Brown Water In Faucets Drives PA Legislators' Demand To Wolf, DEP To Halt Pipeline

HARRISBURG, PA — Three Chester County legislators convened a gathering in Harrisburg today to show Energy Transfer's pipeline construction permits need to be pulled and to call on Gov. Tom Wold and the DEP to do it.

Three PA residents impacted by the pipeline were guest speakers. A retired Sunoco employee from West Chester who said he never considered himself a protester stood in the Capitol rotunda in Harrisburg Wednesday morning, telling how his move to action began with stained laundry from dirty water coming into his home, then his private well going dry.

Fred Custer was one of three residents to speak at the event organized by Pennsylvania State Rep. Diane Herrin (D-156th) accompanied by Pennsylvania State Rep. Danielle Friel Otten (D-155th) and State Sen. Katie Muth (D-44th).

Herrin, Muth, and Otten hosted the event — Standing for the Right to Clean Water: Stories from The Mariner East Pipeline Project — under the State Capitol rotunda on Wednesday morning.

Joining the legislators were Custer, Patrick Robinson of New Florence in Indiana County, and Ron Shawley, of Johnstown in Cambria County. Each shared how pipeline construction affected them adversely. Since 2017, Energy Transfer has been issued over 100 notices of violation and has been fined millions of dollars for violations related to the construction of the Mariner East pipeline project.

Herrin introduced her constituent, Custer, who lives along the path of the pipeline project and whose private well — along with two of his neighbors' wells — dried up.

"I'm a third-generation Sun oil retiree," said Custer. "They (Sunoco) were once the paragon of civic responsibility; however, this is not the company I worked for."

Custer described his experience after laundry began staining from dirty water at home. He said he called the Department of Environmental Protection who "asked a few questions," then never got back to him. His water turned more brown, his well dropped by 5 feet, then completely dried up, he said.

"All we are looking for is a reliable source for our water. We are not only extremely disappointed and fed up with Energy Transfer and their lack of civic responsibility, but we are also disappointed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's lack of oversight and failure to protect its own citizens from these bad actors," Custer said.

Robinson, an Indiana County U.S. Navy Veteran and ex-Halliburton employee whose water became contaminated days after drilling began on his property back in 2017, told the gathering, "Two years of testing and two years of DEP coming out, and they blame it on everyone else. When is this job going to be done, and when is it going to be corrected? How many people are going to have to suffer?"

Robinson is both a veteran and a lifelong Boy Scout volunteer who said he had good drinking water before the pipeline construction began. He also said he was told that if he didn't sign off to allow the work on his property, he would not be provided a "water buffalo" tank of clean water for home use.

Herrin told the group, "Access to clean water is a constitutional right for all Pennsylvanians, and the reckless behavior demonstrated by Energy Transfer during the construction of the Mariner East project has stripped residents of this basic necessity."

Herrin pronounced, "We call on Governor Wolf, the Department of Environmental Protection, and the Public Utility Commission to do their jobs, protect our communities' water rights, and halt all permitting for this project until access to permanent, clean water has been restored to all affected residents.”

The event comes after Pennsylvania's Attorney General leveled 48 criminal charges against
Energy Transfer for numerous environmental crimes including water contamination, failure to
report spillage of drilling industrial waste, and the use of unapproved drilling fluid additives.

Otten said, "The testimony of these residents reinforces the recent findings by the Office of Attorney General and echoes the stories we've heard from property owners across 17 counties in our commonwealth since Mariner East construction began."

She added, "Energy Transfer has continually failed to meet its requirement to restore damaged private water supplies. The administration and the DEP have a duty and a responsibility to pull the permits, stop further construction of this pipeline, and restore our citizens’ constitutional right to clean water."

Muth addressed the gathering last, saying, "The permits for this project require any damaged drinking water supply to be replaced by the operator. Sunoco makes billions in profits yet refuses to clean up their mess. Pennsylvanians deserve better, and impacted residents are not disposable. It's time state regulators use their executive and statutory authority to hold corporate polluters accountable.”

Muth introduced Ron Shawley, a Cambria County retired armed forces veteran, who is
without clean drinking water since Mariner East construction came through his property. "I
shed my blood for this country to come home and not have clean drinking water," Shawley
said. "All I'm asking is to step it up and help."

Herrin echoed Attorney General Josh Shapiro's statement as he introduced charges against Energy Transfer that current law imposes fines but nothing else for violators.

"Fines are clearly not a deterrent for this company, which continues to contaminate and drain
residents’ drinking water supplies," Herrin said. "We need this Administration to stop
construction now and until the requirements of all existing permits are met, and we need our
fellow legislators to join us in creating meaningful accountability for polluters. Our communities
and the people of Pennsylvania cannot afford inaction on access to clean water."

Otten shared a story of bringing her children for a summer visit to their grandmother, who lives near pipeline construction, only to find a wading pool was filled with discolored water. Otten said she learned the water had been brown for a long time.

Muth closed the Capitol event with a stern statement to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and to the DEP. "Do your job," she said. "Corporate polluters have run this building for decades. The jig is up. It's not just tree huggers and radical noticing this anymore."

Muth called it "gross negligence" to continue to let people live without clean water.

The Mariner East pipeline project traverses over 350 miles from Western Pennsylvania to the
Marcus Hook refinery in Delaware County, where highly volatile natural gas liquids are refined
and transported to be shipped overseas to be made into plastic products.

Read a report about the charges brought by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office against Energy Transfer here.

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