Mariner East Pipeline goes by schools & homes in Ginny Kerslake's Chester County PA district.
The Chester County Democratic Committee endorsed incumbent pro-fracking State Rep. Kristine Howard 167th District. Money talks & walks & owns the CCDC.
The Mariner East 2 pipeline is proposed to carry Highly Volatile Liquids (artificially liquefied Ethane, Propane, Butane gas) through several densely populated areas in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Much of route through Chester and Delaware counties would be considered Class 4 High Consequence Areas by Natural Gas standards.
However, these artificially liquefied gases have hazards greater than traditional Natural Gas. “Natural Gas Liquids”, or “NGLs” are maintained in an artificially liquefied state inside the pipeline. This liquid state is a higher energy state containing more combustion energy than the ambient state these gases have in the natural environment. If leaked, highly condensed liquids rapidly convert back to a gas, expanding by hundreds of times in volume into a highly explosive gas cloud. These gases are naturally odorless, colorless, and heavier-than-air. The heavier-than-air characteristic allows these gases to migrate in unpredictable ways that are highly dependent on wind conditions and topography. The gases, being heavier-than-air, remain low to the ground, will settle in low lying areas, can enter sewer systems or porous rock and use them as conduit to migrate indeterminate distances from a leak site. These gases only require a 3% gas-to-air ratio to remain combustible.
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District profile
The 167th Pennsylvania House of Representatives District is located in Chester County and includes the following areas:[1]
- Charlestown Township
- East Whiteland Township
- Easttown Township
- Malvern
- West Pikeland Township
- West Whiteland Township
- Willistown Township
The worst-case scenario. The cloud shown here is a worst-case event: a total rupture of the 20-inch pipeline on a relatively calm day with a gentle wind blowing toward the schools. The exact boundaries of the cloud would shift with the shifting wind. The size of the cloud is taken directly from the Mariner East risk assessment commissioned by Delaware County Council. If the gas were to escape for about 10 minutes before finding an ignition source, the entire area of the cloud would burn in a few seconds in what is called a “flash fire”. Anyone outdoors at the time would be killed by the fire.
Being indoors might give limited protection from the flash fire, but it would not offer protection from the lethal shock wave produced by the explosion.
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