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Sunoco already sourcing water

Pipeline construction requires water, clay to lubricate drill head

This map of the Sunoco Logistics pipeline shows the projected path of the line through Blair and surrounding counties. The red line depicts the Mariner East 1 and East 2 easements, while the green line depicts the Mariner East 1 easements only.

Less than a week ago, concerned residents filled a Huntingdon Borough meeting room to urge local leaders not to sell water for use in the construction of a controversial pipeline.

However, the company is already receiving water from a stream in Blair County, where pipeline construction is scheduled to begin.

Sunoco Logistics intends to construct a 300-mile, underground pipeline that will carry natural gas liquids from beyond Pennsylvania’s western border to a storage and distribution facility in Delaware County’s Marcus Hook area.

Along the way, the pipeline will pass through Blair, Cambria and Huntingdon counties.

Last month, construction began in Huntingdon County, where workers must bore beneath Raystown Lake to prepare a passage for the pipeline.

To do so, workers need water, “primarily for horizontal directional drilling, which uses a combination of water and bentonite clay (a naturally occurring, nontoxic clay) to lubricate the drill head,” Sunoco Logistics spokesman Jeffrey Shields said.

Raystown Lake might seem the logical water source due to its proximity to construction, but it is federally owned.

That means federal regulations likely would make use of Raystown water a complicated endeavor, said Todd Eaby, project review manager with the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, which manages water resources associated with the Susquehanna River.

Because lake water is not a viable option, Sunoco officials have to turn to other sources, Shields said, though he did not identify those sources.

“We purchase water from any number of municipal water sources throughout the commonwealth,” he said. “We are currently bringing in water from outside of Huntingdon Borough but within the Susquehanna River basin.”

A local source

Those sources include a stream in Blair County, according to a Susquehanna River Basin Commission permit.

In early December, commission officials agreed to allow Sunoco to withdraw surface water from the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River in Frankstown Township, Eaby said. The agreement is for a five-year period.

The Frankstown agreement allows the removal of 2.88 million gallons of water per day at a maximum rate of 2,000 gallons per minute.

“It’s a large amount of water,” Eaby said. “It’s not an uncommon amount of water.”

In September, when the stream’s water volume is at its lowest, stream discharge can be measured at about 49 cubic feet per second — or 22,000 gallons per minute, he said.

Late Thursday, the stream’s discharge was measured at 361 cubic feet per second, according to U.S. Geological Survey data.

Recently, however, Sunoco officials have looked to add to water sources, and, this month, Huntingdon Borough Council members heard a purchase request. Sunoco officials hope to purchase 200,000 gallons of water per day from the borough’s municipal supply.

Council members have not yet voted to allow or deny the sale, but, concerned residents filled their meeting space last week, speaking for hours about prospective environmental, moral and financial consequences they claim could stem from the deal.

A history of opposition

Sunoco officials are not strangers to opposition, as they have a hand in the Dakota Access pipeline. The North Dakota pipeline has drawn mass criticism and protests, as well as national media attention, due to its proximity to lands of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

And there is fear among central Pennsylvania environmentalists that existing and under-construction pipeline infrastructure could create a demand for more natural gas production, said Laura Jackson, president of the Juniata Valley Audubon Society, a local chapter of the National Audubon Society.

“The ability for Sunoco to put in this pipeline is going to create more demand for fracking,” she said, claiming fracking has numerous adverse environmental effects.

Last year, more than

5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas were produced in the 34 Pennsylvania counties that have shale natural gas wells, according to a Pittsburgh Business Times report.

Cambria County was at the bottom of that list with its one well producing less gas than each of the other 33 countries.

Huntingdon County, which also has one well, ranked 31st on the list, and Blair County, with six wells, ranked 29th.

Juniata Valley Audubon Society’s members “have not taken an official stance” on the Mariner East 2 Pipeline issue, Jackson said.

But a lengthy post on the group’s website includes references to numerous risks associated with pipeline construction and operation, as well as criticisms of the state Department of Environmental Protection, which approved permits for the Mariner East 2 project.

Jackson said she also worries about pipeline leaks and the potential for contamination of both ground and surface water sources, such as Raystown Lake.

“We definitely have a lot of concerns about it,” she said.

A spotted past

Those concerns may have some merit.

In September, Reuters reported an analysis of government data that suggests Sunoco Logistics spills more crude oil than any of its competitors, with more than 200 leaks since 2010.

And in October, a Sunoco Logistics pipeline in Lycoming County ruptured, spilling an estimated 55,000 gallons of gasoline into a Susquehanna River tributary, according to Sunbury’s Daily Item newspaper.

In that case, area residents were urged to reduce non-essential water use in case of possible contamination, the paper reported.

The Lycoming incident, Shields said, was the result of “historic flooding” that caused a stream to rise 25 feet.

The high-rising water, destroyed an area bridge, which dislodged and plowed into a nearby streambed, severing the underground pipeline, Shields said.

“This is not a circumstance we expect to repeat itself,” Shields said.

The Mariner East 2 pipeline will not be carrying oil or gasoline. It will be used to transport natural gas liquids.

Because the liquids turn to gas under normal atmospheric conditions they likely would bubble out from water unlike gasoline and crude oil, Shields said.

Even then, a leak probably would have adverse impacts on the local wildlife and environment, Jackson said.

Sunoco’s Mariner East 1 pipeline has been transporting propane and ethane in the region since late 2014, Shields said.

Last August, there was an issue at a Hollidaysburg pump station in Allegheny Township, and about 5 barrels of gas escaped, he said.

“The incident was contained to the facility and the system was quickly repaired,” Shields said. “There was no emergency response required.”

About 70 percent of leaks happen inside similar facilities, without impact to the public, Shields claims. Still, all leaks of 5 gallons or more are reported to the U.S. Department of Transportation, he said.

The Allegheny Township incident isn’t the most recent Mariner East 1 leak. On April 1, the pipeline leaked about 20 barrels of ethane and propane in Berks County, according to a Thursday NPR report.

As of Thursday, Mariner East 2 construction had not yet begun in Blair County. Earlier this month, Shields said Blair County construction likely will begin in the next few weeks.

Mirror Staff Writer Sean Sauro is at 946-7535.

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