Sunoco Logistics’ use of eminent domain to take private land to build its Mariner East 2 pipeline came into question again on Thursday when a Philadelphia court ruled that an environmental group can argue that the practice is unconstitutional. Judge Linda Carpenter of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas denied the company’s request to summarily [...]
Nine months after heavily armed federal marshals patrolled a tree-cutting operation for the proposed Constitution Pipeline on a northeast Pennsylvania maple tree farm, the pipeline’s builders and its critics are awaiting a court ruling that may determine whether the project can proceed. The Williams Companies is appealing a decision by New York State that denied [...]
As the year winds down, we’re looking back at some of StateImpact Pennsylvania’s best radio reporting. From an unconventional election season, to continued controversies over pipelines, and a global climate conference, we covered a lot of ground on the airwaves in 2016. Take another listen: Drilling downturn In 2016 Pennsylvania’s drilling industry went through a [...]
Landowners battling pipeline companies over eminent domain takings got an early Christmas gift from the Commonwealth Court in the form of a new legal maneuver this week. An attorney representing a family fighting Sunoco’s Mariner East 2 pipeline in Huntingdon County will be able to use a recent Supreme Court ruling to try to strengthen [...]
A newly-formed citizens’ coalition is pushing to change the way eminent domain is applied in Pennsylvania. The group, called Protect Our Pennsylvania, held a rally at the State Capitol Tuesday. Their primary focus is limiting the seizure of private property for pipeline projects. The group’s spokesman, Eric Friedman, cites Sunoco Logistic’s proposed Mariner East 2 project, [...]
Delaware County’s Middletown Township decided on Monday to allow Sunoco Logistics to build its controversial Mariner East 2 pipeline through four parcels of public land but called for rigorous protections against leaks or explosions of natural gas liquids in light of grave public concerns about the pipeline’s safety. The township’s council voted unanimously to approve [...]
Updating with comments from critics, Sunoco Construction of the controversial Constitution Pipeline to carry natural gas from Pennsylvania to New York State has been delayed by about six months because its developer, the Williams Companies, is unable to complete tree cutting by a March 31 federal deadline that is designed to protect migratory birds, the [...]
A Pennsylvania-based environmental group has stepped up its campaign against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in a lawsuit accusing the agency of corruption and routine bias toward the natural gas industry’s applications to build pipelines. Delaware Riverkeeper Network says the agency, which regulates interstate pipelines, is unable to make objective decisions about whether a pipeline [...]
Megan Holleran lost the latest round of her long-running battle with the natural gas industry on Tuesday when men with chain saws began to fell trees on her family’s property to make way for an interstate pipeline. The felling crew took down about one and a half acres of trees on the 23-acre Susquehanna County [...]
A Philadelphia judge ruled that a legal challenge to Sunoco Logistics’ use of eminent domain for construction of its Mariner East 2 pipeline can go ahead despite the company’s call for the court to dismiss the case. Judge Linda Carpenter of the city’s Court of Common Pleas, in a decision published on Wednesday, sided with [...]
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