A resident along Route 352, North Chester Road in East Goshen makes their opinion of the Sunoco Mariner East 2 pipeline known.PETE BANNAN – DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA

WEST GOSHEN >> One day after a judge halted construction on the Mariner East 2 pipeline in West Goshen, another judge has shut down drilling operations for the project across all of Pennsylvania.

The Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board granted the petition of the Clean Air Council, Mountain Watershed Association Inc., and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network to halt all drilling operations associated with the construction of Mariner East 2. Drilling work will be shut down at least until a hearing takes place Aug. 7-9.

This ruling comes after last week’s filing that disclosed 61 drilling fluid spills and water contamination in multiple Pennsylvania regions. After hearing the argument about drilling spills and water well contamination from Sunoco’s drilling operations for the Mariner East 2 pipeline, the Environmental Hearing Board issued an order stating, “it is hereby ordered that the Appellants’ application for a temporary partial supersedeas is granted.”

“Residents living along the route of the pipeline have been assailed over the last few months by drilling spills and damage to water wells and water quality due to Sunoco’s reckless drilling,” said Joseph Otis Minott, Executive Director and Chief Counsel for Clean Air Council. “Today’s decision provides residents with much-needed protection over the next two weeks.”

“The relief is not permanent and the public must continue to call on elected officials and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to defend the public interest by putting a long-term halt to the drilling, which Sunoco has been unable to do safely,” said Alex Bomstein, senior litigation attorney for the Clean Air Council.

“It is unconscionable that Sunoco has inflicted such irreparable harms on our environment and communities,”said Maya K. van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper and leader of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network.

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