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(Reuters) – Energy Transfer LP representatives will travel to the Pennsylvania capital on Thursday for a hearing before utility regulators to defend the company's plan to commission the natural gas liquids pipe. Mariner East 2 of Sunoco by the end of the year.
Energy Transfer wants to temporarily connect an existing 30.5 cm (12-inch) pipe to parts of its 20-inch delayed 20-inch Mariner East 2 pipeline that has already been completed in order to begin shipping liquids to customers.
These customers have been waiting for more than a year before shipping liquids on Mariner East 2. When Energy Transfer started working on the $ 2.5 billion project in February 2017, it was planned to put in service the 350-mile (563-km) hose in the third quarter of 2017.
Mariner East 2 and another energy transfer project, the Rover natural gas pipeline, from Ohio to Michigan, have been delayed over the past year, in part because the combined projects have allowed to register more than 800 violations of federal and state permits while the company was running to build them.
Those opposing Energy Transfer's plans for Mariner East 2 have asked the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) to halt the construction of Mariner East 2 and ban the company from transporting liquids on the Mariner Pipeline. East 1 existing.
The PUC Administrative Judge who is scheduled to hear the case Thursday is Elizabeth Barnes, the same judge who heard a case earlier this year that was aimed at stopping the Mariner East project.
In that case, Barnes J. ordered Energy Transfer to discontinue gas transportation on Mariner East 1 and to halt work on Mariner East 2 in Whiteland Township West, following the discovery of sinkholes. near the pipeline.
The Mariner East 1 returned to service in June.
In the latter case, seven residents of the counties of Delaware and Chester, in southeastern Pennsylvania, argued that Energy Transfer "had not provided sufficient notice of sufficient procedures to ensure public safety in case of leakage or breakage ".
In response, Energy Transfer spokeswoman Lisa Dillinger said in an email, "We do not think the request is valid.The integrity of our Mariner East 1 and 2 gas pipelines has been verified in recent months. "by state and federal supervisory authorities.
Mariner East transports liquids from the Marcellus and Utica shale deposits in western Pennsylvania to customers in this state and other countries, including international exports from Energy Transfer's Marcus Hook complex. located near Philadelphia.
Scott DiSavino report; Edited by David Gregorio
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