A pipeline operated by Energy Transfer LP leaked jet fuel for at least 16 months, contaminating residential water wells in Pennsylvania, and the conduit may be at risk for further incidents, according to a preliminary investigation by regulators.
Residents of Upper Makefield Township, Pennsylvania — about 30 miles northeast of Philadelphia — lodged odor complaints with the company as early as September 2023, but the firm didn’t find a leak at the time, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said in a report Thursday. The leak originated from a sleeve installed in the mid-1990s, and 44 similar sleeves on the pipeline may be at risk of leaking, PHMSA said.
The report comes almost two weeks after the company repaired a damaged segment of the Twin Oaks pipeline and began testing residential water wells, some of which have been found to be contaminated with hydrocarbons. PHMSA is allowing the pipeline ton continue operating at 20% reduced pressure while it conducts remediation work, including submitting a plan within 90 days to replace sleeves whose integrity can’t be”reasonably assured.”
The “apparent inability to effectively detect the leak has potentially exacerbated the impacts of the release over an extended period of time,” Bryan Lethcoe, director of the southwest region of PHMSA’s office of pipeline safety, wrote in the notice. “Corrective measures are necessary to mitigate the pipeline integrity risk of the pipeline system to protect public safety, property, and the environment.”
Energy Transfer said it’s reviewing the order and plans to respond within 30 days.
“We remain fully committed to working with PHMSA and any other applicable regulatory agencies, the Upper Makefield Township and impacted landowners to safely and swiftly resolve this situation,” the company said in an emailed statement.
Bloomberg’s Jacob Wendler produced this report.
Photo: A Sunoco gas station (Photographer: Emily Elconin/Bloomberg)
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Topics
Energy
Oil Gas
Pennsylvania
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