Residents of Claymont on Monday expressed their fears about leaks, explosions, or even terrorist attacks on the re-purposed Marcus Hook refinery that is being reborn as a distribution point for propane and ethane that will be piped from western Pennsylvania starting later this year.
Around 60 people listened to presentations from representatives of Sunoco Logistics which bought the refinery in 2013 and which is converting it into a terminal for natural gas liquids (NGLs) from a section of the Marcellus Shale.
While company officers highlighted their emphasis on safety, the highly regulated nature of the industry, and on the jobs recreated after the shutdown of the refinery in 2011, attendees at the Claymont Fire Co. meeting pressed officials for assurances that the NGLs would be handled safely.
“If someone takes a boat out and runs into this place, are we going to lose half of Claymont?” one resident asked.
Officials argued that pipelines are a much safer way of transporting NGLs than trucks or rail cars because they are typically three feet underground.
The Mariner East pipeline, which will carry the liquids to Marcus Hook from shale-drilling areas in western Pennsylvania, is being tested for its ability to carry NGLs, officials said. Sections will be replaced where necessary, and will be subjected to pressures greater than operating pressures before they are put into service, they said.
Alex Dankanich, an official with the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration, which inspects pipelines that do not fall under state auspices, said the frequency of inspection depends on the record of an individual operator.
“Bad guys get looked at harder than good guys,” he said, during a two-hour presentation and question-and-answer session.
Jonathan Hunt, director of the renamed Marcus Hook Industrial Complex, said the facility has been handling propane brought in by truck and train since the 1970s, so has the expertise to do so safely.
He said the closure of the refinery had been a “sad day” but that the repurposed facility now offers the local economy a boost, especially if Sunoco decides to build a second pipeline – whose feasibility is being explored.
Since the plant reopened, local shops and restaurants are already getting busier, Hunt said.
Hunt estimated that 150-160 permanent jobs will be created in the complex, which will sustain about 450 jobs for up to two years during the construction phase.
The plant will support well-paying jobs, Hunt said. The average operator there will make $75,000 plus benefits plus overtime.
Hunt said new tanks that are being built to contain propane are double walled, to contain any leaks that may occur.
And he dismissed a question on whether the import of NGLs into Claymont would somehow cause local drinking water to be flammable – as it has in a few instances in heavily drilled areas of Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale.
Dee Whildin, a member of the Claymont Community Coalition, and one of the organizers of the event, said Sunoco had always been supportive of the community, and that she expected it would continue to be.
But she said she wanted assurances that shelters would be provided for residents in the event of an emergency at the plant, and that air quality would be monitored by the state’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.
Whildin said that she accepts the plant restarting at Claymont even though she’s opposed to the controversial method of fracking that’s used to extract natural gas and its liquids from the shale. And she argued that her support of the plant was based on her belief that it’s good for the community.
“I’m not on anybody’s payroll,” she said.
Sunoco Logistics, which bought the Marcus Hook complex for $60 million in 2013, aims to have the pipeline ready to transport propane by the second half of 2014, and to deliver ethane in the first half of 2015. It’s due to transport 70,000 barrels a day of liquids initially, and will have the capacity to expand that volume if required, the company said.
With the exception of about 50 miles of new pipeline in western Pennsylvania, Mariner is an existing pipeline that was previously used to transport refined products such as gasoline and diesel from the Marcus Hook refinery complex to western Pennsylvania, said Jeff Shields, a spokesman for the company.
With the abundance of natural gas liquids (NGLs) being extracted from the Marcellus Shale in southwestern PA, the company is reversing the flow in order to take the liquids via Marcus Hook – whose site straddles the Delaware/Pennsylvania line -- to market.
Some shipments of propane originally destined for Europe last winter were sent instead to domestic markets in response to soaring demand during the severe weather, Shields said.
Marcus Hook is the right location to bring NGLs to market because of its deep-water berths, rail access, truck facilities, and pipeline infrastructure, Sunoco said.
Before being shipped to market, propane will be stored at Marcus Hook in five underground caverns. Ethane will be stored in surface tanks that are currently under construction, Shields said.
The company is investing $600 million in developing the pipeline plus the associated Mariner West project which will take NGLs from western Pennsylvania to a port in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Shields said.
Despite a local welcome for the reopened plant in Claymont, the whole project could be derailed by legal challenges by some environmental groups.
Critics argue that Sunoco’s plan to build pumping and valve stations in more than a dozen Pennsylvania municipalities would violate a section of that state’s controversial Act 13 that regulates many aspects of the state’s booming natural gas industry.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has struck down the section of the law that limited the right of municipalities to control natural gas development within their bounds.
[audio:http://www.wdde.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/TheGreen_05022014_1-ClaymontNewark.mp3|titles= Delaware Public Media's Tom Byrne and contributor Jon Hurdle discuss community concerns in Newark and Claymont over energy-related projects.]
In response, Sunoco is arguing to Pennsylvania’s Public Utility Commission that it should be classed as a “public utility corporation”, a designation that would mean that it could build the infrastructure without being subject to local zoning regulations.
The company’s opponents include the environmental group Delaware Riverkeeper Network, which argued in a submission to the Pennsylvania regulator that since Sunoco is classified by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as a “common carrier”, it cannot be designated as a “public utility corporation” and therefore should be subject to zoning. The case, now before the PUC, could set an important precedent, said Maya van Rossum, executive director of DRN.
Environmental groups such as DRN also oppose the Mariner project on the grounds that it would stimulate demand for products that are produced by the controversial process of fracking, which some blame for contaminating water supplies with toxic chemicals.