Criminal Charges Filed Against Energy Transfer for Environmental Crimes in Pennsylvania
DOWNINGTOWN—Attorney General Josh Shapiro, in conjunction with the 45th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury, today announced that the Office of Attorney General’s Environmental Crimes Section has charged Energy Transfer, L.P. (Energy Transfer), the corporate successor to Sunoco Pipeline L.P., with 46 counts of environmental crimes for their conduct during the construction of the Mariner East 2 Pipeline.
Two additional counts were added, after the Grand Jury had concluded, bringing the total to 48 counts based on a criminal referral from Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection.
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“There is a duty to protect our air and water, and when companies harm these vital resources through negligence — it is a crime,” said AG Shapiro. “By charging them, we can both seek to hold them criminally accountable and send a clear message to others about how seriously we take protecting the environment and public health.”
The Mariner East 2 Pipeline project crosses 17 counties in the southern tier of Pennsylvania. The Grand Jury learned that at many of the locations, Energy Transfer received permits that allowed horizontal directional drilling as the construction method. While constructing the pipeline, Energy Transfer repeatedly allowed thousands of gallons of drilling fluid to escape underground, which sometimes surfaced in fields, backyards, streams, lakes and wetlands.
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2021/10/criminal-charges-filed-against-energy.html
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This is better than nothing. Maybe it will cause future violators to pause and reflect.
However the time to stop this activity is while it's happening in the field. By now there's so much damage done that a few fines are hardly going to matter.
Will Sunoco corporate executives go to prison for this? I doubt it.
Will Sunoco stockholders suffer? Not a chance.
