WEST CHESTER (March 23, 2018) – Opposition to Sunoco’s Mariner East Pipeline project doesn’t stop at the Pennsylvania or even U.S. border, according to state Senator Andy Dinniman, who said that his office has been contacted by individuals concerned about the pipeline from as far as Sweden and Scotland.

Last fall, a crew of journalists from ETC, a newspaper and news website based out of Stockholm, Sweden, came to Chester County to talk with residents who have been impacted by the project. The journalists also joined Senator Dinniman and members of several pipeline community groups in the state capitol in Harrisburg for a press conference and rally in support of pipeline legislation. You can view that article online here: https://www.etc.se/klimat/protester-mot-ledning-som-ska-ge-sverige-skiffergas.

Since then, Dinniman said his office has received contacts via social media from residents as far away as Scotland. They are concerned because the 350-mile long pipeline is slated to carry ethane, butane, and propane from the Marcellus Shale in western Pennsylvania to a Sunoco refinery in Marcus Hook, Delaware County, to be exported to Sweden and Scotland for plastic manufacturing.

“We’re hearing from people in Scotland and Sweden who are concerned about the way Chester County residents and their families are being treated by Sunoco. They felt they had a responsibility as global neighbors to know and report what is going on here as the liquid natural gas products are bound for their nation,” Dinniman said.

He also pointed that the Scottish and Swiss nationals who have contacted his office don’t want the pipelines’ natural gas liquids in their countries as they will fuel growing chemical plants and huge plastics manufacturers, which come with their own set of environmental, health, and pollution concerns.  

“The downright astonishing thing is that we’ve met and heard from journalists and residents from halfway around the world who were more worried about the Mariner East pipeline’s potential impacts to our health, safety, environment and private property rights here in Pennsylvania then some of our very own state agencies,” Dinniman said. “It’s incredible to have allies from across the ocean and we appreciate their support. However, as proud Pennsylvanians and Americans, it’s also incredibly disappointing to know that citizens of other countries were among the first to hear us in recognizing a tremendous injustice that our very own state officials and constitutionally empowered state agencies failed to act on.”