HARRISBURG, Pa. — The designer of a significant pipeline system that links the Marcellus Shale gas field in western Pennsylvania to an export terminal near Philadelphia pleaded no contest Friday to criminal charges that it methodically contaminated waterways and property water wells throughout hundreds of miles.
Dallas-based Energy Transfer Operating concurred to independent screening of propertyowners’ water and assured to remediate contamination in a settlement of 2 different criminal cases brought by the Pennsylvania lawyer general. Under a plea offer, the business will likewise pay $10 million to bringback watersheds and streams along the path of its Mariner East pipeline network.
“We are holding Energy Transfer liable for their criminalactivities versus our natural resources,” Attorney General Josh Shapiro stated at a news conference after the hearing in Harrisburg.
An Energy Transfer spokesperson called the $10 million fund “not a fine or charge of any kind however the item of a voluntary cooperation” with the state.
“While we comprehend Mr. Shapiro is running for workplace, it stays frustrating that he would mischaracterize the truths of this voluntary contract to his political benefit rather than acknowledge the great faith efforts of Energy Transfer to willpower this disagreement,” the spokesperson, Laura Atchley, stated in an e-mail.
The business’s Mariner East 1, Mariner East 2 and Mariner East 2X pipelines bring gas, ethane and butane from the Marcellus and Utica shale gas fields to a refinery processing center and export terminal in Marcus Hook, a residentialarea of Philadelphia. Construction covered in February.
Mariner East hasactually been one of the most punished tasks in state history. The owner hasactually racked up 10s of millions of dollars in civil charges, and state regulators consistently halted building over contamination.
The lawyer basic stepped in last October, charging Energy Transfer with launching commercial waste at 22 websites in 11 cou