HARRISBURG >> More than 150 residents rallied and pushed for Gov. Tom Wolf to improve pipeline safety Tuesday at the state Capitol building.
Moms and dads caravanned from Chester and Delaware counties, bringing along more than a dozen grade schoolers, in a bid to have their voices heard and make pipelines safer.
Elected officials spoke at the Capitol’s packed media room and then headed over to the governor’s office where students presented hand-inscribed shoeboxes containing post cards urging the governor to act.
A petition signed by 6,000 residents was also presented to the governor’s staff. Residents then lobbied individual elected officials.
State Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-19, told the standing-room-only audience that the best way to make the Sunoco Mariner East 2 pipeline safer was for Wolf, and the executive branch, to put a halt to the 350-mile long pipeline now under construction.
“So what if it’s delayed a month or two?” Dinniman asked. “Don’t we count?”
Dinniman noted that pipeline companies “can have their cake and eat it too” as long as safety doesn’t take a back seat.
“You can have your profits, but the state makes sure they are not at the expense of safety,” Dinniman said. “They can make profits but not at the expense of the health, safety and the environment.”
State Rep. Carolyn Comitta, D-156, lobbied for better communication between stakeholders.
“What can we do to make sure that public safety is number one?” Comitta asked. “We can share and talk about important public safety together.”
Dinniman addressed the issue of eminent domain which was established for the Mariner pipeline right of way during the 1930s.
“Does a corporation have a right to take your land and put a pipeline in when it feels like it?” Dinniman asked. “There is nothing as sacred in the community as private property rights.
“The environment belongs to all of us.”
David Mano is the lone holdout in his West Whiteland neighborhood. He refused to take a $60,000 payout from Sunoco and a free public water hook up after sediment appeared in his drinking water in early July.
Mano held up a jar of cloudy water, and a second jar full of sediment collected from his home water purifier system, that even those in the back row could clearly see.
“We’re going to fight Sunoco and the pipeline,” Mano said, with a tear in his eye. “We shouldn’t have to be living with this.”
State Sen. John Rafferty, R-44, and Dinniman have together penned several pipeline-related bills.
“When we started to have issues, I immediately knew it was the fault of the commonwealth,” Rafferty said. “Too many agencies have their hands in the operations.
“Too many agencies will lead to trouble. We need legislation that will protect us, the companies, the workers and the safety of all involved.”
State Sen. Daylin Leach, D-17, said that residents need to have “a say and a seat at the table.”
“What is an acceptable risk?” he asked. “If it was your child, what would the acceptable risk be?”
Risk management professional and Delaware County resident Eric Friedman talked about the colorless, odorless, extremely flammable and heavier than air butane, propane and ethane which is already flowing through existing Mariner pipes.
Several elementary schools are within the “blast zone,” including Penn Wood, Ss. Peter and Paul and Ss. Simon and Jude.
“Imagine the scenario if it occurred near one of our elementary schools … or don’t imagine,” Friedman said.
Nancy Harkins traveled from Westtown Township to the capitol.
“I feel the system has broken down and we don’t have a credible independent review,” she said. “We’re relying on the company and the industry to tell us it’s OK.
“That defies logic.”Bibianna Dussling is a member of the Middletown Coalition. She rode to the rally with her seven-year-old daughter Halina.
She said it is crucial for students to see government in action.
“It’s important for them to see regular residents study up and interact with their government so they understand it truly should be a government of the people,” Dussling said.
Lani Frank is vice chair of the Chester County Democratic Committee.
“The process for determining where pipelines will run was not fully considered,” Frank said.
Bills for better siting of pipelines, several bills designed for levying fees on pipeline owners, and incorporating emergency shut off valves in high consequence areas, are all being considered.
Bills to improve emergency notification, sharing information more freely, regulation of land agents, and better pipeline safety inspection, are also under consideration.
Jeff Shields, Sunoco Pipeline communications manager, issued the following statement, Tuesday, concerning the Sunoco Mariner East 2 pipeline:
“We understand that our first responsibility in building and operating a pipeline is the safety of our workers and our neighbors, that’s why we designed the Mariner East 2 project to meet or exceed every state and federal safety regulation in place, regulations that already make pipelines the safest means of transporting petroleum products.
“Mariner East is important infrastructure that will propel Pennsylvania’s economy forward and create jobs, beyond the 25,000 workers who have already contributed to the project. The products we are transporting have been shipped safely via pipelines through our communities for decades, as local first responders know well. We have worked closely with the emergency services community to train more than 1,800 first responders in Pennsylvania alone for our Mariner system and to help counties incorporate pipelines into their emergency response plans.
“The Mariner East 2 pipeline is being built to the most stringent construction standards, it will be monitored 24/7 and we will operate it at all times with safety as our highest priority, as we have done successfully for more than 85 years.”
The Sunoco Mariner East 2 pipeline will snake 350 miles from Marcellus Shale deposits in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania to the former Sunoco Refinery in Marcus Hook, Delaware County.
