WHYY: Federal Pipeline Regulatory Agency Says Energy Transfer/Sunoco Pipelines Have A ‘System-Wide Risk” Of Leaks Similar To The One Discovered In Upper Makefield Twp., Bucks County

On October 16, WHYY reported the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration issued a corrective action order to Energy Transfer/Sunoco Pipelines Company saying there is a "system-wide risk" of leaks similar to the one discovered in January 2025 in its Twin Oaks pipeline in Upper Makefield Township, Bucks County, that contaminated drinking water sources with jet fuel.

“PHMSA finds a high likelihood that the same conditions underlying the MTC and Twin Oaks pipeline failures remain present in Energy Transfer’s other hazardous liquid pipeline systems and that those conditions could result in additional failures,” the agency said in the order.

As a result, the agency has ordered the firm to inspect and, if necessary, repair its pipelines related to leaks originating from failed repair pipeline sleeves.

The order requires a pressure restriction and a repair sleeve inventory, in addition to several other measures, to evaluate the integrity of the impacted pipelines and all other hazardous liquid pipelines owned and operated by Energy Transfer and its subsidiaries.

Without those measures, agency officials wrote that Energy Transfer’s pipeline network “is or would be hazardous to life, property, or the environment.”

Click Here to read the entire WHYY article.

Visit DEP’s Upper Makefield Pipeline Leak webpage for more information on the Bucks County incident.

(Map: Bucks County area impacted by the Energy Transfer/Sunoco jet fuel pipeline leak.)

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[Posted: October 16, 2026]  PA Environment Digest