The Mariner East 1 pipeline sprung a small leak and spilled 20 barrels (~840 gallons) of ethane and propane in Berks County, near Philadelphia, on April 1, 2017 (see Mariner East 1 Sprang a Small NGL Leak Near Philly, on Apr 1). Sunoco Logistics Partners (i.e. Energy Transfer), builder and maintainer of the pipeline, shut it down and fixed it over the next several days. It took the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC), which oversees regulation of the pipeline, a year and a half to investigate.

In December the PUC “requested” Sunoco pay $225,000 for violating various state and federal regulations (see Sunoco Fined $225K for Small Leak on ME1 Pipeline in 2017).

However, Sunoco and the state Dept. of Environmental Protection conferred and together agreed to a slightly lower fine, $200,000. The two sent along their “Joint Petition for Approval of Settlement” (full copy below) to the PUC yesterday.

The PUC will determine whether or not to accept this revised/lower fine, along with other various conditions that are part of the settlement. What conditions? Sunoco has agreed to:

— Conduct a remaining life study of the entire Mariner East 1 Pipeline to forecast the “retirement age” of the pipeline;

— Increase the frequency of inspections on all bare steel and poorly coated Sunoco Pipelines in Pennsylvania to at least once per year;

— Develop separate procedures to determine the adequacy of coated steel pipelines and bare steel pipelines; and

— Implement new cathodic protection procedures and where inadequate protection exists and replace the impacted sections of the Mariner East 1 Pipeline. (1)

ME1 was originally built in the 1930s. Opponents of the pipeline would have you believe it’s some crumbling, decrepit, decaying pipeline ready to explode at any moment–rather than a pipeline that’s been maintained, sections replaced, updated and upgraded throughout its lifetime. We’ve spoken to experts in the past who have told us that pipelines with cathodic protection can last almost indefinitely (well over one hundred years).

Here’s the news of the lower fine, as reported by extremely biased “reporter” Jon Hurdle from PBS StateImpact Pennsylvania:

Sunoco will pay a $200,000 fine and conduct more frequent and rigorous safety inspections of the ageing Mariner East 1 pipeline after a leak in 2017, according to a proposed settlement with Public Utility Commission investigators, published Wednesday.

The deal, if approved by the full PUC, would require Sunoco to step up its monitoring of the pipeline, which was built in the 1930s, and now carries volatile natural gas liquids through densely populated areas on its 350-mile route across southern Pennsylvania.

The line leaked 20 barrels of ethane and propane in Morgantown, Berks County on April 1, 2017 in an incident that the PUC’s Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement later said was caused by corrosion. The leak caused no injuries or damage to waterways or property, but fueled critics’ fears that the highly volatile liquids were being transported unsafely across the state.

The eight-inch line, originally built to carry gasoline from eastern to western Pennsylvania, reversed the direction of flow and switched to carrying NGLs in 2014 to pump ethane, butane and propane as part of the multi-billion dollar Mariner East project.

In response to concerns about the age and integrity of Mariner East 1, Sunoco agreed to hire an independent consultant to conduct a “remaining life study” of the pipeline to include its leak history, a summary of its top 10 biggest risks, and a description of its corrosion-growth rate.

The study is among the demands made by Gov. Tom Wolf when he said in February that Sunoco’s management of the Mariner East construction had “failed to respect” Pennsylvania’s laws and communities and “would not be tolerated.”

The settlement called for an annual report describing Sunoco’s ongoing assessment of the line’s condition, and a list of the preventative actions it plans to take in the following year.

The Berks County incident was the subject of a formal complaint filed against Sunoco filed by the BIE, which has been investigating it since.

Sunoco also agreed to conduct four in-line inspections over the next three years, and then to hire an independent pipeline expert to advise on future maintenance. The PUC investigators said they are not required to wholly accept whatever recommendations are made by the expert.

“For so long as ME1 remains in Highly Volatile Liquid (“HVL”) service, SPLP agrees to supplement the Remaining Life Study by providing a summary report on an annual basis that summarizes SPLP’s continual process of evaluation and assessment to maintain the pipeline integrity of ME1,” the settlement said.

Lisa Dillinger, a spokeswoman for Sunoco’s parent, Energy Transfer, said the company will comply with the settlement with measures that are “above and beyond” any requirement of law or regulation.

She said the settlement is not an admission of any violation, but a move to collaborate with pipeline safety regulators. “We look forward to an expedited implementation of the many public safety and pipeline integrity aspects of the settlement,” she said in a statement.

Mariner East 1 runs along the same right of way as a new hybrid line of different diameters that Sunoco is calling Mariner East 2. The new line began operating on Dec. 29 last year. Some parts of a 20-inch line that was originally called Mariner East 2 are still under construction in Delaware and Chester counties.

The project has been beset by dozens of spills of drilling fluid and several regulatory shutdowns since it began construction in February 2017. In February this year, the Department of Environmental Protection suspended its reviews of the company’s clean water permit applications because it had not complied with an order to stabilize land near another pipeline that exploded in western Pennsylvania last September. (2)

Copy of the revised $200K settlement sent to the PUC yesterday:

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(1) PA Environment Digest Blog (Apr 3, 2019) – $200,000 Penalty Proposed In PUC Settlement Of 2017 Mariner East 1 Pipeline Leak Case

(2) Harrisburg & Philadelphia (PA) StateImpact Pennsylvania (Apr 3, 2019) – Sunoco agrees to settlement, including more safety inspections, with PUC investigators after Mariner East 1 leak