Pipeline leak tainted at least 6 water wells in Bucks town with jet fuel. Neighbors are outraged.

A 14-inch fuel pipeline leak tainted at least six water wells owned by residents in Upper Makefield Township, Bucks County, forcing a shutdown of the line, according to a representative of its owner, Energy Transfer.

The leak occurred in the Mount Eyre neighborhood, according to township officials, who addressed the issue during a Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday evening. At least 30 homeowners had questions about the leak, with many expressing continued concerns and demanding independent testing. Neighbors say they have smelled unusual odors in wells in the past.

Multiple fuels are transported through Energy Transfer’s pipeline, and jet fuel was moving through it at the time of the leak. Energy Transfer officials said that although jet fuel might have been running through at the time, other fuels could also be mixed in from previous runs. Jet fuel, however, was detected in wells, according to a geologist working with Energy Transfer.

Of the six wells that tested positive for hydrocarbons, four exceeded contaminant levels for drinking water.

“We realize the urgency, the critical nature, and extreme concerns that many of you have,” board chair Yvette Taylor said at Tuesday night’s meeting. “The concerns of residents are important to us, and protecting our residents is an utmost concern. We all live in this township.”

Joseph Massaro, a spokesperson for Energy Transfer, said there was a “hydrocarbon release” on Glenwood Drive and the pipeline was shut down.

“On behalf of Energy Transfer, I want to apologize to everyone in this neighborhood that has been impacted by our operations,” Massaro said. ”While we’ve been operating this pipeline for decades, any single issue that ruins that track record is unacceptable. I can assure you our number-one priority is safe operations."

Lisa Strobridge, a geologist with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), said the agency responded to initial complaints starting Jan. 9, when residents noticed smells in the neighborhood.

Strobridge said the DEP conducted a door-to-door survey to evaluate odors. DEP staff also smelled the odors in some of the homes.

An insurance company representing a homeowner living 1,000 feet from the pipeline performed its own investigation, Strobridge said. The insurance company evaluated the home’s well on Jan. 21 and found about 15 inches of kerosene on the surface of the well water, as well as “dissolved impacts of petroleum.”

The DEP alerted federal officials and Energy Transfer and requested an investigation. Energy Transfer began an investigation Jan. 24 and performed test borings on 450 locations.

According to Massaro, Energy Transfer discovered on Jan. 31 a “slow drip” from the line, which carries various refined petroleum products. The pipeline was shut down, pressure tests were performed, checks were made for further loss, two investigative digs were started, and residential water wells were tested.

Energy Transfer hired a geologist and said it would share information with residents. The company set up a hotline for neighbors to report issues at 877-397-3383.

Township officials are holding a public meeting with Energy Transfer and the DEP at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the municipal building on Eagle Road.

Resident Joe Babiasz said this is the first home he has owned with well water.

“We definitely need the board’s advocacy,” Babiasz said. “And the same with DEP. We need you to hold companies accountable and make sure that you’re advocating for us going forward.”

Another resident, Andrew Mela, said he has had petroleum in his well in the past.

“I reached out to the township. I reached out to the DEP,” Mela said. “They assured me it was bacteria.”

Officials said DEP performed testing for the issue reported by Mela and others in 2023, but the results were negative for petroleum. However, Mela and other neighbors disputed that finding.

Indeed, board member Tim Thomas, who lives in the neighborhood, said during the meeting that he smelled the gas, too, at that time.

“They were checked by Sunoco [owned by Energy Transfer], I believe, and they were told it was a bacterium problem. So I can’t say definitively tonight that was a contamination issue,” Thomas said. “However, it was directly across the street from where the leak was. So that was sort of the beginning of it. ”

Residents also pressed officials on whether it was safe to shower and expressed frustration that officials could not offer clear guidance, only that it might depend if they have carbon filters in place. They were also concerned about whether an underground plume might be spreading.

Resident Kat Lahart asked if officials from Energy Transfer would be installing filters for the “peace of mind, our families, our children, each other.”

Massaro said that Energy Transfer would continue to test wells and that he would take Lahart’s request back to the company. He said the company manages thousands of miles of pipeline.

“That’s not an excuse for what happened here,” Massaro said. “And we are going to implement whatever we need to do to make things right with you folks.”

Energy Transfer owns Sunoco Pipeline LP, whose Mariner East 2 project in August 2020 sent a plume of about 28,000 gallons of drilling fluid and mud from a pipeline gushing into the 535-acre Marsh Creek Lake in Chester County.

In 2021, Josh Shapiro, then Pennsylvania’s attorney general and now its governor, filed criminal charges against Energy Transfer for the spill and a series of drilling-fluid leaks over years of construction on the Mariner East 2 pipeline; the use of unapproved additives to those fluids; and failure to report numerous incidents.