Southwest of Philadelphia, on the banks of the Delaware River, sits the city of Marcus Hook. The Marcus Hook Industrial Complex once powered the nation – fueling fighter jets and providing a lifeline to its 5 thousand residents.
Energy Transfer Partners is now repurposing the Marcus Hook Industrial Complex as a site for the distribution, storing, and processing of the natural gas liquids from the regions Marcellus Shale.
When safety is a top priority, the decision to use the IBEW on a project of this magnitude is an easy one. At the peak of the project, around 750 IBEW electricians were on the job – and although this one is finishing up soon the Mariner-2 Pipeline project is still in full swing.
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Marcus Hook Industrial Complex
Southwest of Philadelphia, on the banks of the Delaware River, sits the city of Marcus Hook.
This small, square-mile sized town, is today a shell of its former self. Its refinery, the Marcus Hook Industrial Complex, once powered the nation. It fueled fighter jets during WWII and provided a lifeline to its more than 5 thousand residents, was emptied for good.
Rick Hochstuhl: Project Manager, IBEW Local 654
“I’m 40 years in the IBEW and I started here as a first-year apprentice. This is a plant that has always been good to our local. They went out of business and shuttered the place and it hurt us economically and personally.”
The fate of this town has always risen and fallen with the tides…but when one door shuts – another tends to open. After being closed for three years, Energy Transfer Partners is repurposing the site as the northeast hub for the distribution, storing and processing of the natural gas liquids coming from the regions Marcellus Shale.
Jon Hunt: Vice-President Terminal Operations, Energy Transfer
“It feels great, for everyone working here including myself it’s great to be part of that story. To see something that is sort of down and out but then a rebirth of this site and what that has done for the people that work here and their families. The products that we move and store, transport goes in all sorts of things that affect our customers lives… water bottles, plastics/composite materials in your iPhone, your bicycle.”
And the word has spread, all across Delaware County, that “the hook” is alive once again.
Bill Adams: Business Agent, IBEW Local 654
“At the peak of this job, there were 750 electricians down here total so we had manpower come from surrounding locals and I had 350 guys from my own local down here.”
Daniel Henry: Journeyman, IBEW Local 654
“We are doing all the pre-outage work now where we are prepping cables and terminating cables that can’t be terminated, grounding and installing equipment. We brought the feeders into the area, now we are doing the metering and pds upgrade.”
Rick Hochstuhl: Project Manager, IBEW Local 654
“Our contract was to install all the cable throughout the Mariner-2 east project site. We’ve been here for 8 months.”
Bill Adams: Business Agent, IBEW Local 654
“It’s just been a soup to nuts on the electrical trade from underground to temporary power to the finished work that involved the instrumentation and commissioning of a lot of the equipment on the project.”
Energy Transfer Partners says the decision to use the IBEW on a project of this magnitude was an easy one…
Joe Becker: Senior Director of Terminal Engineering and Construction, Energy Transfer Partners
“We approached the job with safety as the number one priority which is part of the reason we brought the IBEW on this project. We have had over 6.7 million man-hours on the project and have an OSHA recordable rate of .036, which we are really proud of. We are building a world-class facility here and we needed training productive workforce and that is what IBEW electricians bring. And they delivered.”
As for the people that come to work every day here, it’s a game changer.
Matthew Gorley: Journeyman, IBEW Local 654
“It’s been great, I’m 15 minutes from home. It’s opened so many opportunities for me and my family, being close, working overtime. Vacations, being able to send my kids to private school.”
Daniel Henry: Journeyman, IBEW Local 654
“It means a lot… Money for my family every week, food and the ability to take vacations because of the money we are making here.”
Michael Anderson: Foreman, IBEW Local 654
“You have 2000 plus workers going to work every day. Stopping to get breakfast, lunch, buying work clothes, filling up gas tank, and buying vehicles. It is widespread what has come out of this.”
Rick Hochstuhl: Project Manager, IBEW Local 654
“We’ve been able to make mortgage payments and put four kids through college. Knowing that this was going to come back and give me and other people opportunity it was good.”
And even though the project at the industrial complex is almost complete, work remains on the mariner-two, east pipeline which feeds the natural gas into the tanks. And you can bet who will be the skilled electricians to cover the 350-miles of pipeline work across 17 Pennsylvania counties. The IBEW.
Reporting for IBEW Hour Power from Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania – I’m Erica McClaugherty.
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