Sunoco pipeline workers must temporarily halt all horizontal directional drilling associated with the Pennsylvania construction of the controversial Mariner East 2, which will pass through local communities.

The halt — ordered Tuesday by state Environmental Hearing Board Judge Bernard A. Labuskes Jr. — suspends drilling until at least 9 a.m. Aug. 7.

On that date, a hearing will begin in the Environmental Hearing Board’s Harrisburg hearing room, where the Clean Air Council, Delaware Riverkeeper Network and Mountain Watershed Association will challenge pipeline construction permits issued by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Those permits are now suspended “to the extent they authorize the permittee to conduct horizontal directional drilling,” according to Labuskes’ order.

The order stipulates drilling must stop at 55 locations across the state. Alex Bomstein — an attorney with the Clean Air Council — said those 55 locations make up all of Sunoco’s active drilling sites.

“It’s all of the horizontal directional drilling,” he said.

The order can be modified to allow drilling during the suspension period if Sunoco can prove the hiatus would “cause equipment damage, a safety issue or more environmental harm than good.”

Sunoco Pipeline LP’s Mariner East 2 construction requires horizontal drilling in some areas, with equipment using a combination of water and bentonite clay under pressure as a lubricant.

Typically, the material flows out through the borehole, but at times fractures in rocks and other geological variations allow the liquid to leak elsewhere.

The Tuesday order comes soon after DEP released project oversight information, which showed dozens of drilling lubricant leaks — as well as a number of Clean Streams Law violations — in recent months across the state, including in Blair and Huntingdon counties.

Some of those leaks have impacted water quality of private wells. Bomstein said he knows of two such wells in Blair County, though he would not offer specifics.

“I believe the judge thought it was important that the public be protected,” Bomstein said of the Tuesday order.

Testimony from those affected by the project will be given at the Aug. 7 hearing, Bomstein said.

“We are finding out the longer this goes on, the more people have been harmed,” he said of Mariner East 2 construction.

A statement from Sunoco officials supplied by company spokesman Jeff Shields addresses the upcoming hearing, as well as troubled drilling.

“We believe that the full hearing before the Environmental Hearing Board will demonstrate that we have expended every effort to meet the strict conditions of our environmental permits,” the statement reads. “We are continually evaluating our drilling plans and had already voluntarily suspended work on a number of our drills while working to ensure that the concerns … were addressed. In the meantime, we will continue non-HDD construction throughout the state, with safety and protection of Pennsylvania’s environment as our first priorities.”

Sunoco Pipeline LP — a subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners — is working to build a 300-plus-mile pipeline to transport natural gas liquids to a processing facility in Delaware County’s Marcus Hook area. Along the way, it will pass through Blair, Cambria and Huntingdon counties.

In both Huntingdon and Blair counties, the pipeline has faced opposition from protesters, who claim it is a risk to the environment, while others have supported the pipeline for its

economic benefits.

Both sides offered comments on Labuskes’ Tuesday order.

“This decision gives the rapidly growing movement against this dangerous pipeline more time to organize communities along the route. … We will work with our allies around the state to make sure the next two weeks are used to mobilize thousands more Penn­sylvanians to fight this pipeline,” Food & Water Watch organizer Sam Rubin said in a statement.

That opinion is in stark contrast to a statement from Pennsylvania Energy Infrastruc­ture Alliance spokesman Kurt Knaus.

“Despite this ruling and unfortunate delay on some construction, work will proceed on a majority of

the pipeline throughout Pennsylvania where drilling is not required,” he said. “This project is too important for Pennsyl­vania, and we remain hopeful of a positive resolution when (the Environmental Hearing Board) hears all the facts in August.”

Mirror Staff Writer Sean Sauro is at 946-7535.