HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania is halting construction permits for natural gas pipelines operated by Texas-based Energy Transfer LP, as the governor on Friday said the company has failed to respect the state’s laws and communities.
The state Department of Environmental Protection said Energy Transfer is not fixing problems related to an explosion last year, and piled yet another penalty onto a company project in the state.
State agencies already have imposed millions of dollars in fines and several temporary shutdown orders on Energy Transfer projects, while a county prosecutor is demanding documents from the company.
"There has been a failure by Energy Transfer and its subsidiaries to respect our laws and our communities," Gov. Tom Wolf said in a statement Friday. "This is not how we strive to do business in Pennsylvania, and it will not be tolerated."
The Department of Environmental Protection said Energy Transfer hasn't stabilized the soil and erosion around its Revolution pipeline in western Pennsylvania, as it was ordered to do in October.
As a result, it is halting construction permits on the company's pipelines in the state, it said.
"This hold will continue until the operator corrects their violations to our satisfaction," Environmental Protection Secretary Patrick McDonnell said in a statement.
The move won immediate applause from pipeline opponents.
The methane gas explosion destroyed one home in Beaver County last September along the Beaver-to-Butler County pipeline. The Dallas-based firm blamed the blast on "earth movement in the vicinity of the pipeline."
Energy Transfer said it told state officials that it is committed to bringing the Revolution pipeline "into full compliance with all environmental permits and applicable regulations."
In a statement, it said the action did not affect the operation of any of its in-service pipelines or any areas of construction where permits have already been issued.
Energy Transfer’s pipelines in Pennsylvania include the Mariner East 1, 2 and 2X natural gas liquids pipelines across central and southern Pennsylvania.
A DEP spokesman, Neil Shader, said permits for the 16-inch Mariner East 2X — which has yet to start operating — are now on hold.
Construction on those three pipelines has drawn blame for causing sinkholes and polluting drinking water and waterways across the state.
That has resulted in more than $13 million in fines and several temporary shutdown orders from state agencies, including one last month of the Mariner East 1 by the Public Utility Commission.
That shutdown followed a sinkhole that developed last Monday in Chester County.
Nearby residents worried over sinkholes along the Mariner East pipelines sued Energy Transfer last summer in federal court. Chester County's district attorney, Tom Hogan, has said he is demanding documents from the company as part of a criminal investigation he said he opened last month.
The DEP posted its letter to Energy Transfer outlining its issues and why the permits are being halted.
