In a reversal, Mariner East will pay smaller penalty for Delco noise violations

State regulators have reduced a $51,000 penalty imposed in June on Sunoco Pipeline LP for violations during construction of its contentious Mariner East pipeline system through a Delaware County apartment complex. The pipeline company now faces only $3,000 in fines.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission voted 2-1 on Thursday to walk back its imposition of a $51,000 fine for violations related to disruptions during construction through the 124-unit Glen Riddle Station Apartments in Middletown Township. The PUC reversed its earlier decision that Sunoco’s actions violated state utility code by creating unreasonably high noise levels and exacerbating emergency and fire hazards.

Two members of the commission, Ralph V. Yanora and John F. Coleman Jr., reversed their earlier vote after citing a letter from the Energy Association of Pennsylvania, the trade group for the state’s big electric and gas utilities. The Energy Association said the PUC’s June decision could create a new statewide standard for noise and emergency responder access during any utility construction project.

A spokesperson for Glen Riddle Station Apartments, which has been engaged in a long-running dispute with Sunoco over its expansion of its pipeline system under its property, said the decision was “extremely troubling.”

“We have no idea why the PUC would suddenly reverse this comprehensive ruling,” David LaTorre, a spokesperson for Glen Riddle Station L.P., said in an email on Friday.

The dispute is one of many that the Mariner East project generated during construction of its 350-mile path across Pennsylvania. The project, which transports shale gas liquids such as propane and ethane to an export terminal southwest of Philadelphia, drew $24 million in fines from Pennsylvania regulators and was particularly disruptive where it threaded its way through densely populated areas near Philadelphia. Work was completed on the pipelines earlier this year.

The PUC voted 3-0 in June to adopt an administrative law judge’s recommendation that cited Sunoco for creating a fire hazard during construction at Glen Riddle, making excessive noise, and failing to adequately communicate with apartment residents. After Thursday’s reversal, the decision only retains the violations for inadequate communications, which carry a $3,000 fine.

Sunoco had asked the PUC to reconsider the June decision. But it was a supporting argument from the Energy Association, which was not a party to the dispute, that appeared to carry the most weight. The Energy Association’s lawyer, Devin T. Ryan of the law firm Post & Schell, said the PUC’s findings that the noise levels from Sunoco’s construction crews exceeded 75 decibels on 23 occasions might create an impossible standard for any utility to meet.

“As a practical matter, electric and natural gas utilities, and their contractors, often work in residential areas and necessarily use equipment that exceeds 75 decibels, such as jackhammers that have noise emissions of approximately 130 decibels,” wrote Ryan. He said the noise was necessary for utilities to provide adequate service, as required by law.

“Utilities cannot adequately perform their duties and undertake construction projects on critical infrastructure in residential areas if every single noise in excess of 75 decibels will result in a [violation],” Ryan wrote.

The two commissioners also said it’s not uncommon for utilities to use large equipment on construction sites that may impede emergency responders.

Gladys Brown Dutrieuille the PUC’s chair, said in a dissent that the PUC’s June decision did not create a new statewide standard, and Sunoco raised no novel arguments in asking the commission to reconsider its decision.

“My vote was in no way intended to impose a broad and overreaching set of construction standards upon our regulated utilities,” she said.

The apartment complex is waging a separate legal battle seeking communications between Middletown municipal officials and Sunoco Pipeline to shed light on what it says is a cozy relationship between the township and the energy company. Sunoco Pipeline is a subsidiary of Energy Transfer LP, of Dallas, Tex.

Sunoco attempted to horizontally bore a 3,500-foot underground pathway for two new pipelines under the apartment complex. But leaks of drilling fluid during construction spilled into streams, and groundwater gushed out of the bored hole. Sunoco abandoned the effort, and switched its construction methods to a conventional open trench.

The new construction method was particularly disruptive to Glen Riddle Station, which was bisected for eight months by a massive trench and 30-foot high sound walls that were as close as five feet from some buildings.