Yesterday, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf said gas infrastructure was necessary to “live the life we want to live” in Pennsylvania. This comes just days after 61 spills were reported along the Mariner East 2 pipeline route and a Pennsylvania judge ordered drilling halted at 55 locations. Governor Wolf also stated that he personally spoke to the head of Energy Transfer Partners, the parent company of the Mariner East 2 pipeline.
In response to Governor Wolf's comments, Director of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Sierra Club Joanne Kilgour issued the following statement:
“If Governor Wolf was truly concerned about his constituents, he would listen to the thousands of Pennsylvanians who called for the denial of the Mariner East 2 pipeline earlier this year. We demand that the Governor halt construction of the Mariner East 2 and all other pipeline projects in the state until a full environmental review of these projects and related gas infrastructure has been completed as required by the Pennsylvania State Constitution.”
Ellen Gerhart, a resident of Huntingdon County and a landowner living along the route of the Mariner East 2 pipeline, said,
“Like many other Pennsylvanians who have already been robbed of their access to clean drinking water by the fracking industry, I am facing the likelihood of losing my water to this pipeline. I would ask the Governor precisely whose way of life do these pipelines ensure, everyday people like me and my family, or that of billionaire CEOs like Energy Transfer Partners' Kelcy Warren? Instead of speaking with the CEO who has no ties to the Commonwealth and who is exploiting Pennsylvania for his own gain, Wolf should be speaking with his constituents who are suffering at the hands of this greedy corporation.”
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