In their haste to construct the Dragonpipe (Mariner East 2 pipeline), Sunoco has racked up an impressive number of violations of their construction permits with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). As of July 31, the count had reached 71 “Notices of Violation”, with new violations still occurring at an average of one or two every week.

On August 2, the DEP fined Sunoco $147,747 for violations at three of their construction sites. These were all sites where private wells had been impacted by pipeline work: Preston Road in Berks County, Lawn Road in Lebanon County, and Shoen Road in Chester County. Complaints included cloudy water, turbid water, discolored water, reduced water supply, and loss of water pressure. In addition, Sunoco failed to immediately notify the DEP (as required by law) of the water supply problems at Shoen Road.

This is one more example of Sunoco’s continuing disregard of Pennsylvania’s (minimal) regulatory requirements. And I am sure Sunoco is perfectly content to pay a fine of this size (which would be covered by one or two days of revenue from Mariner East 1) rather than bother with the details of conforming to state regulations.

This latest fine was not marked by any public notice or press release, but the “Consent Assessment of Civil Penalty” document was posted on the DEP website.