Remember when everyone seemed like they were on board for that risk assessment study on the Mariner East 2 pipeline project?
Forget it.
It's not going to happen, at least not for now.
County Council yesterday found themselves in a 2-2 deadlock on the issue. New Democratic council members Brian Zidek and Kevin Madden, voted in favor of the proposal by Quest Consultants. Republicans Colleen Morrone and Michael Culp voted against. That left the matter in the hands of Council Chairman John McBlain. Unfortunately, he abstained to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest. His law firm has done work for Sunoco, although he has not personally handled any matters for the company.
That meant the study was dead in the water.
So what happened?
Republicans didn't like the way the original plan has changed, specifically that instead of a review of all pipelines in the county, the study now seemed to be zeroing in on Mariner East 2.
Democrats said they hope to spend the next few weeks working on the proposal and possibly bring it up for another vote.
They better not wait too long.
Sunoco continues to work on the pipeline, which will carry hundreds of thousands of barrels of volatile gases such as ethane, butane and propane across the full width of Pennsylvania - and 11 miles of western Delaware County - from the Marcellus Shale region to Marcus Hook.
Despite several setbacks, the company is vowing to have the project - which has sparked intense opposition from residents horrified at the prospect of this project going through densely populated neighborhoods, including schools and senior centers - online by this summer.
Stay tuned.
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