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Gas Leak Along Pennsylvania Pipeline Has Some On Edge

PHILADELPHIA (CBS)--The path is being paved for a new natural gas pipelines to run through Berks County, but issues with an old one is renewing concerns about the potential dangers of  pipelines in the region.

"You want to think, you know what it will go in and maybe I'm being irrational and maybe I'm being too fearful about this," said Wade Lee of Chester County.

Lee lives in a neighborhood where the Sunoco Logistic's Mariner East 1 pipeline runs through.

His concerns over natural gas pipelines were solidified earlier this month when the  8-inch pipeline leaked about 840 gallons of propane and ethane into the ground, in nearby Morgantown.

"If that same leak would've happened in this neighborhood, there's no telling what the damages would be," added Lee.

Sunoco Logisitics said the leaked caused "no public safety impact".

The company also acknowledged the April 1 leak was the third leak along the pipeline route within the past year.

"When you hear about three times in less than a year you wonder who's watching? Are they paying attention to what's happening?" said Rebecca Britton of Chester County. "Now they want to put a new were pipeline which is twice as big and you're increasing the danger."

Sunoco Logistics is in the process of constructing a 16-inch and 20-inch pipeline to run parallel to the one that has had several leaks.

Company official Jeff Shields said in a statement: "Our Mariner East 2 project is being built the highest safety standards...many of our practices exceed federal safety requirements."

 

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