Controversial Sunoco Logistics Project Will Steamroll Local Family’s Property
Huntingdon, PA – Sunoco Logistics will be constructing a 350-mile pipeline, the Mariner East Project, which will transport natural gas, propane and/or ethane between Eastern Ohio and the Pennsylvania/Delaware line, crossing 17 counties in Pennsylvania.
Sunoco Logistics tree cutting crews have begun chopping down trees this week. Protestors concerned with the environmental and economic implications of the pipeline were arrested and placed in Huntingdon County jail facing $100,000 in bail.
“For the second time in a month, trees were felled to make way for a pipeline project that has yet to receive necessary approvals. On March 1st, hundreds of trees were cut down on the Holleran property in Susquehanna County to make way for Williams’ Constitution natural gas transmission line. The Hollerans relied on those trees for its maple syrup business on the land that has been the family’s homestead since the 1950s. The trees Sunoco felled this week on the Gerhart property were among the trees the family has protected as Forest Stewards since the 1980s. Pennsylvanians have close ties to the land, a relationship Governor Wolf, the DEP, and the PUC have a responsibility to protect,” said Karen Feridun, Pennsylvanians Against Fracking.
“This is yet another case of a Pennsylvania homeowner whose property is being sacrificed for a national, for-profit corporation to pave the way for a 350-mile pipeline project that will have disastrous impacts on our state’s environment and economy,” said Diane Sipe, Pennsylvanians Against Fracking. “Governor Wolf is supposed to represent the people of Pennsylvania, not the oil and gas industry that helped to finance his gubernatorial campaign. Today we are calling on the Wolf administration to step in to protect families like the Hollerans and Gerharts, and the countless others who are being impacted by these dangerous pipeline projects.”
Stephen Gerhart sent a letter to the judge calling on him to reconsider his decision to allow the tree-cutting.
“We are living, breathing Pennsylvanians who have tried to preserve this land. Sunoco is a billions of dollar, faceless entity, based in Texas. The products that they want to transport through our land are not needed in Pennsylvania, or anywhere else in the United States. The rich executives of Sunoco have decided that they can make a lot more profit by selling the Natural Gas Liquids overseas. It is unjust to give them the right of eminent domain so that they can trample on the rights of the people of Pennsylvania.”
Pennsylvanians Against Fracking is a statewide coalition of organizations, institutions, and businesses calling for a halt to fracking in the Commonwealth. Steering Committee member organizations include Berks Gas Truth, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Food & Water Watch, Marcellus Outreach Butler, Pennsylvania Alliance for Clean Water and Air, and Thomas Merton Center. Learn more about Pennsylvanians Against Fracking at paagainstfracking.org.
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