This is about the last thing residents concerned about safety issues connected with the Mariner East 2 pipeline wanted to hear.
For more than a year they have protested and raised their voices to anyone who would listen - particular those at the state level - about their fears connected with the massive pipeline project, which when up and running is set to carry hundreds of thousands of barrels of volatile gases at high pressure through densely populated communities on its way to Marcus Hook.
They believe the routing of the pipeline was all wrong, done in the way that certainly made the most sense to Sunoco Logistics, the spinoff of Eastern Transport Partners in Texas. They are laying the pipeline basically contiguous to the old existing Mariner East 1 pipeline, which is Sunoco's old oil pipeline, which was retrofitted to carry the propane, ethane and butane from the Marcellus Shale region.
The one question no one seems capable of answering in all this is "What if?"
For their part, Sunoco insists the pipeline is being installed to the highest safety standards in the industry, and that it will be operated in the same fashion.
But what happened out in Middletown certainly is not going to ease residents' concerns.
A contract working for Aqua in the region struck the buried Mariner East 2 pipeline. Now there is nothing running through the pipeline right now, and it was basically just scraped, with no major damage.
But here is the odd part - and the part that no doubt sends shivers down the spine of residents.
Aqua says it was told the pipeline was buried at 9 feet, but they say they hit the line at just 6 feet.
Now the state, Sunoco and others are trying to figure out how this happened.
Get the details here.
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