Sunoco pays $85,000 for spills in four counties

Rachel McDevitt

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I report on energy and the environment for StateImpact Pennsylvania at WITF.

My work focuses on responses and solutions to climate change in the state legislature and communities around the state. I trace my interest in these issues back to my time as a Girl Scout and this episode of Rocko’s Modern Life.

I look forward to winter just for the chance to ski a few times each season. I try to keep myself from doom-scrolling on my phone by keeping my hands busy knitting and learning to play the piano.

I grew up in Cambria County, Pa. and graduated from Temple University. I started at WITF just after Christmas in 2014.

Rachel McDevitt / StateImpact Pennsylvania

There have been dozens of construction problems at the site where the Mariner East pipeline crosses Snitz Creek in Lebanon County. The area is seen here on June 1, 2021.

August 18, 2021 | 5:23 AM

Pennsylvania’s environmental regulator is levying an $85,666 penalty against Sunoco for issues with its Mariner East project in four counties last year.

The agreement between Sunoco and the Department of Environmental Protection covers 13 drilling fluid spills in Blair, Cumberland, Juniata, and Lebanon counties.

The spills released a total of 412 gallons of industrial waste into wetlands and streams between February and August 2020. The sites include a wetland in Blair County, Letort Spring Run and wetlands in Cumberland County, a wetland and Tuscarora Creek in Juniata County, and Snitz Creek in Lebanon County.

DEP says all the spills were cleaned up in line with a 2018 revised construction plan.

Most of the penalty money, $84,500, will go to the state’s Clean Water Fund.

The Fish and Boat Commission will get $12,424. County conservation districts that helped with the investigations will get $1,166.

Sunoco has already paid half a million dollars in fines for spills in Lebanon County last year. Snitz Creek has seen dozens of problems since the Mariner East II project started.

Sunoco did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.