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.
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.
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.
State Sen. Andy Dinniman. Photo from Sunday 2/18/2018 courtesy of Del-Chesco United for Pipeline Safety’s Facebook Page
About a month ago, I wrote a post about how I feel about the pipelines tearing up Chester County. The post was titled not our pipeline.
I am thinking not our pipeline needs to be a blog category.
Why?
Chester County is under siege from gas pipelines and Sunoco Logistics/Mariner East has proven these companies don’t care about anything other than their profits, etcetera right?
And how can we say the companies are safe? Given the sinkholes, polluted wells, explosion fears and more?
Del-Chesco United for Pipeline Safety photo
In 2017 Chester County had a multitude of polluted wells, sinkholes, and other issues from pipeline projects. They all do that horizontal or slanted drilling and it’s being done next to firehouses, schools, too close to homes, correct? How is this all allowed again?
I am a cancer survivor. I am terrified of polluted wells. I am terrified of pipelines. They destroy our properties, have serious potential to lessen our property values, and here in Chester County we have a lot of limestone and other shifting kinds of soils that means we get sinkholes. (Remember that house that made the news because of one after pipeline drilling came to visit?)
And yes, there are people who are strangely OK with pipelines on their properties. That is their right. But if you look at it from a purely practical financial perspective, are they even adequately compensated for their land? Are they not only given a small one time paltry fee and is it not true that for subsequent pipeline owners, they don’t have to pay the land owner if new pipeline owners come in? It’s not like any affected land owners get annual compensation is there?
So economically speaking, is it ever worth it to let these gas pipeline leeches on your property? I don’t think so. To me it’s like having perpetual squatters who can cause explosions, pollute your wells, etc.
For the initial not our pipeline post I received positive comments, supportive comments, and threatening comments. To those who disagree with me I say simply: First Amendment. They haven’t repealed that yet in Washington.
The company is one I am not familiar with called Adephia. And they are going to be sailing through Chester County PA and places like East Whiteland and East Goshen Townships because they are acquiring the old Interstate Energy pipeline. (If I am reading the map correctly – plug your address in here on the Pipeline Information Center Mapping Application.
(Yes that handy interactive map can tell you where the pipelines are. I have friends who are NOT buying a house in a certain Chester County location because of the proximity of a pipeline to a property they were interested in.)
The buyer of an 84-mile, 250,000-cubic-foot capacity pipeline in the Philadelphia area plans to convert the pipeline from oil to natural gas, adding new compression and valve stations to move fuel to its Marcus Hook, Pa., destination.
Adelphia Gateway, which said in November it was buying the pipeline for $189 million from Talen Energy, filed its 1,285-page application last week with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Adelphia, a subsidiary of New Jersey Resources, announced the filing late Monday, the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper reported…..Adelphia Gateway plans to convert the southern 50-mile portion of the line, which formerly carried oil but has been idle since 2014, to transport gas southward to customers in the state’s counties of Montgomery, Chester, and Delaware.
So these companies all seem to say this is for our benefit until we the people discover it’s not?
According to Bloomberg, New Jersey Resources is in Wall, NJ and Mr. Downes compensation as of end of 2016 was $4,875,320 and here is his bio:
Mr. Laurence M. Downes has been the Chairman of the Board of New Jersey Resources Corporation since September 1996 and has been its President and Chief Executive Officer since July 1995. Mr. Downes serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of New Jersey Natural Gas, NJR Clean Energy Ventures, NJR Energy Services, NJR Midstream and NJR Service Corporation. He has been a Director at New Jersey Resources Corporation since 1995 and Energen Corporation since May 2017. He serves as the Chairman of John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development’s National Advisory Board and Member of National Petroleum Council. Mr. Downes is a Director of the American Gas Association, Trustee of the American Gas Foundation, and a Member of the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. Mr. Downes provides the Board with strong leadership and direction and a considerable amount of experience.He served as a Director of Questar Corporation from 2010 to September 2016. Mr. Downe has extensive knowledge of the energy industry, experience as the leader of the Company and innovative thinking. Mr. Downes’ board positions at other natural gas and energy-focused organizations have positioned him to bring experience and industry knowledge to his position as Chairman of the Board.Mr. Downes’ years of service on the Board, he has developed extensive knowledge in the areas of leadership, strategy, safety, risk oversight, management and corporate governance, each of which provides great value to the Board. He served as Chairman of the American Gas Association, Trustee of the American Gas Foundation. Mr. Downes is a Graduate of Iona College with B.B.A. in Finance and M.B.A.
Remind me again how Chester County residents are “compensated” for pipelines?
Interstate Energy Company (a subsidiary of Talen Energy) was acquired by New Jersey Resources’ Adelphia Gateway, LLC in November of 2017. As a result, the Interstate Energy Company content has been migrated to Adelphia Gateway, LLC’s website. Visit Website
The Adelphia Gateway Project, traversing portions of Delaware, Chester, Montgomery, Bucks and Northampton counties will convert the remaining 50 miles of an existing 84-mile pipeline in southeastern Pennsylvania from oil to natural gas delivery. The northern 34 miles of the pipeline — extending from western Bucks County to Martins Creek Terminal in Northampton County — were converted to deliver natural gas in 1996. This project will repurpose the southern 50-mile portion of the pipeline to flow natural gas utilizing existing infrastructure and will require minimal new construction. Once converted, the pipeline will transport approximately 91 million dekatherms per year of natural gas to the greater Philadelphia market.
When in service, the pipeline conversion from oil to natural gas will give customers in the greater Philadelphia area a new, “competitively-priced” source of natural gas. Adelphia Gateway intends to have delivery interconnects with local distribution companies (LDCs) and other industrial end users, such as natural gas-powered electric generation facilities, in various locations along the pipeline route.
A full project description and mapping can be viewed at the following links:
Adelphia Gateway, LLC applies to FERC for Certificate of Public Convenience
January 23, 2018 — Adelphia Gateway, LLC (Adelphia) filed an application for Adelphia Gateway Project with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a certificate authority to acquire and convert certain existing pipeline and auxiliary facilities, to construct additional auxiliary facilities, and to own and operate the existing and new facilities as an interstate natural gas pipeline system. View Letter
You can also view Adelphia’s application on the FERC website. Select the eLibrary link from the left hand side (green and white image of a computer mouse), select eLibrary from the left column, and then use the “general search” for the Adelphia Gateway Project, and enter Docket Number CP18-46. You can also find information on the proposed project on the company’s website. Contact information listed for the project is 800-843-3179 or info@adelphiagateway.com.
Editor’s Note: A portion of the Adelphia pipeline passes through Lower Saucon Township.
…In an age of so many renewable and sustainable energy alternatives is it still necessary to entertain such dangerous energy enterprises as reactivating defunct pipelines? Living in the impact zone of a natural gas pipeline is no joke. Residents along the southern portion of the previously “deactivated” Interstate pipeline are in for a grave wake-up call.
The newly-named Adelphia Gateway Pipeline Project filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity on Jan. 11, 2018. This pipeline, previously the Interstate line held by Talen Generation LLC, has its own environmental impacts, risks and safety hazards, and in fact, has had anomalies occur in the recent past that have resulted in repairs to the line. Any campaign to diminish the negative impacts of this project only continues to compromise the health and safety of Pennsylvanians….Additionally, with the recent approval of the PennEast Pipeline’s Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, there is some discrepancy about the redundancy of projects, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Order does make a record of the fact that “the expansion of existing pipeline systems was not a feasible alternative.” So, it’s interesting to find the Adelphia Gateway project submitted on the FERC docket within only a few weeks of FERC’s order granting PennEast permission to move forward with proceedings to condemn properties across Pennsylvania and New Jersey, where many landowners have still refused to sign easement agreements with PennEast.
For more information please visit https://www.pipeinfo.org/adelphia. If you are concerned about the impacts of this project, please file a comment on the Federal Energy Regulatory Docket under Docket #CP18-46-000 at https://www.ferc.gov.
Adelphia Gateway plans to apply in early 2018 for project approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Operation of the existing line is regulated by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, and once conversion is complete it would be regulated by FERC…..Environmentalists are critical of the proposal. The New Jersey Sierra Club voiced concern about New Jersey Resources’ role as a member company in the PennEast Pipeline Co. LLC proposal to build a 36-inch-diameter line from the Marcellus Shale region in Pennsylvania’s Luzerne County to Mercer County, New Jersey.
The buyer of an 84-mile pipeline encircling Philadelphia has disclosed detailed plans to convert the pipeline from oil to natural gas, saying the project would require several new compressor and valve stations to move fuel to its Marcus Hook destination.
Adelphia Gateway LLC, which announced in November it is buying the underused pipeline for $189 million from Talen Energy Corp., filed its 1,285-page applicationFriday with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Adelphia, a subsidiary of New Jersey Resources, announced the filing late Monday.
