Pipeline battle with apartment Delco residents goes on
“All Middletown Township residents deserve better — they deserve transparency and to know that their elected officials and local government will advocate in their best interest. Despite our best efforts, the township has decided to work for Sunoco … they are acting as an agent for Sunoco by hiding information that should be transparent.”
— Steve Iacobucci, property manager of the apartment complex
MIDDLETOWN » A tug of war for information is ongoing between Mariner East pipeline builder Sunoco/Energy Transfer and Glen Riddle Station Apartments.
In December of 2020, Steve Iacobucci, property manager of the apartment complex, which was the site of heavy pipeline construction for more than six months, filed a right-to-know request.
Iacobucci seeks 489 emails and other correspondence passed from June 2019 to the present time between Middletown Township and Sunoco/ET. So far Sunoco and the township have refused to release the documents, he contends.
At the heart of Iacobucci’s open record RTK request are emails concerning what he said was a $1.8 million Sunoco payment to the township. An easement was granted for township-owned Sleighton Park.
The property manager is disappointed that the township’s lack of a response defied an April ruling to release the information from the Office of Open Records. Sunoco and the township both appealed the office of open records decision to the Court of Common Pleas.
“All Middletown Township residents deserve better — they deserve transparency and to know that their elected officials and local government will advocate in their best interest,” he said. “Despite our best efforts, the township has decided to work for Sunoco … they are acting as an agent for Sunoco by hiding information that should be transparent.”
Middletown Councilman Mark Kirchgasser denied those claims.
“Middletown Township has provided over 3,200 pages of documents to Glen Riddle Station apartments in response to their right to know requests. There are some sensitive settlement documents that have been withheld because they are protected by the provisions of the Right to Know Law,” he wrote in a statement.
“The transaction where Middletown provided seven easements to Sunoco in exchange for $1.8 million and the subsequent use of those funds was conducted openly in public meetings, widely reported and posted for the public’s view on the township website. Middletown has and continues to provide full transparency during the Mariner East construction work in our township,” he wrote.
Pipeline construction took place directly through the heart of the 124-apartment complex, with several residents living just feet away for, what Iacobucci said, was fluid leakage, unsafe noise levels that could lead to hearing loss and a waterline break. Sunoco/ET provided porta-potties and bottled water, while insisting that the water be turned back on prior to testing.
The Mariner East pipeline weaves across Pensnylvania, Ohio and West Virginia from Marcellus Shale deposits to the refinery in Marcus Hook, Delaware County. The right of way runs alongside more than 40 schools and other high density area of Delaware and Chester counties. The by-product of fracking will be used to produce plastics for foreign markets.