‘Whitish material’ leaks into tributary of Marsh Creek State Park, site of Mariner Pipeline spill in 2020
It is unclear how much of the substance made its way into the water but it did not appear to be a large amount in comparison to the Mariner East spill.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is investigating a leak of unknown size of a “whitish material” at a tributary of Marsh Creek Lake in Chester County. The tributary is near the site of a 2020 drilling spill into the lake during construction of the Mariner East 2 pipeline.
The incident was initially reported Feb. 16 by a resident, Christina “PK” DiGiulio, but became more widely known when she shared a live video on her Facebook page.
Stephanie Berardi, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, said the release into the tributary is not considered a spill because there is no active construction in the area.
It is unclear how much of the substance made its way into the water but it did not appear to be a large amount in comparison to the previous spill.
The area is immediately downstream of a wetland area adversely impacted by drilling by Sunoco Pipeline, L.P. for the Mariner East 2 project in August 2020 when a plume of about 8,000 gallons of drilling fluid and mud gushed into the 535-acre lake. Crews were working on a 20-inch pipeline at the time and the lake had to be dredged.
In 2021, Josh Shapiro, who was then Pennsylvania’s attorney general and is now governor, filed criminal charges against Energy Transfer LP, the parent company of Sunoco, for the Marsh Creek Lake spill and a series of drilling-fluid leaks over years of construction on the Mariner East 2 pipeline; the use of unapproved additives to those fluids; and failure to report numerous incidents.
» READ MORE: Pa. attorney general announces criminal charges against Mariner East pipeline owner for leaks
Sunoco agreed to pay $4 million for the 2020 Marsh Creek State Park spill and has paid about $24 million in all in relation to the Mariner East Pipeline, according to PA Environment Digest, a blog authored by a former secretary of Pennsylvania’s department of environmental protection. The 300-mile Mariner East 2 pipeline was completed in 2022.
A representative from Energy Transfer could not be reached immediately for comment on Friday.
Berardi said Sunoco sent environmental crews to the scene and that the DEP is continuing to monitor the cleanup. Samples of the material have been sent to a lab to be analyzed.
She said the DEP is still investigating the cause and origin of the release and that the release has stopped, with no additional material having reached Marsh Creek Lake or the surrounding wetlands.
A DEP report on the initial Feb. 15 complaint, and obtained by PA Environment Digest, said the white material covered the creek bottom of a tributary that drains into Ranger Cove at Marsh Creek Lake, which is in Upper Uwchlan Township.
The DEP spotted “pockets of a whitish colored deposition” near where a sinkhole had developed in the past and followed it to a small wetland near Green Valley and Little Conestoga Roads. The DEP report described the substance, collected from samples behind homes on Waterview Road, as having the consistency “of a claylike material.” Pipeline markers were nearby.
A connected pond was clear.
The initial report theorized that it is possible the substance was bentonite, pushed to the surface by a rising water table.
Bentonite clay is typically used with water during drilling. Bentonite is a natural substance and is mixed with a liquid during horizontal drilling. The mixture is not normally hazardous, though environmental groups say it could contain other chemicals. If spilled in large enough amounts, it can overwhelm a waterway and impact aquatic life.