Energy Transfer LP said on July 21 it plans to finish the final phase of its long-delayed Mariner East 2 NGL pipeline expansion in Pennsylvania in the third quarter despite calls by county commissioners to shut some operating parts of the system. Chester County Commissioners asked the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) to shut the operating Mariner East 1 and a 12-inch (30-cm) “workaround” pipe being used by the Mariner East 2 expansion.

The county commissioners said several sinkholes have developed this year near the Mariner East 2 construction site in West Whiteland Township in southeastern Pennsylvania about 30 miles (48 km) west of Philadelphia.

Energy Transfer's Sunoco Pipeline unit used an existing 12-inch pipe—the so-called “workaround” pipe—to allow the 20-inch Mariner East 2 to enter service in December 2018 after numerous delays related to sinkholes and drilling fluid spills slowed the project's construction.Mariner East transports liquids from the Marcellus/Utica shale in western Pennsylvania to customers in the state and elsewhere, including international exports from Energy Transfer's Marcus Hook complex near Philadelphia.

Sunoco started work on the $2.5 billion Mariner East expansion in February 2017 and planned to finish the 350-mile (563-km) pipeline in third-quarter 2017.