WEST CHESTER >> Calling the impacts of Sunoco’s Mariner East 2 pipeline drilling “unacceptable,” state Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-19, and state Sen. John Rafferty, R-44, called on Gov. Tom Wolf to suspend the project until constituents’ concerns are resolved.
“In my district alone, pipeline construction has contaminated almost two dozen wells, disrupted businesses, created significant environmental damage, and resulted in the development of an expanding sinkhole that currently threatens at least two private homes and is within 100 feet of Amtrak’s Keystone Line,” Dinniman wrote in a December 18 letter to Wolf. “I should point out that all of these incidents have occurred in a single Chester County municipality (West Whiteland Township) as a result of pipeline construction.”
Both Rafferty and Dinniman called the pipeline construction “unacceptable.”
Dinniman, who serves on the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, has been a vocal critic of the way the pipeline was being constructed and an advocate for voicing residents’ environmental, public health, property rights, and safety concerns related to the project.
In October, he was joined by dozens of Chester County residents, families, and community members in visiting Wolf’s office in the state Capitol to call for a halt to work on the pipeline and hand-deliver a petition with thousands of signatures.
U.S. Rep. Pat Meehan, R-7, also urged Wolf to address the pipeline issues.
“Over the past several months, I have taken numerous meetings with constituents alarmed about the potential safety implications of the construction and operation of the (Mariner East 2) pipeline,” Meehan said. “The nature of the pipeline and its route is such that primary regulatory responsibility for the pipeline rests with the commonwealth and your administration”
Daily Local News – Staff – 12.31.17
Posted by: Nelson Bailey
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