Time after time, state Sen. Andy Dinniman has misled his colleagues and the public with inflated rhetoric and false statements. Most recently, during a confirmation committee hearing Wednesday for Acting Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Patrick McDonnell, Sen. Dinniman continued to make these false accusations.
But Pennsylvanians deserve to know the facts about the Mariner East Pipeline.
Sen. Dinniman has made repeated claims that the Pennsylvania DEP rushed through our permit applications and continues to fail in protecting Pennsylvanians and the state’s natural resources.
The Pennsylvania DEP has dedicated more than 20,000 hours and responded to more than 29,000 comments during a lengthy statewide public hearing and public comment period leading up to the approval of our permits to construct the Mariner East 2 and 2X pipelines. For more than two years, we have worked every day with all regulators, including the Pennsylvania DEP, to safely complete the construction of our Mariner East pipelines. In fact, the Pennsylvania DEP has a dedicated website that is focused solely on our project and the compliance of our permits.
Sen. Dinniman continues to claim that pipelines harm property values without any actual factual data to back it up.
A study by the INGAA Foundation prepared by Integra Realty Resources found a natural gas pipeline had no measurable impact on the sales prices of properties located along or near it versus properties not located along or near the same pipeline.
Another study “could not identify a systematic relationship between proximity to the [natural gas] pipeline and sale price or value.”
Sen. Dinniman continues to inaccurately portray that we did not follow proper protocol on April 24 in response to a subsidence feature that occurred along our right-of-way in Middletown Township.
Nothing could be further from the truth. All proper protocols and procedures regarding notifications and remediation were followed in addressing this issue, which neither exposed nor endangered any pipelines.
Minor subsidence features such as the one along Route 1 are common in many areas of construction, depending on the soil characteristics, the integrity of storm sewer lines, surface water infiltration and other natural and manmade factors.
Sen. Dinniman continues to use provoking language to dramatize living or being near an operating pipeline.
Our pipelines are built and operated with many layers of safety features working together to protect people, property and the environment.
Furthermore, independent studies have confirmed the safety of our Mariner East pipelines, including a Delaware County Council-sponsored risk assessment that confirmed the Mariner East 2 pipeline is safe and poses no great risk. The 79-page report paid for by county taxpayers found that risk from common sources such as traffic accidents, house fires and falling down stairs is 20 to 35 times greater than a pipeline. This comparison was made with the assumption that someone is standing directly above the pipeline 24 hours a day, proving that, in reality, the pipeline is even safer than the assessment calculates.
Additionally, West Goshen Township contracted an independent third-party agency to evaluate the safety of the upgraded 12-inch pipeline. This independent organization, Accufacts, specializes in technical and safety expertise in pipeline siting, design, operation and maintenance, emergency response and regulatory requirements.
Accufacts’ 2018 report concluded that the 12-inch pipeline meets and often exceeds federal safety regulations for high-volume liquid transmission pipeline service. The report showed that we went above and beyond federal standards to ready this pipeline for the safe transportation of natural gas liquids.
It should also be noted that Energy Transfer takes additional safety measures in residential areas, going above and beyond the regulations outlined by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), along with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC), which oversees the safe operation of pipelines. Read more here.
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‘Dear Mr. Dinniman; You’re Full of It When It Comes to Pipeline Safety’
State Sen. Dinniman’s campaign to create false hysteria is also catching the attention of the majority of landowners along the Mariner East route who do not share his views. A recent article written by a Chester County landowner challenges Sen. Dinniman’s pipeline safety rhetoric and questions why he is always lacking in facts.
We encourage you to read his article to get a clear understanding of the true sentiment of many Pennsylvanians. Click here to read “Dear Mr. Dinniman; You’re Full of It When It Comes to Pipeline Safety.”
We greatly appreciate this landowner standing up and speaking the truth.
