West Whiteland Residents for Pipeline Saftey drone image over Ship Road/Exton Station area unexpected work posted today 11/1/23
So we all found out that Energy Transfer AKA Sunoco AKA Sunoco Logistics was BACK on Ship Road around Exton Station. I mean the grass was barely grown back, right?
You whooo Harrisburg, over here, okay? (Well we all know you read this blog in Pennsyltucky, so whatevs…..)
Sorry readers, I will continue….sometimes I have to see if those political bears are awake and paying attention to residents….
Repair work continues on Mariner East 2x on Ship Rd at Exton Station. Drone photo taken yesterday shows the pipe has been excavated very close to where the HDD exit pit was ( The drill for this section was at the Hankin apartments on Ship near Boot. After the borehole was complete pipes were pulled from the exit pit here south the the drill site).
As previously reported here, “an anomaly” was detected during recent inspection of the pipeline with a smart pig. The work is expected to last 2-3 weeks which is long compared to recent repairs done on the same pipe in Delaware County.
why is this pipe already in need of repairs?
what happens when an anomaly is detected on a section of pipe that is inaccessible because it was installed tens or even over 100 feet underground or through rock as is the case on many lengths of mariner East through Chester County and Delaware County?
And remember, there is no credible emergency plan to warn protect public when there is a leak of these high volatile liquids in transport through Mariner East.
This has actually been going on for a couple of days. Some hypothesize that Joe Massaro the current talking head (Public Affairs Specialist at Energy Transfer, @JospehMassaro on the platform formerly known as Twitter was tidying up for another residential massage job, perhaps?
Too mean?
Sorry not sorry but I mean you know us residents: some have had properties and wells ruined by Sunoco/Energy Transfer, and then there are the thousands of us who live in blast zones, right? We know we don’t matter to them, and are rather inconvenient to them and politicians including Democrats who love love love the myth of pipelines, fracking, and Hydrogen hubs, right?
So next thing you know, Chair of the West Whiteland Supervisors Brian Dunn is on sitethis morning over on Ship Road and guess what? Sunoco/Energy Transfer was NOT putting him off. He had the township manager with him as well. Supervisor Brian Dunn went DOWN into that big hole to see the pipeline and dent for himself. That pipeline is live because you do not expect them to stop running highly explosive ethane while they make a repair, do you? Actually, fool that I am and a former oil company brat from decades ago, I actually thought they would do just that, but I am but a mere mortal and a female, right?
Anyway, Supervisor Brian Dunn had West Whiteland put it all on their social media channels and website. So for once there is real time updates on a pipeline issue.
This issue is being described as “pipeline maintenance.” I daresay it’s not regular everyday sweeping up is it?
Allow me to let West Whiteland Residents for Pipeline Safety to explain further:
We now know what problem with the Mariner East 2X pipeline on Ship Rd at Exton Station needing repair, thanks to West Whiteland Township conducting a site visit this morning.
There is a dent in the pipe which was detected as “an anomaly” during a recent smart pigging inspection of the pipeline. It safe to assume this dent was caused during construction so its unclear how it went undetected before.
The green coating has been sandblasted away fir the repair and the pipe will be wrapped in clockspring, a composite repair sleeve and reinforcement system uniquely designed for high-pressure transmission pipelines. Work is expected to last until Wednesday, November 8.
The pipeline is actively transporting highly explosive ethane while this work and the excavation using a backhoe is being conducted. The last photo, with the site marked with an red X shows the densely populated area immediately surrounding.
Questions remain:
why was this dent, an area of weakness, not detected in previous inspections?
what happens when an anomaly is detected on a section of pipe that is inaccessible because it was installed tens or even over 100 feet underground or through rock as is the case on many lengths of Mariner East through Chester County and Delaware County?
And remember, there is no credible emergency plan to warn protect public when there is a leak of these high volatile liquids in transport through Mariner East.
Thank you to West Whiteland Township for conducting this site visit and providing transparency on this to residents – transparency we do not get from Energy Transfer nor our regulatory agencies.
Energy Transfer regularly conducts routine preventative maintenance on the Mariner East pipeline in the Township to detect anomalies before they become safety issues, One such anomaly was discovered and work is in progress to remediate it.
In order to ensure the integrity of the pipeline is not affected, the pipe will be wrapped in clockspring, a composite repair sleeve and reinforcement system uniquely designed for high-pressure transmission pipelines. Work is expected to last until Wednesday, November 8.
Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PA PUC) has been on site and verified that the activity is within normal pipeline maintenance and operations. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administrations (PHMSA) has also been notified. Township Supervisor Brian Dunn and Township Manager Pam Gural-Bear visited the site and met with ET’s Integrity Team.
The anomaly was identified as one that could be addressed within 180 days.
But can we talk about Supervisor Brian Dunn again? Sorry not sorry but what he did today took guts He did what MORE elected officials should do: he represented his residents and went to the mat for them. That is also brave because dude was down in a freaking pipeline hole and as much as I love my readers, I can tell you I would not have gone down an 18 foot hole into the ground or whatever. (If I had been the township manager, I would have been above ground saying my rosary while he was down there, but I digress.)
This video is from 6 years ago so the public is reminded what West Whiteland residents have gone through.
This video is from 4 years ago so the public is reminded what West Whiteland residents have gone through.
This video is from 4 years ago so the public is reminded what West Whiteland residents have gone through.The criminal investigation that kinda went nowhere, remember?
This video is from 4 years ago so the public is reminded what West Whiteland residents have gone through.
It should be pointed out to she who will soon be thankfully out of office in West Whiteland is WHY people love and respect Brian Dunn, and will never wax poetically about you. I mean I know you love to slam him and misquote me, so here’s hoping you understand THIS is what being a public servant and working for the people who elected him actually means. Brian Dunn goes the extra mile for West Whiteland AND Chester County residents. He walks the walk whereas you have only ever spewed the talk occasionally.
It’s a mystery how a brand new pipeline has a dent. Perhaps it was damaged in their rush to get everything in the ground before? WHO KNOWS and we may never know because well, it’s Energy Transfer/Sunoco/Sunoco Logistics and everything has to be massaged and polished and spin doctored before the public gets information if they answer at all, doesn’t it?
Bravo, Brian Dunn but for the love of all that is holy, please don’t do that again. And please note that Brian was on site WITH Sunoco and West Whiteland Township in a planned meet up. DO NOT TRESPASS HERE. That is breaking the law and you will be arrested. Today’s on site photos provided generously by West Whiteland Township.
Happy November. Everything old is new again, including pipeline issues.
Pipeline and sinkhole. Just The Fact Please photo. November, 2017
Before I moved to Chester County, I was somewhat ambivalent about Sunoco and their pipelines. Among other things, I grew up with a father who was for years, in-house PR for a then major oil company. And part of that was during the Exxon Valdez era. But oil companies had deep pockets and what did I know? Nothing was near where we lived and those oil company deep pockets were always giving box loads of stuff to schools, bought full page ads in school newspapers for the kids of employees, etcetera.
When you first hear about problems with pipelines, pipeline construction, or even fracking, it is like this fuzzy thing out of focus ahead of you in the haze. It can’t possibly affect you. Until it does. And in my opinion, it is. I have friends who hail from Western Pennsylvania who literally have been warning people for years. And they are just nastily labeled “fracktivists”. Guess that is the new label for “concerned citizen”? Because I have got to tell you, the people I knew who once lived in Western PA are…wait for it…MOMS. You know how dangerous moms are, right?
Then it seems like in an instant but a couple miles in either direction from where you live as far as the crown flies in any direction, stuff starts to happen.
You feel like local municipal officials and politicians are just covering their ears saying “na,na,na,na,na,na,na,na,na” in order to NOT have to listen to residents. Respected environmental activists are labeled as being alarmists.
When Danielle Otten woke up Monday morning, she didn’t expect to see men working on the Mariner East 2 pipeline construction site that sits about 40 feet from her backyard, along Devon Drive in Uwchlan Township, Chester County.
For one thing, work in the area had stalled after drilling dried up and damaged nearby water wells this past summer. And just last week, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection issued a court order halting construction along the 350-mile long pipeline after Sunoco/Energy Transfer Partners continued to violate its permits, causing damage to private water wells, streams and wetlands…..When DEP issued a stop work order to Sunoco last week, it appeared that all work would halt aside from drilling and erosion controls that had to be continued in order to prevent additional environmental damage. But a spokesman for the DEP now tells StateImpact that when it comes to anything other than earth disturbance or water crossings, the agency doesn’t have jurisdiction.
In Chester County, as a resident, you can’t avoid the truth of the pipelines. And the risks and dangers. So many of us are on wells. And so many with wells are already having issues. And then there are those other pesky things…you know like sinkholes and so on?
The jarring visuals you see with your own eyes like the beautiful swaths of lands torn assunder are burned into your brain. Once you see it, you can’t un-see it and you wish you could.
Swing sets and play houses of small children sit in macabre juxtaposition to giant earth moving machines and huge pieces of pipe.
Giant walls, pipes, and earth moving machines also sit across the driveway from senior citizen apartment complexes and grocery stores.
Pipeline so close and on top of churches and schools in addition to residential neighborhoods and please, tell me, how is that safe?
Next to firehouses too? So basically, Sunoco puts those supposed to protect us at risk as well?
You have friends and former neighbors who have Sunoco gobbling up their land for the pipeline. You count your blessing like we did that we moved long ago from certain parts of Chester County because otherwise this view could be your very own backyard:
Uwchlan Safety Coalition photo
Only you can’t help but wonder if your slice of heaven will remain unmolested by pipelines? Like Medieval Feudal Lords, you are never quite sure what they will swoop in and take, are you?
You are, as residents of Chester County and elsewhere, supposed to bend over and accept these new vistas:
My photo, taken July, 2017
When you say “no I think this is bad” there are people who will jump all over you. “It’s perfectly safe. You don’t know what you are talking about.”
Sunoco is raping our land. They are depleting it, irrevocably changing it and in my opinion putting us all at risk. It is not OUR pipeline, it is THEIR pipeline being forced upon us all and we are not benefiting from it. This isn’t OUR infrastructure, it’s Sunoco’s infrastructure. What they take is being shipped OVERSEAS.
As another friend Ginny said to others:
Sunoco cannot replace the large, mature trees they are chopping down for this. Nor can they restore the fragile and important wetland there if they wreck it, just as they couldn’t restore the private wells that they wrecked in Marchwood this summer with this pipeline.
Living with hazardous liquefied natural gas lines is not a part of living in suburbia. In fact it is reckless to put these lines through densely populated areas, right alongside houses, schools, apartment buildings, shopping centers, seniors homes, etc.
When does it stop? When did Corporate America’s rights become more meaningful than ours in Chester and Delaware Counties and elsewhere in Pennsylvania? Why are we as residents being forced to live with something that destroys and takes and give nothing back in return? Why don’t residents matter? Why do we spend so much time feeling like our elected officials have forsaken us on this issue?
And why is it when you mention anything about not liking or distrusting pipelines some fool will always hop up and cry foul partisan politics? I mean do they really think we are such imbeciles that an issue which is non-partisan and affects EVERYONE is an example of partisan politics? Take off the dunce caps, because opposition to Mariner East is clearly bi-partisan.
Pipeline, East Goshen. My photo. Summer/Fall 2017
Today in addition to the CBS News report, Del-Chesco United for Pipeline Safety is a nonpartisan, fact-based, grassroots coalition of locally-based safety groups, made up of concerned Pennsylvanians from across our Commonwealth issued a press release:
Well guess what? I believe these folks, and this pipeline and it’s march across Chester County and elsewhere terrifies me. These people protesting are our neighbors and friends. And there are quite the growing numbers of experts, environmentalists and others who believe these residents.
Look at the end of the day, did we come to Chester County for this view below? I don’t think so. We need to protect what is ours. And what is ours, is not necessarily theirs.
why is this pipe already in need of repairs?
