EXTON>>About 70 demonstrators marched through a heavily populated area where work is underway to install the Sunoco Mariner East 2 pipeline.
Carrying signs, and while chanting, the protestors started the march at the busy intersection of Swedesford Road and Route 100, at the parking lot of a busy retail center, then marched past a housing subdivision, near to Exton Mall and ended up outside the Chester County Library.
The now-under-construction pipeline weaves within feet of the path marchers followed on an overcast and humid afternoon.
The event was known as the “You Are in the Blast Zone Rally and Walk Against the Mariner East 2 Pipeline.”
“Our children’s schools are at risk, said organizer Annette Murray. “That alone is reason to stop the pipeline.
“Our neighborhoods are at risk. The places where we work are at risk. This is a high consequence area.
“Let’s defend what we love.”Linda Smith lives almost in the shade of the library and Exton Mall.
She said that Sunoco has asked to change its drilling method after Aqua, the area’s water company, requested that the pipeline builder not use horizontal directional drilling as was planned, in a bid to not foul the water aquifer.
Sunoco hooked up more than 30 township private well-water users, and paid $60,000 each, after some wells were damaged.
“All of this for the sole purpose of enhancing Sunoco’s profits by shipping highly volatile gases to other countries,” Smith said. “Sunoco has the worst safety record in the industry.
“If construction of the Mariner East 2 pipeline is approved, the legacy that I will now be leaving to my granddaughter includes the possibility that one night when she goes to sleep she will not wake up.”
State Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-19, addressed the crowd with his dog Jagger at his side.
He spoke to representatives from several groups, including, West Whiteland Township Residents for Pipeline Safety, Middletown Coalition for Community Safety, Uwchlan Safety Coalition and Upper Uwchlan Residents for Safety.
Dinniman noted that this is a fight of David versus Goliath, with Sunoco one of the largest corporations in the United States.
He referenced the old state license plates that read, “You’ve got a friend in Pennsylvania.
“You don’t have a friend, but Sunoco does,” Dinniman said with a grim smile.
The senator said that there are no state pipeline siting regulations based on safety and geology. He complained that those who inquire of Gov. Wolf often “get no answers.”
“This is astounding,” he said after noting the a high consequence area by definition contains 500 residents per square mile and West Whiteland residents live at 1,700 people per square mile.
With a little prompting from his parents, 7 -year old Sean Nilon said he doesn’t want to leave his school and lose friends because of the pipeline.
His father, John Nilon, said that with Sunoco having so many lawyers, residents should have something to worry about.
Jerry McMullen lives adjacent to the library.
“There is too much at risk, I don’t trust Sunoco,” he said.
McMullen called for a total stop of pipeline construction. If that is not accomplished, the pipeline should be moved to an area of less consequence. Regardless, a responsible risk assessment study should be commissioned.
Cheryl Wardle said there are 11,000 township residents, plus thousands who work and visit.
“You couldn’t choose a worse place than Exton,” she said about the construction. “We do not need this unnecessary risk.”
Ginny Ker Slake lives in West Whiteland.
She told the demonstrators and pipeline opponents that they were “concerned, dedicated and informed.”
The marchers carried colorful signs and chanted “Hey, hey ho, ho, Mariner East has got to go.” They also chanted “Who is in the blast zone, you’re in the blast zone…the library is in the blast zone.
Eve Miari of the Clean Air Council implored those impacted to “stand up, fight back.”
“We will make sure that Sunoco is held accountable,” Miari said. “This pipeline is not a done deal.”
The Mariner East 2 pipeline travels in much of the same right-of-way as the 1930’s era Mariner East 1 pipeline. The pipeline runs 350 miles from West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Highly volatile liquids, including butane, ethane and propane, would be shipped to the former Sunoco Refinery in Marcus Hook, Delaware County.
