Sunoco Pipeline ruled a public utility in Mariner East challenge
A senior judge in Washington County gave Sunoco Pipeline eminent domain power to condemn property in Mt. Pleasant Township for easements to construct the Mariner East project.
Senior Judge William R. Nalitz issued the ruling Thursday that also deemed Sunoco a public utility regulated by the state Public Utility Commission as it constructs the second phase of the pipeline in Washington County.
Nalitz further dismissed the complaints in the case filed by property owners Martha J. and Cary Dwayne Cowden and Paradise Hills LLC, whose attorney argued in court filings that federal regulators should have authority over the property rights challenges rather than PUC.
The company needs 50-foot-wide easements to construct a pipeline from Chartiers Township to Delmont, a distance of 50 miles, to hook into a major pipeline that crosses Pennsylvania and ends in Delaware. The entire pipeline is expected to have a $4.2 billion economic impact on Pennsylvania by shipping Marcellus Shale natural gas products labeled as oil to a larger market.
The two lawsuits involved in Nalitz’s ruling are among a spate of identical challenges filed in Washington and Westmoreland counties, cases that either were settled or are awaiting a jury trial. Nalitz also Thursday combined a number of related cases for trial Jan. 7.
Sunoco spokesman Jeffrey P. Shields said Nalitz’s decision is consistent with those from other courts that looked at the issue for the Mariner East service, and it is also consistent with PUC’s determination this project is a public utility service.
“Eminent domain should be a last resort, for use sparingly, only when good faith negotiations fail and will impede the successful completion of a project,” the company said in a statement.
“Sunoco Pipeline seeks to avoid the condemnation process wherever possible, and we are confident that our negotiations with landowners will continue to produce agreements that are acceptable to all parties,” Sunoco stated.
The attorney representing the Cowdens and Paradise, Michael F. Faherty of Hershey, did not comment Friday on the ruling.