Sunoco hit with $300K fine for Clean Streams violation
Company accused of unpermitted discharges across the state
A company working to construct a cross-state natural gas pipeline has been fined more than $300,000 for violating state Clean Streams Law, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced Thursday.
Sunoco Pipeline LP was fined $355,622 for allegedly violating regulations between May 13, 2017, and Feb. 17 while constructing the Mariner East 2 pipeline, which will pass through Blair, Cambria and Huntingdon counties.
According to those announcements, poor construction practices have led to violations in all three local counties, as well as others across the state.
Construction along the pipeline’s path “resulted in an unpermitted discharge of drilling fluids to wetlands, wild trout streams, and High-Quality Waters at a number of locations in Allegheny, Blair, Cambria, Cumberland, Dauphin, Huntingdon, Indiana, Lancaster, and Washington counties,” a DEP release reads.
In cases of unpermitted discharges, Sunoco employees were required to halt construction and address problems, according to the announcement, which explains that DEP approval was needed before work could resume.
Work has resumed.
“No violations are acceptable,” DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell said in a statement. “Cleaning up a spill does not excuse Sunoco, or any other company, from complying with the law or paying an appropriate penalty.”
A Sunoco spokeswoman did not return messages seeking a comment by Thursday evening.
The majority of the fine will be placed into the state’s Clean Water Fund. The rest will be used to reimburse county conservation districts in the impacted areas.
This penalty is separate from a “historic” $12.6 million fine levied against Sunoco in February. That fine was issued for earlier construction-rule violations.
Thursday’s fine came shortly after it was announced that the already existing Mariner East 1 pipeline can restart operations. The Mariner East 1, which also crosses local land, was shut down about two months ago, when sinkholes appeared along its route in the eastern part of the state.
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission deemed the pipeline safe for operation.
