You may have heard of the Mariner East pipelines, pipelines proposed by Sunoco Logistics to transport natural gas liquids from fracked Pennsylvania gas, to a facility near Philadelphia, largely for export.

Along the way, Sunoco Logistics met the Gerhart family who have owned the land for decades, even signed a Forest Stewardship agreement with the state to maintain their land as a forest. Despite lack of permits, Sunoco Logistics has begun clearing this preserved forest. See press release: TWO ARRESTED AS SUNOCO CLEARS FOREST IN HUNTINGDON – Police Back Pipeline Despite Lack of Permits, Landowner Objections

12901021_10153544958125893_910655836944368919_oSee also this article (Energy-hub supporters intensifying the push for a natural-gas pipeline) written yesterday by Andrew Maykuth of the Inquirer, of note:

It is also a call to state political leaders to provide economic incentives to develop a pipeline.

Unstated in the report is that moves are underway to encourage even greater state involvement in the project, including government financing of the pipeline.

Early talks are underway with the Wolf administration about enlisting “some kind of authority” to underwrite part of the pipeline, which would shift some risk to the public, he said.

To me this reads as though Sunoco Logistics has no money nor the right permits to build the pipeline they envision, and are simply using their might to plow through obstacles like people who happen to live along the way.

What can you do? Call or write

You may get a response that “The federal government has eminent domain and there is nothing the state can do”. This is only partially true. While the many lawyers fight out the eminent domain issue, Sunoco Logistics’s permit from the DEP was to cut trees, but not on wetlands. The trees that were cut yesterday were indeed on wetlands and fell on stream beds. So we ask that the DEP step up to enforce this.

We must stop the pipeline and the devastation it wrecks along the way before it gets to Philadelphia.

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