You have to get in line these days if you want to investigate the Mariner East pipeline project.
The latest to look into the controversial project has the feds entering the picture. The FBI is now looking into how the administration of Gov. Tom Wolf handed out the permits for the project, and whether any undue influence was involved in the decisions.
For his part, Wolf denied any wrongdoing by his administration and welcomed the latest look.
Mariner East is one of the biggest economic projects in the state. The pipeline will run 350 miles across the full width of Pennsylvania. It will deliver hundreds of thousands of barrels of volatile liquid gases such as ethane, butane and propane at high pressure from the state's Marcellus Shale region to a facility in Marcus Hook.
Construction of the pipeline has been best by a series of problems - including runoffs, sinkholes and work stoppages mandated by the state - that has delayed the completion of the project.
Delayed, not stopped.
Energy Transfer, parent company of Sunoco Pipeline, which is building and operating the pipeline, utilized an older, smaller pipe to fill in the gaps where pipeline construction was not completed.
The project has sparked intense opposition from some officials and residents, who have complained about the routing - which carries the pipeline through densely populated neighborhoods, right past schools and senior centers, as well as a lack of communication from the company, including an adequate response plan in the event of a leak or other problem.
In the meantime, the county is having issues of its own with the pipeline. Officials at the 911 Center say they were never notified recently during a leak at a valve station along the old petroleum line in Middletown.
None of this, as you can imagine, is sitting well with residents.
You can read the editorial here.
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