Commonwealth Court Rejects Citizen's Mariner East 2 Lawsuit
PENNSYLVANIA (CBS) -- Pennsylvania's Commonwealth Court recently rejected a citizens lawsuit to protect communities around the Mariner East Two Pipeline. The pipeline is owned by Sunoco and Energy Transfer Partners.
Late last week, the court ruled against an attempt to enforce local zoning ordinances, which would have banned volatile liquid pipelines in residential zones.
That applied directly to the Mariner East 2 Pipeline project in Chester and Delaware Counties.
"We're essentially being told to place blind trust in an operator that has THE worst safety record of any company in the country when it comes to pipelines," said Sam Rubin with Food and Water Watch, an environmental group fighting the pipeline, which is owned by Sunoco. "And so citizens are being forced to start taking their own action to protect their community."
A GoFundMe page devoted to a publicly funded risk assessment survey of the pipeline has generated more than $17,000 in small donations.
Rubin says efforts are also underway to seek grants and larger donors to fund the assessment, which has a price tag of $50,000.
