Photo taken by my friend Tom last evening after explosion or whatever it was from Energy Transfer/Sunoco
Last evening around 8 PM social media exploded from Facebook to Next Door with Chester County residents concerned about an explosion.
A friend of mine said today:
“It’s no longer about feeling angry and powerless about these pipelines, today I no longer feel safe in my home.”
What do you say to someone who is your friend when they say this? How do you console them? The short answer is you can’t. How can you? These pipelines are one problem after the other. Inadvertent returns or whatever you want to call it when drilling fluid rises up and floods a street, gets into a water well, and so on. Sinkholes. And now an explosion?
Residents of streets like Mary Jane Lane and in Hamlet Hill in West Chester actually felt their homes shake. Shake.
Oh and how dis Sunoco/Energy Transfer respond? See here:
For real? That’s it? That is the best they have got? Do they really think we are such rubes? I think we all know the difference between say an electrical transformer blowing, a car backfiring, and and actual explosion sound where HOUSES SHAKE????
It’s appalling. And will someone kindly explain how when people called this noise into 911 it didn’t even end up on PulsePoint? And only a lone police officer responded? There is a fire station right there, correct? With first responders who are response trained? Was this officer also trained in responding to pipeline emergencies? And before ANYONE FLIPS OUT I am not criticizing the fact this officer showed up, I am GRATEFUL he at least arrived on scene but where was everyone else? And now as the dust settles, I am being told by residents that the county says it is West Goshen’s responsibility yet supposedly the West Goshen Emergency Management Coordinator who is also purportedly the fire marshall over there did NOT know a thing until they saw it on social media this morning?
Who is playing God with the potential safety of residents?
All day long helicopters have been circling over there. My friends recorded them above their homes and I saw them myself when over at the Giant on Boot Road. They all can’t be from the helicopter museum, so who were they?
Saw this earlier:
And this:
Once again I am struck with the fact that residents and homeowners and even people who are just driving by pipeline sites are just constantly exposed to risk. We can’t live our lives in fear, but how about credible information?
Yes no one was hurt BUT this is scary, scary stuff. And as residents we seem to be forced to absorb an inordinate amount of potential danger when it comes to these pipelines. And we don’t benefit. There is no reward for the risk, just risk.
We have friends who have left this part of Chester County because of the pipelines. We have other friends who received NO as in ZERO disclosure of the pipeline easement when they bought their home in West Whiteland. They only found out purely by accident. Now they have their dream home and not so dreamy pipeline in their front yard.
Officials claim they are looking into all f this and to them I say try harder, look faster. Last night was an unwelcome reminder of the risk of those pipelines. Every day we see the destruction.
Sunoco says Mariner East 2 system ‘backfired’ during maintenance but no risk to public. Residents report loud explosion; company says no liquids leaked from line By Jon Hurdle
District Attorney’s Office Investigating After Mariner East Pipeline ‘Backfire’ Rattles Chester County Neighborhood By Joe Holden
Watch the entire CBS 3 report above. They are reporting that Sunoco/Energy Transfer put BIG trucks blocking their site where the big boom occurred so TV cameras and residents can’t see what is going on and WOW so neighbor friendly, right? And CBS 3, “reported sinkholes”? Really? They were real and documented, not reported.
Also an article in the Daily Local.
I will also note and post what Del-Chesco United for Pipeline Safety Coaltion and the Pipeline Safety Coalition have to say:
We all live here and our lives and the lives of our neighbors matter. Why do I always feel that we don’t matter when it comes to pipelines? Is this what we have to look forward to as other pipeline companies like Adelphia come to town?
I think it’s well past time for answers. What if last night had turned into neighborhoods blowing up? It’s not a stretch, it’s a question we need answers to.
This photo was taken recently by a Chester County resident. This is a scene we see all over. Residents deserve better. Residents deserve to feel safe.
Thanks for writing about this–can you imagine the pressure that must have built up for that kind of a sound to occur when it was released? When I think about that kind of pressure running through lines right around here, I can’t believe more people don’t find it as scary as I do!! I can’t help but replay the TV footage of that recent explosion at the Philly refinery in my head….but what else can be done to get the answers you mention?