Delaware River Basin

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April 10, 2018

Pipeline opponents offer their own $10k reward for information on Mariner East vandalism

Two separate $10,000 rewards are now offered for information on who vandalized a backhoe and bulldozer last week in West Whiteland Township, Chester County. The damaged construction equipment belongs to Sunoco/Energy Transfer Partners, which is building the controversial Mariner East 2 pipeline through the township. Sunoco announced its $10,000 reward last week, and pointed the [...]

April 5, 2018

Vandals damage Mariner East equipment in Chester County, Sunoco says

Workers and contractors for Sunoco Pipeline have been investigating geological conditions behind homes at Lisa Drive, West Whiteland Township, Chester County where the company has been drilling for construction of the Mariner East 2 and 2X pipelines. The company offered to relocate residents of the five homes whose yards are crossed by the pipeline right of way.

Sunoco Pipeline offered a $10,000 reward on Thursday for information leading to the arrest of vandals who the company said attacked construction equipment along the route of the controversial Mariner East 2 pipeline in West Whiteland Township, Chester County. The attacks on April 2 and 3 caused “significant damage” to two pieces of equipment, the [...]

April 2, 2018

Sunoco to residents near sinkholes: We’ll pay to relocate you during investigation

Pipeline workers probe the ground on Lisa Drive in West Whiteland Township where sinkholes have developed as a result of the Mariner East 2 construction. Vandalism to pipeline construction equipment has garnered two separate $10,000 rewards.

Jon Hurdle / StateImpact PA Workers and contractors for Sunoco Pipeline begin an ‘additional investigation’ of geological conditions behind homes at Lisa Drive, West Whiteland Township, Chester County where the company has been drilling for construction of the Mariner East 2 and 2X pipelines. The company offered to relocate residents of the five homes whose [...]

March 28, 2018

FERC’s critics, and two commissioners, say new comment policy will hurt landowners

FERC's headquarters in Washington, DC. The agency said it will review its longstanding policy on certification of natural gas pipelines.

FERC says it will limit public interventions in its pipeline review process if they are submitted outside the prescribed time, in a new policy that’s being attacked by the agency’s critics as an attempt to stifle comment. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said on March 15 that it won’t be so flexible with “untimely” interventions [...]

March 25, 2018

N.J. files in federal court to stop PennEast from condemning protected land

A sign on farmland near Palmerton in northeast Pennsylvania shows local opposition to the PennEast pipleline.Some believe land under the Farmland Preservation program has been targeted for the route because of it's lower market value. (Emma Lee/WHYY)

New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal has filed a motion to block PennEast Pipeline Co. from condemning over 20 properties acquired under open-space and farmland preservation programs. The New Jersey Conservation Foundation and Hunterdon Land Trust yesterday joined the state in asking a federal court to reject the company’s efforts to seize preserved land they [...]

March 23, 2018

Federal budget includes $5 million for Delaware River clean up

Teenagers take turns jumping into the Musconetcong river just below the Asbury Mill Dam. (Emma Lee/WHYY)

The $1.3 trillion spending bill signed by President Donald Trump on Friday unexpectedly brought good news for environmentalists. Instead of the proposed cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency and rollbacks for clean air and water protections, the new federal budget increased funds for a number of environment and energy preservation program, including $5 million for [...]

March 19, 2018

State says PES owes $3.8 billion in back taxes, urges court hold up bankruptcy plan

Philadelphia Energy Solutions is the largest oil refining complex on the Eastern seaboard. Half of all Bakken Crude traveling across the country by rail ends up at the PES plant.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro is urging a federal bankruptcy court to withhold approval of a bankruptcy petition by Philadelphia Energy Solutions, saying the company owes the state $3.8 billion in back taxes. Shapiro, in a document filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware on Friday, said the taxes are owed for “liquid fuel and [...]

March 9, 2018

‘It’s crazy, man’: Sinkholes, Sunoco’s pipeline inspection stir safety fears in Chester County

TJ Allen, a resident of West Whiteland Township in Chester County, stands in front of sinkhole enclosures in his back yard. Allen said he's worried about the sinkholes, and the fact that Sunoco has been ordered to make sure an existing pipeline that runs through his neighborhood is safe.

Sunoco scrambled to inspect an ageing pipeline on Friday in the backyards of Chester County homes where drilling for two new pipelines has caused several sinkholes to open up. Yellow backhoes dug holes in several places among homes along Lisa Drive and Lynetree Drive in West Whiteland Township after the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission ordered [...]

March 7, 2018

De-icing salt boosts safety during storms, but it poses a threat to fresh water

John Jackson, a senior research scientist at the Stroud Water Research Center, measuring conductivity at the White Clay Creek at the center.

Applying salt on roads and sidewalks during storm events is a safety issue — it helps keep roads drivable during winter and can prevent people from falling when it’s icy. But there’s a cost: Studies show that salt ends up running into streams and rivers, raising chloride and sodium levels in fresh waters across the [...]

PUC shuts down Mariner East 1 pipeline, citing public safety concerns raised by sinkholes

Crews work to stabilize sinkholes in a West Whiteland Township neighborhood on March 3. The sinkholes appeared recently near a construction site for the Mariner East 2 pipeline.

Pennsylvania’s Public Utility Commission on Wednesday ordered a temporary shutdown of the Mariner East 1 natural gas liquids pipeline, saying it could have a “catastrophic” effect on public safety if it leaks. PUC Chairman Gladys Brown approved a request by the commission’s Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement for an emergency order that would halt operation of the line [...]