It's been another week of developments in the torturous, twisted path of the Mariner East 2 pipeline.
That is Sunoco's multi-billion project to transport highly volatile liquid gases more than 350 miles across Pennsylvania from the Marcellus Shale regions to a facility in Marcus Hook, where they will be stored and then exported, mostly to foreign countries.
It has been a tug-of-war now for months as citizens have complained about construction, right-of-ways, property values and an assortment of hiccups during construction such as runoffs and spills. In Chester County, a series of sinkholes actually forced the state to halt construction for awhile.
But nothing has really halted the project.
And with it now nearing completion and preparing to go online, resident concerns are shifting to a much more difficult topic: Safety.
In short, they don't trust Sunoco to either build or operate the pipeline safely.
Of course, Sunoco sees it differently, vowing that they are building Mariner East 2 to the highest safety standards in the industry, and will operate it the same way.
Resident concerns are not likely going to be eased by a couple of developments this week.
First, a risk assessment study done by a community group presents some new concerns.
Then, Sunoco announced that while completion of the entire new 20-inch pipe that will ferry butane, ethane and propane to the Hook will likely now not be complete until 2020. It's the latest in a series of delays that have plagued the project.
But that does not mean Sunoco will not soon be pushing materials through the line. That's because they plan to substitute an older, existing 12-inch pipeline to fill in the gaps in areas where the 20-inch pipe has not yet been installed.
As you might guess, that is not sitting especially well with residents either.
We talk about it on today's editorial page.
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