The picture is haunting.
It's the nightmare of what happens when a pipeline becomes your backyard neighbor.
A neighborhood in West Whiteland, Chester County, is once again dealing with a sinkhole believed connected to Sunoco/Energy Transfer Partners massive Mariner East pipeline project.
On Sunday a 10-foot-deep sinkhole opened up in yard. Clearly visible in the crater was Mariner East 1, the older, smaller pipeline Sunoco is using to deliver butane, ethane and propane to a facility in Marcus Hook. It's been online for months. On Dec. 29, it was joined by Mariner East 2, a larger 20-inch (at least in some areas) pipeline that will great boost the amount of product being carried through these densely populated areas of both Delaware and Chester counties.
Actually the entire Mariner East 2 20-inch pipeline won't be online until 2020. For now ETP is using a hybrid patchwork series of older pipes to fill in the areas where Mariner East 2 was delayed by any number of problems, including a series of runoffs and a complete shutdown of the project by the state Public Utility Commission.
Of course, that shutdown was prompted by the first sinkhole problem, in the very same block of Lisa Drive in West Whiteland.
Eventually, Sunoco and Energy Transfer will have three separate pipelines delivering hundreds of thousands of barrels of these liquid gases to Marcus Hook every day.
The project has sparked intense opposition.
Don't look for that to cool down after still another sinkhole problem.
Energy Transfer Partners confirmed the sinkhole and indicated they have shut down Mariner East 1. The company says no material is now flowing through the line. They believe the problem is linked to the heavy rains that soaked the area Saturday night into Sunday, causing the ground to give way when a drainage system failed.
In the meantime, the state Public Utility Commission continues to investigate.
That's not enough for Chester County state Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-19 of West Whiteland, one of the fiercest critics of Mariner East. He wants the entire project shut down until an independent review of the project can be completed. That means independent of Energy Transfer Partners, as well as the PUC, which Dinniman clearly has issues with.
Energy Transfer Partners is expected to be back on the scene today to fill in the hole.
You can get all the details here.
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