Bucks County residents fear Sunoco pipeline leak could be more widespread than company acknowledges

More than 200 residents packed a board of supervisors meeting Thursday night, casting doubt on Sunoco’s testing results from a pipeline spill detected in January that contaminated at least six water wells in Bucks County’s Upper Makefield.

Company officials, who repeatedly apologized for the spill during the 4½-hour meeting, said subcontractors have tested 359 wells and received results for more than 250. Of those, six tested positive for contamination above state maximum allowable levels, and four others were found to have contaminants at lower than allowable state levels. The company awaits additional results, and more rounds of testing.

But residents such as Kimberly Smith weren’t buying Sunoco’s answers about testing, given that homeowners had their wells tested independently and found the presence of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), a gasoline additive that was banned in 2006. MTBE can cause headaches, nausea or vomiting, dizziness, coughing, and “feeling of spaciness,” according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“They are telling a story that is not the reality of what we are living,” Smith said after the meeting. “They keep saying that there are six contaminated wells, but there are plenty more … there’s MTBE in our wells, there’s toluene in our wells.”

Township officials said Sunoco’s own testing firm showed that 69 wells contained contaminants. At least 15 had the presence of volatile organic compounds. Others contained lead.

David Brown, a program manager for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), said Sunoco has entered into the state’s voluntary cleanup program that requires an investigation, installation of sampling wells, data, a plan for remediation, and permits.

“That could take months; that could take years,” Brown said.

Sunoco, a subsidiary of Energy Transfer, has purchased a home in the Mount Eyre neighborhood whose well was contaminated by hydrocarbons. It plans to study how water moves underground in the area, but needs permitting to be complete. The neighborhood is adjacent to the Delaware River.

“This is not a great day for the company, for us,” said Gus Borkland, a senior director of emergency planning for Energy Transfer.

“This is crisis,” said Yvette Taylor, the board’s chair.

State Sen. Steve Santarsiero, State Rep. Perry S. Warren, both Democrats representing Bucks County, and U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.) have all called for a suspension of pipeline operations, at least for now. They and township officials have been critical of the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) for allowing Sunoco to keep the pipeline open at a reduced rate of flow.

The township has hired its own project manager to advise officials, and an environmental attorney.

» READ MORE: Feds say Sunoco hazardous pipeline leaked fuel in Bucks Co. for at least 16 months

A group of residents has hired their own attorney and homeowners are hiring independent testing firms showing detectable levels of contaminants.

“Common sense tells you that it has to be from this leak,” Smith said. “If you smell gas in your water right now, you have a contaminated well.”

She’s concerned jet fuel is moving in an underground plume.

“I think about it every time I turn on the water, every time I go to take a shower. It’s like the quiet enjoyment of our neighborhood is gone,” Smith said. “You’re worried that you’re going to be the next person that has so many feet of jet fuel in your well.”

The 14-inch steel Twin Oaks Pipeline, built in 1958, transports mostly jet fuel, diesel, and gasoline from Sunoco’s Twin Oaks Terminal in Aston, Delaware County, to the company’s Newark Terminal in Newark, N.J. It includes a pump station in Bucks County. The pipeline runs about 106 miles mostly through suburbs, crossing numerous rivers, including the Delaware, and runs adjacent to numerous state and local parks.

It not only runs adjacent to and under homes, but also near two schools in Upper Makefield.

Residents began complaining of odors as far back as September 2023, and say Sunoco testing showed nondetectable levels of contaminants — even as odors continued. The odors, they said, began a few months after a July 15, 2023, flash flood that killed seven people. Some wondered whether the flooding could have caused issues with the pipeline.

On Jan. 9, residents reported more smells coming from neighborhood wells. A DEP representative went door-to-door in response, and an insurance company tested the well of a homeowner living 1,000 feet from the pipeline and found 15 inches of kerosene on the surface of the 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 found six home wells with hydrocarbons detected above state health standards. It found the problem and installed a sleeve over it to cover the leak, and reduced the flow of the pipeline by 20%. A sleeve is a section of new pipe that gets welded over the old pipe.

The current leak was located on a part of the pipeline that had an existing sleeve that was installed in 1995 to reinforce a dent in the ¼-inch-thick pipe. After locating the leak, Sunoco shut part of the line by closing a valve at a pump station. The company cut out the sleeve and had it sent for testing.

In mid-February, PHMSA issued a report that said the pipeline had leaked for at least 16 months, saying the line poses a “risk to public safety, property, or the environment.” PHMSA ordered Sunoco to keep the flow of the pipeline at 80% — but did not order it to shut down as requested by area legislators, local officials, and residents. Lowering the pressure within a pipe reduces stress on the walls.

» READ MORE: Feds say Sunoco hazardous pipeline leaked fuel in Bucks Co. for at least 16 months

The company has begun installing filtration systems and says it will conduct follow-up monitoring.

Mike Nelson, who lives on Spencer Road near the site of the leak, said at Thursday night’s meeting that he noticed a problem with his water Jan. 21, after Sunoco said it fixed the pipeline.

“It was disturbing, a little bit scary,” said Nelson, who had a water-filtration system installed the next day. “Our community has been damaged. So we need to shut down the pipeline. We need to complete a full independent investigation,” Nelson said.

Tracy Carluccio, deputy director of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, a nonprofit advocacy group, believes the pipeline has the potential for undetected leaks that could threaten groundwater and surface water, including the Delaware River. She criticized what she believes has been a lack of proactive measures by the DEP and PHMSA.

Her group is calling for an immediate shutdown of the pipeline, its possible decommissioning, and the need for independent water sampling.

Carluccio noted that the “Type A” repair sleeve that had been used on the pipeline in the Mount Eyre neighborhood is the same type of sleeve that led to a gasoline release in Huntersville, N.C., in 2020 that resulted in 28,571 barrels escaping through a crack in such a sleeve.

Because private water wells are not regulated in Pennsylvania by the DEP, they are more vulnerable to such contamination, Carluccio said. Her group is also concerned about any plume that could move underground, given its proximity to the Delaware River.

In 2023, Sunoco completed a removal of an exposed 300-foot-long section of the pipeline that ran across Jacobs Creek near the confluence of the Delaware River and replaced it to connect to 2,500 feet of pipe installed under the Delaware River through horizontal drilling.

“The only responsible thing to do is for PHMSA to order them to shut it down,” Carluccio said.