Call it Risk-y Business.
After several months of debate, Delaware County Council Wednesday signed off on a move to spend $150,000 on something that residents have been passionately seeking.
They will bring in an outside agency to perform a risk assessment on Sunoco Logistics' Mariner East pipeline project, as well as taking a look at a second project, Adelphia Gateway's plan to use another inactive pipeline to carry natural gas.
This will make the third effort to detail risks associated with Sunoco Logistics' $5 billion project to transport hundreds of thousands of barrels of volatile gases such as ethane, propane and butane from the state's Marcellus Shale regions to Marcus Hook.
To get there they have to traverse nearly the entire 350-mile width of the state, cutting through 23 miles in the heart of central Chester County and 11 miles in western Delaware County.
It is as it meanders through many densely populated areas, including directly past elementary schools and senior citizens, that has raised so many eyebrows in the county.
The study will be done by G2 INtegrated Solutions LLC. The results are expected in about 14 weeks.
For its part, Sunoco is saying that Mariner East 2 is more than 95 percent complete, although that does not include several gaps in the Chester and Delaware County areas. In those spots, Sunoco is now hoping to be able to use its old Mariner East 1 line, which is already carrying the same materials, to fill in the gaps.
Both Sunoco and several industry groups say the risk assessment is not necessary, that the company has done their own and that all construction and operation of the pipelines will be to the highest industry standards.
They also point out that pipelines have crisscrossed the region for decades without incident.
That has not exactly soothed the protests that have been constant. Also not helping has been the nagging problems associated with construction, including spills and runoffs, as well as sinkholes in one Chester County neighborhood.
You can get all the details here.
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