Chester County Residents Shocked, Disappointed In Meeting Over Pipeline Safety
Follow CBSPHILLY Facebook | Twitter
WEST CHESTER, Pa. (CBS) -- Pipeline concerns are running deep in Chester County. More than 100 people turned out for a question-and-answer session Thursday to address safety concerns over the Mariner East pipelines.
Homeowners arrived to the public meeting eager to have their concerns addressed, but many told Eyewitness News that's not what happened. In fact, many said they left feeling disappointed.
"Repeatedly, we've asked for risk assessment to be done on this pipeline. But the answer that we are given on multiple occasions is that it can't be released because of security issues," concerned citizen Christina Morley said.
Chester County residents came to a public meeting with questions pertaining to the safety of a Mariner East pipeline after the county did its own risk assessment.
Residents were shocked with the results.
"Some of the results from that show that there's a blast -- a very large blast radius, much greater than most people had imagined," Morley said.
This isn't the first time controversy has surrounded the pipeline.
Just two weeks ago, a sinkhole opened up in a homeowner's yard, exposing the pipeline.
Last month, the Chester County district attorney opened a criminal investigation into the construction of Sunoco pipelines.
Homeowners like Caroline Hughes left feeling disappointed.
"I don't believe that they fully answered the question," Hughes said. "They are continuing to look into it."
State Rep. Carolyn Comitta and state Sen. Tom Killion organized a panel made up of 10 people from different organizations, including the Public Utility Commission Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement.
Residents said they've been lucky the last four years with no tragedies.
They're hoping that luck doesn't run out.
"We have been very lucky, we've been very fortunate," Morley said.
That public meeting lasted for two hours.
Multiple police officers were there on standby in case things got heated.