{"id":42610,"date":"2019-04-10T14:56:54","date_gmt":"2019-04-10T18:56:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=42610"},"modified":"2019-04-10T14:56:58","modified_gmt":"2019-04-10T18:56:58","slug":"commissioners-file-suit-against-sunoco-over-pipeline-construction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=42610","title":{"rendered":"Commissioners file suit against Sunoco over pipeline construction"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>WEST CHESTER \u2014 Chester County Commissioners Michelle Kichline, Kathi Cozzone and Terence Farrell, and the County of Chester have filed a civil lawsuit against Sunoco Pipeline LP regarding the Mariner East pipeline project.\u00a0 The Commissioners and the County are seeking a permanent injunction against Sunoco relating to the company\u2019s disregard of the language of supplemental permanent easements located on County-owned property in West Whiteland Township.<\/p>\n

The civil lawsuit formally requests that the court issue a permanent injunction prohibiting Sunoco from constructing the Mariner 2 pipelines on permanent easements located on the Chester County Library and Chester Valley Trail properties in West Whiteland Township.\u00a0 Specifically, the lawsuit notes Sunoco\u2019s intent to undertake \u201copen trench\u201d construction for Mariner 2 on the Chester County Library property without County permission and in the absence of any temporary construction easement.<\/p>\n

This legal action follows the County Commissioners\u2019 February notice of termination to Sunoco Pipeline LP of two temporary easements, and their announcement to intervene in the Flynn et al. v. Sunoco Pipeline LP<\/em> proceeding before the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.<\/p>\n

Last Friday, April 5, 2019, Sunoco informed the County that it would begin construction of the Mariner 2 pipelines on the Chester County Library Property, via traditional open trench method.<\/p>\n

Chester County Commissioners\u2019 Chair Michelle Kichline said: \u201cAt a site meeting last Friday between County staff and Sunoco representatives it became clear that Sunoco was going to proceed with the open trench method of installation at the Chester County Library property without providing written justification or County permission. This action violates the terms of the supplemental permanent easement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNormally, when it comes to the installation of pipelines, municipal and county governments are restricted in our options to regulate.\u00a0 State regulators and legislators have essentially made us powerless to stop the process,\u201d added Commissioner Kichline. \u201cBut in this instance, the County as the landowner has the right to insist that Sunoco follows the terms of the supplemental permanent easement to the letter of the law.\u00a0 By Sunoco not agreeing to follow those terms I have concerns that they may place our citizens at risk.\u00a0 Sunoco must understand that the County owns this property and we have the right to ensure as they cross County land that adjacent neighbors and our citizens are not adversely affected in any way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commissioner Vice-Chair Kathi Cozzone further noted that the Commissioners \u201cbelieve that Sunoco will be unable to construct the Mariner 2 pipeline on the County Library property within the existing 50-foot right of way and in a manner which ensures public safety and welfare.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy Sunoco\u2019s unauthorized action to begin construction, we deemed it necessary to file this lawsuit to ensure that any construction across County property is done properly and does not adversely impact the surrounding neighborhoods,\u201d Commissioner Cozzone added.<\/p>\n

County Commissioner Terence Farrell said:\u00a0 \u201cAs the stewards elected to protect and safeguard the public safety of our citizens, we will do everything within our power to ensure that the pipeline project is being constructed as to not place the public at risk.\u00a0 Now that Sunoco is crossing County property, we are able to formally petition the Court of Common Pleas and request the issuance of a permanent injunction prohibiting Sunoco from constructing the Mariner 2 pipeline in a manner that could place our citizens in jeopardy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WEST CHESTER \u2014 Chester County Commissioners Michelle Kichline, Kathi Cozzone and Terence Farrell, and the County of Chester have filed a civil lawsuit against Sunoco Pipeline LP regarding the Mariner East pipeline project.\u00a0 The Commissioners and the County are seeking a permanent injunction against Sunoco relating to the company\u2019s disregard of the language of supplemental […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[29,7426,6286,7041,10868],"class_list":["post-42610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-chester-county","tag-featured","tag-lawsuit","tag-pipeline","tag-sunoco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42610"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42611,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42610\/revisions\/42611"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}