PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A state senator from Chester County is lashing out at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection over how they have handled the Marsh Creek Lake incident involving Sunoco and the Mariner East pipeline.
State Senator Katie Muth (D-Berks, Chester and Montgomery Counties) marked last week’s one-year-anniversary of Sunoco’s spill of thousands of gallons of drilling fluid at Marsh Creek State Park by calling out the DEP.
“They’ve failed to do their job, and once again failed to do their job with this specific operator," said Muth.
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"Sunoco’s had hundreds of violations in this project in the 17 counties it spans. Chester County is one of the highest violation counties for the project.”
Muth pointed out that 33 acres of the 535 acre lake remain off limits to the public.
She said there are still a lot of unanswered questions, including what happened to 20,000 gallons of drilling fluid, and what exactly is in the water.
“To leave your mess in the lake and to be in negotiation talks for settlements about this site and not clean it up, it’s incredibly infuriating," Muth said.
She added that it's tricky since it’s a state park and several state agencies are involved, but she wants information on what’s being done, testing to determine any dangers, and wants Sunoco held responsible with something more than fines.
“You can remediate, which they need to do, but this operator has just disrespected the Commonwealth, spewed all over it, doesn’t care, pays its fines and keeps going," said Muth, who believes the pipeline never should have been permitted to begin with.
“Your job is to protect the environment, not to give polluters a free pass to keep doing what they’re doing. At what point is enough enough?”
DEP said they’re working with Sunoco to finish remediation, adding there is no concern to drinking water.
The DEP also said they’re reviewing modifications to Sunoco’s permits to avoid incidents like this in the future.
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