Philadelphia-based Sunoco Logistics has announced a new
$2.5 billion pipeline project to move natural gas liquids across the state.
“Mariner East 2” would start in Ohio, bringing ethane and
propane through West Virginia and western Pennsylvania to an industrial complex
on the Delaware River.
The 350-mile pipeline would run parallel to its
predecessor, the Mariner East 1, but unlike that project,which involves
reversing the flow of an existing line, this pipeline needs to be built from
scratch.
Spokesman Jeff Shields says it would quadruple the amount
of natural gas liquids flowing to Marcus Hook from 70,000 barrels a day to
275,000. Much of the ethane will be shipped overseas and some of the propane
will feed markets on the East Coast.
Sunoco Logistics also announced plans for a propane
manufacturing unit at the idled refinery in Marcus Hook. That facility will
turn propane into propylene, a building block for plastics and fabrics.
“That also enables a whole manufacturing chain that we think
is really what people have been talking about when you’re talking about a
manufacturing renaissance in Southeast Pennsylvania,” Shields said.
That project is still in “active development” and there
is no timeline for when the former oil refinery will start processing propane.
Sunoco Logistics expects Mariner East 2 to come online in
2016, pending federal and state regulatory approvals.
The Mariner East 1 project awaits final approval from the
Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and has been met with strong opposition
in Chester County. Residents there objected to the company’s push to bypass
local zoning laws to build pump and valve control stations for the pipeline in
residential neighborhoods.
Initially, Sunoco Logistics had approached both the PUC
and local zoning boards for approval. This time, Shields says the company is
going straight to state regulators.
“We remain willing to work with each of those
municipalities and all the communities and will continue to do that,” he said.
Since it crosses state lines, the Mariner East 2 will
also require approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Shields said the company will begin seeking easements
from landowners immediately.
Source: StateImapct.NPR
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