On Friday July 27th the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced that anti-pipeline groups have settled their appeal of its permits for the Mariner East 2 pipeline.
The three radical groups, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Mountain Watershed Association, and the Clean Air Council, challenged 20 pipeline permits, all of which had already underwent a thorough vetting process on the federal, state, and local levels. The DEP itself noted the exact same sentiment in its announcement, stating “Each permit was lawfully issued after a thorough environmental review involving approximately 35 DEP and County Conservation District staff over the course of nearly two years.”
Kurt Knaus, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Energy Infrastructure Alliance, says “This settlement validates what we already knew – that this pipeline has undergone rigorous reviews at every level, and that the requirements in place for developing and operating this pipeline are safe, legal and responsible.”
Delivering natural gas through pipelines is by far the safest form of energy delivery. More than 77,000 miles of new pipelines have been built in the last decade, with incidents and spills decreasing by approximately 50 percent.
Sunoco Logistics, the parent company for Mariner East 2, has been safely operating pipelines in the Commonwealth for decades. The company continues to meet and exceed federal pipeline safety regulations.
As Knaus says:
“DEP reaffirmed today that its process works and that it is doing the job Pennsylvanians expect of the agency to protect the environment and keep residents safe.”