The previous blog post, co-authored by Lora Snyder and Ginny Kerslake, celebrated the proposed new PUC pipeline regulations. (If you haven’t already submitted comments on that topic to the Pennsylvania Independent Regulatory Review Commission, it’s important that you do so. See the link above for instructions.)

The fact that the PUC has drafted these regulations is a direct result of the work all of us did in opposing the stealthy and dangerous construction processes that went into Mariner East. The new regulations, assuming they get fully implemented, will prevent some of the worst of the Mariner East abuses from being repeated in Pennsylvania.

But it turns out that our work could have far broader national implications. The criminal record that Energy Transfer amassed in Pennsylvania is being used to oppose the company’s pipeline projects elsewhere in the country.

In August 2022, then-AG Josh Shapiro announced the “no-contest” plea by Energy Transfer to criminal charges concerning Mariner East. He commented at the time: “Every time Energy Transfer bids for a new project here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or somewhere across this country their criminal conduct will stick with them forever.” That’s turning out to be true.

It’s worth remembering that it was a group of us local pipeline activists that persuaded the Delaware County District Attorney to refer Energy Transfer’s violations to Shapiro in the first place. Without such a referral, the state AG’s office will not take on a case. And local activists were also important in compiling the documentation in support of that referral.

ET, debarment and the Dakota Access pipeline. For years, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe has been in an ongoing dispute with Energy Transfer over the operation of the Dakota Access pipeline under Lake Oahe, the tribe’s primary water supply.  After massive protests, the tribe won a shutdown order, but that was overruled on appeal. Still, the environmental reviews by the Army Corps of Engineers (which operates Lake Oahe as part of its flood control mission) were found to be inadequate. They must be done again.

Now, the tribe is arguing that because the EPA has “debarred” Energy Transfer for its criminal record in Pennsylvania, Energy Transfer cannot ask the Army Corps for a new environmental review.

“Debarment” is a condition that prohibits vendors, if their record is bad enough, from working with the federal government.  

ET’s Lake Charles LNG export project. In Louisiana, a similar effort is underway. There, ET wants to establish a new LNG export terminal, but efforts are being made to discredit its Department of Energy application, in large part because of ET’s record of violations of all sorts, beginning with its criminal record in connection with Mariner East.

If either the Dakota Access or the Lake Charles effort succeeds, it will represent a major setback for ET, and one that could have significant implications for the future of their business.

So Shapiro was right: ET’s criminal record is sticking with them, and it will continue to present an obstacle to future projects. Local activists in Pennsylvania can take a share of the credit.PostBlock