Upper Makefield Township residents in Pennsylvania used a crowded Bucks County meeting to vent about how a jet fuel pipeline leak has upended life for private well users. Much of the anger focused not only on the contamination itself, but on a cleanup that neighbors describe as prolonged, noisy, and uncertain.
Speakers said the fallout now includes both questions about drinking water safety and the disruption created by the response effort. Local officials have likewise faulted the pace of the work, saying residents still lack a permanent fix.
What happened?
The proposed remedy centers on a pilot of “multiphase extraction,” or MPE, a method meant to remove fuel from groundwater and fractured bedrock. Sunoco LP and its parent company, Energy Transfer, presented that plan Wednesday night for the roughly 6,500-gallon jet fuel leak that reached groundwater in the Mt. Eyre neighborhood, WHYY News reported.
According to company representatives, the pilot could start before the end of the year, and a full-scale system would be added if the test works. Sunoco said it had recovered about 518 gallons of jet fuel by June 16, plus another 644 gallons through soil excavation beneath the pipeline…