“Daycare center. Sunoco’s pipeline. Economic impact.” Those three labels on a photo Chester County, PA resident Kent Leininger posted on Facebook tell the story that opponents of the Mariner East have been foretelling for years, one their state government still refuses to hear.
Sunoco, now merged with Energy Transfer Partners, started excavating near the daycare center for its hazardous liquids gas pipeline about a year ago, according to Leininger. He remembers wondering what would happen to the daycare, the children who attend it, and their parents when he saw that the pipeline was being constructed within 50 yards of the place.
The state has seen a rapid proliferation of pipelines since the shale gas boom began a decade ago. For the most part, the pipelines carry methane, the main ingredient of natural gas used for heating and cooking, among other things. Mariner East is different. It is intended to carry hazardous natural gas liquids (NGLs) like butane, propane, and ethane. Although there is no such thing as a safe gas pipeline, the ones carrying NGLs are particularly dangerous because their contents are highly volatile and are heavier than methane gas, so they tend to stay close to the surface longer, increasing the risk of coming in contact with an ignition source, something as seemingly innocuous as a doorbell being rung.
That is the possibility that has been keeping parents up at night since the project was first announced, and not just parents of the kids attending the daycare, but parents of kids attending 40 schools within the impact zone of the Mariner East 2 pipeline. The Fractracker Alliance has created a map of the schools so users can zoom in to see just how close they are to the pipeline.
Parents and other concerned residents have pressured Governor Wolf, legislators, and regulators to stop the pipeline. They’ve been ignored. Public pressure has managed to slow construction and attract the attention of some legislators, but only because of shoddy work by Sunoco/ETP and its contractors that has resulted in more than 100 drilling mud spills that have contaminated private water supplies, punctured an aquifer, and created sinkholes.
It’s a situation familiar to anyone who lives near a bad intersection where there are constantly minor accidents and near misses. Locals’ demands for a red light or even a stop sign are ignored. People begin to ask what it’s going to take to get government to address the problem. Will someone have to die?
Well, yes. Or at least suffer significant property damage. Until worst fears of ruined property values started to be realized, state officials ignored Mariner East 2’s opponents. Most state officials are still ignoring them. Given the company’s history, its track record during construction, and the government’s inability or refusal to hold Sunoco/ETP accountable, parents are left feeling like a dangerous pipeline failure is not a matter of if, but when.
Their fears of what may happen should the pipeline go into operation has clearly taken a toll on the daycare center that reduced its tuition before deciding to relocate. As Leininger put it, “All those small children, their working class and middle income parents and teachers, and that small business owner must all change their lives so that a multi-national corporation can get richer. If that's not the story of America in 2018, I don't know what is.”