DEP allows work on Revolution pipeline to start back up

Pipeline that exploded in 2018 will be re-routed

• Reid Frazier
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  Reid R. Frazier is an energy reporter for The Allegheny Front, a Pittsburgh-based public media outlet covering the environment in Pennsylvania. His work has aired on NPR and Marketplace.

A pipeline that blew up in Beaver County and destroyed a home two years ago is back under construction. 

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has given Energy Transfer, the Texas-based pipeline company, the go-ahead to re-route the Revolution Pipeline. 

The new route will avoid the site of the September 2018 blast that occurred on a section of the line less than one week after it was put into service. The natural gas pipeline ruptured after the hillside it was built on gave way following heavy rains. One house burned to the ground and several other buildings were damaged. Noone was injured. 

Both the U.S. Department of Justice and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office have opened up investigations into the blast. 

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection fined Energy Transfer a record $30 million, and noted thousands of infractions in the construction of the project. Since then, the agency has issued over 1,500 new violations against the company, according to compliance reports from the DEP’s web site. 

This month, the agency approved a plan by Energy Transfer to re-route the line, and authorized a separate permit to permanently stabilize the site of the blast. A spokeswoman for the company said work on the project has begun.

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