Marcellus Shale Citizen Surveillance and Organizing Skills Training

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Community Impacts of Mariner East Pipelines
Prepared for West Cornwall Public
Meeting November 21, 2014
Presented by Sam Koplinka-Loehr, Clean Air Council
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Presentation Overview

• Introduction
• Mariner East 1 2
• Pumping Station Specifics
• Air Pollutants and Public Health

Photo Source Bob Donnan http//www.donnan.com/EP
A_Air-Quality_92711.htm
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Clean Air Council Marcellus Shale Program

• Track current rulemaking and write comments on
  regulations
• Work with residents to comment and testify on
  natural gas infrastructure
• Lawsuits against polluters or agencies
• Community actions to achieve goals outside of
  regulatory pathways

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64 of PA is above Marcellus Shale. In 2013, PA
had over 6,000 wells with 3 trillion cubic feet
of gas production. These gas products have
flooded regional markets and companies are trying
to build pipelines to sell overseas.
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Mariner East 1
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Mariner East 1 Basics

• New Pipeline
• 50 miles
• Western PA
• Existing Pipeline
• 300 miles
• Over 80 years old
• Oldest pipelines 4

Source 4 of US gas transmission pipelines were
built before 1940 Canary LLC CEO Dan Eberhart
http//canaryusa.com/aging-us-pipelines/
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Sunoco Logistics Plan

• Switch the pipeline direction to pump natural gas
  liquids from wells near Houston, PA to the Marcus
  Hook Refinery near Philadelphia
• Increase pressure from 800 pounds per square inch
  (PSI) to 1400 PSI
• 18 new pumping stations and 17 new valve control
  stations
• 70,000 barrels per day

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Natural Gas Liquids - Ethane

• Mariner East will transport 100 ethane as of
  2015
• Extracted as gas, but under pressure becomes a
  liquid
• Used industrially for plastics, anti-freeze, and
  detergents
• Extremely flammable

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Public Utility Commission (PUC)

• Sunoco Logistics is currently before the PUC
  requesting exemption from local zoning laws for
  pumping station buildings
• Current PUC process will determine whether or not
  pumping stations are reasonably necessary for
  the convenience and welfare of the public as
  well as whether Sunoco Logistics is a public
  utility

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(No Transcript)
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Sunoco Logistics Pipeline Incidents
Source PHMSA, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration. http//primis.phmsa.dot.gov
/comm/ reports/operator/OperatorIM_opid_18718.html
?nocache259_OuterPanel_tab_2
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Mariner East 2
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Just the Beginning
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Details

• Sunoco Logistics Claims
• Mariner East 1 will be operational by Fall 2014
  with 70,000 barrels per day of ethane and propane
• Mariner East 2 will be operational by 2016 with
  275,000 barrels per day of natural gas liquids

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West Cornwall Pumping Station
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(No Transcript)
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Previous Spill History
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(No Transcript)
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Emission Sources at Pumping Stations

• Electric Pump Motors
• Flaring of gas during maintenance operations and
  constant flaring of fugitive emissions

Source Data and images from State-only operating
permit filed with DEP
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Flare Design
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Flare Volume

• Maximum expected annual flaring
• 312,800 standard cubic feet
• Equivalent to 8,696 gallons
• 23 gallons daily
• Could be more if there are maintenance issues

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Flare Frequency

• Flare will operate 24/7, igniting fugitive
  emissions from the motor and pipeline seals

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Fugitive Emissions Volatile Organic Compounds
(VOCs)

• Equal to 5 constantly idling school buses

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Carbon Emissions

• 35.8 tons of carbon annually, equal to
• Annual carbon sequestration from 26 acres of
  forest
• Burning 34,884 pounds of coal

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Taking Action to Protect our Communities
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Zoning and Air Permit

• Zoning Appeal
• DEP Hearing
• 500 requests
• Follow-up with Tom Hanlon
• thanlon_at_pa.gov

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Contact Info

• Sam Koplinka-Loehr, CAC Shale Gas Organizer
• SKL_at_cleanair.org

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Questions?