Residential developers considering building on Rock Hill Farm and potential residents of the unwanted development should consider the dangers, however minimal, associated with living near the aging Mariner East 1 Sunoco pipeline.
The pipeline runs through a section of the Rock Hill Farm property. The township has regulations requiring a large building setback of 250 feet.
Residents have expressed concern about the age of the pipeline, completed eight years ago, and the recent safety record surrounding the company’s building of the Mariner East 2 pipeline in Chester County.
According to Chester County government documents, “The Mariner East 1 project involved repurposing an existing pipeline that previously carried products from the former oil refinery located at Marcus Hook in Delaware County, PA to markets in the west. The pipeline was refurbished, as the Mariner East Project, to carry 70,000 barrels daily of natural gas liquids (liquid propane and ethane) from Western Pennsylvania to Marcus Hook for both domestic distribution and export. Mariner East 1 utilizes mostly existing 8-inch diameter steel pipeline, except for a portion of the line, located in western Pennsylvania that was increased to 12-inch diameter steel pipe. The Mariner East 1 project was completed in late 2014 and is shipping both ethane and propane.”
Pipelines can be safe, but they can be dangerous if struck by excavation or poorly maintained resulting in a leak.
Those with concerns about the unwanted development of Rock Hill Farm are urged to inform Willistown officials of their thoughts, attend public meetings and join the Save Rock Hill Farm organization. To contact Willistown Township officials, see www.willistown.pa.us, call 610 647-5300 or write to Willistown Planning Commission, Charles E. Coxe Memorial Campus, 688 Sugartown Road, Malvern, PA 19355.