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Mariner East Builder Faces 48 Criminal Charges for Pollution, Creating Sinkholes

Attorney General Josh Shapiro announces charges against Energy Transfer for polluting Marsh Creek Lake with bentonite clay and using unapproved drilling chemicals that seeped into nearby drinking water that sickened residents, on Oct. 5, 2021 at Marsh Creek State Park.
Kimberly Paynter
/
WHYY
Attorney General Josh Shapiro announces charges against Energy Transfer for polluting Marsh Creek Lake with bentonite clay and using unapproved drilling chemicals that seeped into nearby drinking water that sickened residents, on Oct. 5, 2021 at Marsh Creek State Park.

Mariner East Pipeline builder Energy Transfer faces 48 criminal charges after it caused dangerous sinkholes, polluted Pennsylvania waterways, and destroyed residential drinking water. State Attorney General Josh Shapiro released a grand jury report and announced the charges in Chester County Tuesday.

WHYY StateImpact Pennsylvania’s Susan Phillips reports the charges won’t send anyone to jail, but could result in more fines.

(Original air-date: 10/7/21)

Susan Phillips tells stories about the consequences of political decisions on people's every day lives. She has worked as a reporter for WHYY since 2004. Susan's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election resulted in a story on the front page of the New York Times. In 2010 she traveled to Haiti to cover the earthquake. That same year she produced an award-winning series on Pennsylvania's natural gas rush called "The Shale Game." Along with her reporting partner Scott Detrow, she won the 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. She has also won several Edward R. Murrow awards for her work with StateImpact. She recently returned from a year at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Washington University.