Mariner East 2 drilling stopped again after Snitz Creek mud spill

This view from N. Cornwall Rd. shows the progress of pipeline construction. A bridge spans Snitz Creek. (Photo: Michael K. Dakota, Lebanon Daily News)

(Undated) — State regulators have halted drilling for Mariner East 2 pipeline construction yet again at its troublesome Snitz Creek crossing in West Cornwall Township, Lebanon County. 

There had been at least four spills of “drilling mud” at the site in the past eight months, but this time, Sunoco developed a new solution that included injecting a material into the rock to fill cracks and using less pressure while drilling.

It doesn’t appear to have worked – at least, not well enough to satisfy the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

StateImpact Pennsylvania Explainer on the Mariner East pipeline project

The agency inspected the drilling site on June 1 and found two quarts of drilling mud – a mixture of water and bentonite clay – had entered Snitz Creek, according to a notice of violation that DEP sent to pipeline owner Sunoco and posted on