HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Sunoco has cleared one legal hurdle after a Pennsylvania appeals court upheld the energy company’s power to take private property for a pipeline project, but others obstacles remain.
Commonwealth Court on Thursday upheld Sunoco Logistics Partners’ power to take private property for its Mariner East 2 Pipeline. The decision was a blow to property owners trying to prevent the use of eminent domain for the 300-mile pipeline project.
The company has said the pipeline would provide four times the capacity to move gas from Marcellus Shale drilling sites in western Pennsylvania to its Marcus Hook storage and distribution facility near Philadelphia.
However, a separate suit also argues that Sunoco has no legal right to use eminent domain to build its pipelines. That suit, filed last year in Philadelphia by the Clean Air Council, argues the pipelines don’t serve a public need.
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