chester County district attorney just opened a criminal investigation into the project.

Mariner East 2 at a glance

Project announced: November 2014.
Pipeline in operation: Dec. 29, 2018, after multiple delays
Builder: Energy Transfer Partners/Sunoco Logistics
Cost: More than $2.5 billion. The company has not disclosed an updated cost.
Length: 350 miles from Scio, Ohio to the Marcus Hook industrial complex in Delaware County, Pa. It runs along the same right-of-way used by Mariner East 1, a repurposed line that is carrying natural gas liquids to Marcus Hook, and Sunoco’s next project, Mariner East 2X.
Pennsylvania counties traversed: 17
Economic impact: Potentially $9 billion in from construction and other activity between 2014-2019, according to a study paid for by ETP.
What it carries: Natural gas liquids from Marcellus Shale fields in Ohio and western Pennsylvania. Mariner East 2 is part of a three-stage project: Mariner East 1 involved reversing the flow of an existing line; the company has plans to build Mariner East 2x. All three lines will run along the same right of way.
Where they’re going: The natural gas liquids are being shipped overseas to make plastics.