This month, after reports of gas drilling fluid surfacing in the protected wetland inside Chester County, Pennsylvania’s Marsh Creek Park, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection took samples of the material and turned them over to Sunoco Mariner East pipeline builder Energy Transfer, the same company that was fined $4 million in 2020 for a leak that caused caused between 21,000 and 28,000 gallons of drilling fluid to enter Marsh Creek Lake (https://buff.ly/3wvsPNN), a popular recreation destination.
“The farmer has put the fox in charge of the henhouse,” said Tonyehn Verkitus, executive director for Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania.
Therefore, PSR PA is raising a separate fund to pay for independent testing of this material, which we sampled on February 21, 2024. We anticipate that this testing will cost at least $5,000.
We will publish the results of the test publicly and send them to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and key public officials.
For more information about this issue: “Marsh Creek State Park once again the site of cleanup due to Mariner East pipeline construction” WHYY.org (http://WHYY.org), February 23, 2024