DEP Cites Sunoco For Spills, Sinkholes, Groundwater Release

CHESTER COUNTY, PA — The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection today cited for violating the state's Clean Streams Act at Marsh Creek Lake, and violating both the Clean Streams Law and Dam Safety and Encroachments Act at its Shoen Road work site.

After investing two Mariner East 2 pipeline work sites, the DEP determined Sunoco had damaged Marsh Creek Lake along with surrounding wetlands and tributaries running into the lake and had caused a sinkhole there. The DEP also determined that Sunoco's construction activities had caused a groundwater discharge happening on Shoen Road.

Specifically, the damage to the lake and wetlands that constituted a violation of the Clean Streams Law, was a drilling fluid spill that began Aug. 10. DEP said, "Drilling solution is an 'industrial waste' under Section 301 of the Clean Streams Law, 35 P.S. § 691.301. The discharge of industrial waste from the IR and via subsidence to waters of the Commonwealth is a violation of the Clean Streams Law."

The amount of the Marsh Creek State Park spill was estimated by some as over 8,000 gallons, by others as more than 10,000 gallons of drilling fluid.

The DEP said "Sunoco in constructing a portion of the Mariner East II pipeline at HDD 290 that occurred on Aug. 10, 2020 (inadvertent return) and Aug. 11, 2020 (subsidence in a wetland). These activities have adversely impacted Marsh Creek Reservoir, two tributaries to the Reservoir, and a wetland. The discharge of industrial waste into waters of the Commonwealth is a violation of the Clean Streams Law and is therefore subject to enforcement."

The release of groundwater in West Whiteland Township happened two days before the spill at Marsh Creek Lake. The DEP described it saying that on Aug. 8, it had "received notice of a discharge of turbid groundwater to a roadside swale at the Shoen Road side of Sunoco Pipeline, L.P.’s HDD Site S-3-0360" in the area of Devon Drive and Shoen Road in West Whiteland Township. DEP investigation and found that "the discharge of groundwater was related to the construction activities of the above-referenced HDD, and as stated in Section 5.1.6 of the HDD Inadvertent Return Assessment, Preparedness, Prevention and Contingency Plan '(Sunoco, L.P.) shall treat the groundwater as an IR in accordance with the provisions of Section 6.3, below.'"

Matthew L. Gordon of Sunoco Pipeline, L.P. and Jayme Fye of Michels Corporation were named in the citations, which were copied to persons of interest at Energy Transfer and TetraTech.

The Notice of Violation said that "Sunoco has not provided an immediate or long-term restoration plan to address impacts to waters of the Commonwealth." Sunoco was give specific action it must take to remediate the damage it caused.

"If future inspections reveal that corrective actions have not been made and/or additional violations have occurred, DEP may initiate enforcement action," the DEP warned.

Please be reminded DEP approval is required before restarting drilling operations for HDD S3-0360-16. Additionally, a reevaluation is required for HDD S3-0360-20 in accordance with paragraph 3 of the August 10, 2017, Corrective Stipulated Order.This Notice of Violation is neither an order nor any other final action of DEP. It neither imposes nor waives any enforcement action available to DEP under any of its statutes. If DEP determines that an enforcement action is appropriate, you will be notified of the action.

Although DEP has issued an Notice of Violation, other agencies are not precluded from pursuing separate enforcement actions as they determine appropriate.

Sunoco has until Aug. 27 to respond with a detailed report of current conditions at both sites, and an explanation of its response to contain and clean up its messes. DEP said Sunoco must detail "actions taken to contain and remove the industrial waste from each water of the Commonwealth, including wetlands, impacted by the IR and the subsidence event," referring to the sinkhole at Marsh Creek Lake.

In relation to the spill and sinkhole at Marsh Creek State Park, the company must also provide DEP "a detailed plan describing the additional measures Sunoco proposes to perform to complete remediation of the IR, including its plan to assess and restore wetlands functions and values impacted by the IR and the subsidence event, as well as any aquatic resources in the wetland, tributary stream, and reservoir. Separate descriptions and actions need to be provided for the impacted wetland, the impacted tributary streams, and the impacted reservoir."

Sunoco must not only account for how the drilling fluid spill happened, but must track where it went, estimate its volume, and how it exactly how it calculated the volume of drilling solution released.

The violation notice said DEP was not satisfied with Sunoco's explanation of the Inadvertent Release. "There are three primary mud-related components of the HDD system: the borehole, the mud pit(s), and the mud system (tanks, external piping, etc.). The calculation provided by Sunoco on Aug. 17, 2020, only accounts for the bore hole component. Please provide the status of the mud pit(s) and the mud system prior to and immediately following the IR."

The DEP investigation raised probing questions that the Notice of Violation demanded answers to. DEP asked Sunoco to account for 20,000 gallons of drilling fluid reported in the company's logs as "lost" between June 2 and June 6, 2020, and it asked the company to account for how it determines such losses.

The DEP also asked Sunoco to explain "why a 500-gallon fluid loss was reported in a Loss Prevention Report on March 3, 2020, but the June fluid losses were not so reported." The department also required an account for some of Sunoco's logged practices related to how it mixed bentonite, mud, and clean water.

DEP also wanted to know why grout was used in the drilling mud on July 9 and July 10, 2020. "Was this a labeling mistake or was grout pumped downhole?" DEP asked Sunoco.

In response to the groundwater release on Shoen Road, Sunoco must provide DEP an explanation of "the cause of the discharge and evaluate strategies to be implemented to avoid a recurrence." Sunoco must also detail "all of the alternative steps considered/analyzed to prevent future IRs. The average daily flow rate of the groundwater discharge."

DEP said it "has consistently held the company accountable for violations to the full extent of the law and will do so in these instances as well."

"We are committed to holding permittees accountable and will continue to provide active and stringent oversight over the construction of Energy Transfer projects."

Penalties associated with such violations are typically calculated and assessed at a later date. The DEP cited Sunoco on Aug. 20 for multiple violations across eight Pennsylvania counties in 2018 and 2019, with penalties totaling $355,000.