Drilling crew strikes Sunoco pipeline in Pennsylvania, spilling about 60,000 gallons of jet fuel

The line was hit at about 3 p.m. along River Road (Route 23) by the Insurance Auto Auction lot in the township's Bridgeport section, Upper Merion public safety officials said. Responders called in extra fire and hazmat units, closed the road and told nearby residents to shelter in place. The order was lifted at about 5:20 p.m., and all roads had reopened by late Thursday, Patch reported.

How much fuel escaped is still unsettled. State officials and police put it at about 60,000 gallons; an Upper Merion official told The Philadelphia Inquirer that Sunoco's own estimate ran to hundreds of thousands of gallons. The bulk of the fuel ran into the Glasgow Quarry next door rather than toward the Schuylkill River, according to State Rep. Tim Briggs, and no impact on the river had been reported. Sunoco shut down and isolated the damaged section. A Sunoco spokesperson told the Inquirer the line belongs to and is run by Energy Transfer.

The EPA and Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection are monitoring the air. The quarry owner asked DEP and cleanup crews to keep out until Friday morning, citing safety.

Authorities have not named the drilling contractor or said how the line came to be hit. Under Pennsylvania's Act 287, drilling and augering count as excavation: the excavator must notify the PA One Call System at least three and no more than 10 business days before starting, and within 18 inches of a marked line must dig test holes by hand, use vacuum excavation or a comparable method. An excavator that damages a line has 10 business days to file an alleged violation report with the Public Utility Commission, according to PA One Call.