Lora Snyder was already worried about plans for a natural gas liquids pipeline going past her Delaware County property, but now that the pipeline has started operating, sheās thinking itās time to sell and move away.
Snyder, a resident of Edgmont Township, fears that the segment of Sunocoās Mariner East 2 pipeline ā which, on Saturday, began carrying NGLs a few hundred yards from her house ā threatens the safety of herself and her husband because of the highly explosive nature of the material, and the leaky history of the pipe itself.
The 12-inch pipe, a repurposed gasoline line originally built in the 1930s,Ā has leaked at least twice before, and Snyder predicts that it will do so again ā despite a $30 million upgrade in 2016, according to Sunoco ā with potentially catastrophic consequences.
āOur real concern here is that the 12-inch has leaked at least two times that we know of in Edgmont,ā said Snyder, 50, in an interview at her home. āIām fearful. I donāt know how I will sleep at night, truthfully, because of the history of the pipe. The chances are pretty good that we will see another leak soon. Now we have to worry about being blown up.ā
Criticsā concerns were renewed over the weekend of Dec. 29-30 when the whole cross-state pipeline finally began pumping ethane, propane and butaneĀ after many delaysĀ caused by regulatory shutdowns and technical problems during its almost two-year construction.
āOur financial security is jeopardized, our lives are jeopardized, our quality of life has been jeopardized since the first tree was cut down.”
Sunoco said in a statement on Saturday that the pipeline āis in serviceā effective that day. The startup meets the companyās latest target of beginning operation by the end of 2018.
After hoping that the project would hit yet another roadblock, critics began to focus on the reality of living with a pipeline that they say could cause mass casualties if it leaks and explodes highly volatile liquids in a densely populated area like Delaware County.
AnĀ independent assessment for Delaware County CouncilĀ said in December that a worst-case rupture of the pipe would kill anyone within about a mile, but that the chance of that happening were less than that of someone dying in a car crash.
Snyderās husband, Jim McGinn, 55, said he might have felt more comfortable if Mariner East 2 had consisted of a 20-inch pipe, as originally planned, for all of its 350-mile route from western Pennsylvania to Marcus Hook near Philadelphia. But his confidence was knocked when Sunoco said it would use the 12-inch pipe to fill in for about 25 miles of the route in Delaware and Chester counties until the new line could be completed.
And then the recent explosion of a natural gas gathering line, operated by Sunocoās parent, Energy Transfer, in Beaver County made him wonder if even a newly constructed pipe would be safe. That pipe, the Revolution pipeline, had been operating for a week when it exploded on Sept. 10.
Snyder said the startup is causing them to think about moving away from the home and its four-acre property where they have lived for 15 years.
āI think itās time to look at moving,ā Snyder said. āWe love our home. Itās depressing and upsetting, and it makes me angry that an oil company, for their profits, can ruin your environment, your water and now your home, and make you have to move.ā
WATCH: Pipelines and the Science of Fear
In response to the complaints from Snyder and other residents, Sunoco said Mariner East 2 meets or exceeds federal safety requirements. It noted that the 12-inch lineās integrity has recently been confirmed by the Public Utility Commissionās head of pipeline safety; by Accufacts, a consultant that concluded in a study for West Goshen Township that ME2 complies with federal standards; and by the analysis for Delaware County Council.
āWe have said since the start of the project that the safety of the communities and the environments through which we pass is our first priority, not only in the construction of the pipeline, but throughout its operation,ā said Vicki Granado, a spokeswoman for Energy Transfer.
In nearby Thornbury Township, Jennifer Degnan, her husband Steven, and five of their seven children live in a 4,000 square-foot suburban home about 30 feet from the 12-inch line, and look out of their back door on to a valve site, stacks of artificial paving sections, and lengths of red plastic fencing marking the boundary of the pipelineās right-of-way.
After living with the pipeline construction on their doorstep for almost two years, its startup has intensified the Degnansā worries about their familyās safety.
Jennifer Degnan said she did not see anyone at the site when Sunoco turned on the taps on Saturday, and that fueled her concerns about how the company would handle an emergency.
āItās disconcerting because thereās no one up here at this valve site,ā she said. āIf thereās something of urgency, thereās no one here, so that means someone has to travel to get here to turn it off or alert us.ā
Granado of Energy Transfer said the valve is automated but is also monitored around the clock from a control center.
Jennifer Degnan said she has received no information from Thornbury Township, the PUC, or Sunoco about what to do if thereās a leak of colorless, odorless and highly explosive NGLs a few yards from her home. āI really do feel like weāre sitting ducks,ā she said.
Sunoco has warned residents such as the Degnans that if a leak occurs, not to use potential ignition sources including cell phones, and not to drive their cars but to walk upwind of any leak. Critics ask how residents can know about such an incident if they canāt even use their phones.
About 100 yards from the Degnansā home is Duffers, a sports bar whose outdoor smoking area is just a few yards from the open-air valve site. Jennifer Degnan is worried that a cigarette end casually discarded toward the site could spark an explosion that would engulf her own home and others in the upmarket Andover estate.
They have considered moving from the house where they have lived for about five years, but have estimated that even if they could find a buyer, the property is worth about 20 percent less than it was when they refinanced in February 2017 before the local pipeline construction started. Other houses in the development typically sell for $900,000-$1 million, although their value is lower if they are on the street next to the pipeline, she said.
āOur financial security is jeopardized, our lives are jeopardized, our quality of life has been jeopardized since the first tree was cut down,ā she said.
Back in Edgmont Township, Norm McQueen lives about 75 yards from where the 12-inch pipeline is now carrying natural gas liquids, and that makes him uneasy because he discovered the same pipe leaking gasoline onto an adjoining lot only three years ago ā an incident that led to the remediation of a patch of woodland.
McQueen, 76, a former pipe fitter at a Philadelphia oil refinery, said he isnāt against pipelines in general but argued that Sunoco didnāt consider the impacts on residents when it routed Mariner East 2 through densely populated areas like Delaware County.
He fears that a leak from Mariner East 2 ā most likely from its 12-inch section ā will get ignited by peopleās home heaters, with catastrophic consequences.
McQueen said he was hoping to sell a 5.5-acre lot across the street to help fund his retirement, but has little hope of being able to do that now because part of the ground is occupied by a plywood enclosure erected by Sunoco for a section of the 20-inch Mariner East line that has not yet been built.
āAs soon as they put that box up there, I donāt know who would even consider it,ā he said. āNow, Iāve got to wait it out.ā
McQueen called the fight against Mariner East a ālost causeā and said he didnāt know what else he could do to ensure the safety of the home where he has lived since 1969. But State Sen. Andy Dinniman (D-Chester), a persistent critic of the project, vowed that the fight against it isnāt over even though the line is now operational.
In a statement, Dinniman noted that the project is now under criminal investigation by the Chester County District Attorney, and he called for state legislation to tighten rules on the gas industry.
āOur concerns regarding the safety of Sunoco/ETPās Mariner East project and the lack of adequate emergency planning and response information are now more real than ever,ā he said.
Jen Batchelder, another Edgmont resident who runs a plant nursery, predicted that the 12-inch line would rupture again, as it did in 1992 when she said it spilled 100,000 gallons of oil and jet fuel onto her property, contaminating land where trees will no longer grow.
āThat pipeline, it will blow soon,ā she said, after hearing about the startup. āItās so old.ā
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This story is produced in partnership with StateImpact Pennsylvania, a collaboration among The Allegheny Front, WPSU, WITF and WHYY to cover the commonwealth's energy economy.
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