Susquehanna River Basin Commission Enters Into $18,500 Settlement With Sunoco Mariner East II Pipeline

On June 14, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission approved a settlement of $18,500 for water withdrawals without a permit by the Sunoco Mariner East II Pipeline.  

As part of the construction of the Mariner East 2 Pipeline, Sunoco conducted horizontal directional drilling under Aughwick Creek in Shirley Township, Huntingdon County.  

As a part of the HDD activity, Sunoco consumptively used water in excess of the Commission’s regulatory threshold without applying for the necessary consumptive use approval.  

All water used by Sunoco came from a public water supply.  Sunoco and the Commission entered into a settlement agreement to resolve the violations for $18,500.  In addition, Sunoco applied for the appropriate permit and provided mitigation for the water consumptively used.

Other settlements approved by SRBC included--

-- Golf Acres, Inc. $10,000;

-- Titanium Metals Corporation, in the amount of $6,000;

-- Meadia Heights Golf Club, in the amount of $4,000; and

-- Rockdale Marcellus, LLC, in the amount of $1,700;

The Commission also took these actions--

-- Elected new officers with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to serve as Chair and the State of Maryland to serve as Vice Chair beginning July 1;

-- Adopted its expense budget and member allocation for FY2021;

-- Approved several grant amendments and agreements;

-- Approved emergency certificate extensions to Aqua Pennsylvania, Inc. and New Enterprise Stone & Lime Co., Inc.;

-- Adopted updates to its FY2019-2021 Water Resources Program;

-- Adopted amendments to the Commission’s Comprehensive Plan; and

-- Approved 17 project actions (click for a list of projects).

The voting Commissioners and alternates were: Paul D’Amato, Chair, Director, Region 8, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation; Col. John T. Litz, Commander and District Engineer, Baltimore District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Aneca Atkinson, Deputy Secretary for Office of Water Programs, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection; and Virginia Kearney, Deputy Director, Water Management Administration, Maryland Department of the Environment.

For more information on programs, training opportunities and upcoming events, visit the Susquehanna River Basin Commission website.  Click Here to sign up for SRBC’s newsletter.   Follow SRBC on Twitter, visit them on YouTube.