4 hours ago
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Jet substance contaminates community's drinking h2o
When Kristine Wojnovich and her hubby bought their location 20 years agone successful Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania, it was everything they wanted — until 1 time successful 2023, erstwhile she turned connected her room faucet.
"It tasted weird and smelled similar oil," Wojnovich said. "It was precise disconcerting."
Wojnovich called Sunoco Pipeline, relation of the Twin Oaks pipeline that runs conscionable crossed their street. It carries pitchy substance underground from a substance terminal extracurricular Philadelphia to Newark Terminal adjacent the airport.
Sunoco tested her water, but she says they didn't find anything.
"[They said], 'We're truthful blessed to archer you, there's nary oil, nary gas, nary propane, thing successful your water,'" Wojnovich said.
When she pressed further astir the cause, Wojnovich said Sunoco Pipeline told her they didn't know, but it could beryllium "some benignant of bacteria" unrelated to the pipeline.
But other neighbors made akin complaints. Finally, 16 months aft Wojnovich made her archetypal telephone — and lone aft the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection investigated — Sunoco recovered a leak successful the pipeline.
"I consciousness similar we're being poisoned each day," Wojnovich said.
People successful the assemblage don't usage h2o piped successful from a reservoir acold away. Instead, they usage wells that gully from underground aquifers for their cooking and drinking water.
When their good was yet opened earlier this year, Wojnovich was shocked astatine the magnitude of pitchy substance connected apical of it.
"It was 15 gallons...and it's been gathering determination since September 2023," Wojnovich said.
Sunoco removed that fuel, but Wojnovich says Sunoco inactive sends workers each time to skim disconnected caller substance seeping into her well.
She's not alone. The fig of wells impacted has risen to astatine slightest 38, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
In 2024, Sunoco Pipeline spilled much substance than immoderate different pipeline successful the United States, according to information from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
"A pipeline institution that's much assertive successful follow-up, would person identified it sooner," said Robert Hall, who spent decades regulating pipeline information for the national government. "They are not 1 of the champion pipeline companies with respect to their absorption of their pipeline."
In a statement, Sunoco's spouse institution Energy Transfer said it has installed "advanced h2o filtration systems astatine nary cost" and is "committed to the cleanup and restoration of the...neighborhood," but did not code wherefore it took truthful agelong to find the leak.
As for Wojnovich, she is suing Sunoco Pipeline. With the pipeline backmost successful operation, she doesn't program to instrumentality astir the neighborhood.
"Would you enactment if determination was 12 feet of pitchy substance recovered connected your well?" Wojnovich said. "We consciousness unsafe."
Jim Axelrod is the main analogous and enforcement exertion for CBS News' "Eye connected America" franchise, portion of the "CBS Evening News." He besides reports for "CBS Mornings," "CBS News Sunday Morning," and CBS News 24/7.
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