Sunoco sues homeowners over pipeline

January 28, 2014 at 8:00p.m.

Sunoco says it has a right to install a third oil pipeline in its easement across defendants’ land.

Sunoco sues Boardman homeowners over plan to install additional pipeline

YOUNGSTOWN

Sunoco Pipeline L.P. of Philadelphia has sued owners of four Boardman homes, alleging they have breached its pipeline easement because they won’t allow Sunoco to install an additional oil pipeline in the easement, which passes through their land.

The defendants, who were sued in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, are Mark P. and Rosemary C. Robinson and Rocco DiGennaro Jr. and Theresa L. DiGennaro, all of Glenwoods Court; Suzanne Aey-Tyler and Craig Tyler of Glenwood Avenue; and Stephen F. Sullivan III and Angela Sullivan of Green Bay Drive.

In its recent lawsuits, Sunoco said it has a contractual right under a 1930- vintage easement to lay an additional pipeline for $150 within the easement, which already contains buried 6-inch and 10-inch pipelines.

The lawsuits ask the court to issue an injunction barring the homeowners from interfering with the new installation.

The installation “will require only temporary excavation” adjacent to the existing pipelines, after which “the affected area will be reclaimed” and no one will be harmed by the project, Sunoco said.

In its motion for the injunction, Sunoco said it is now installing a new multimillion-dollar pipeline across northern Ohio, known as the Allegheny Access Pipeline, which will transport petroleum products from Midwestern refineries to eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania.