The fundamental promise of a home is safety, a sanctuary where families can trust the water flowing from their taps and the ground beneath their feet, but for dozens of residents in a quiet Pennsylvania neighborhood, that promise was shattered by the persistent, unmistakable smell of jet fuel. For the past year, homeowners in Upper Makefield Township have navigated a frustrating reality of contaminated well water, evasive corporate answers, and the gnawing uncertainty of what the future holds for their health and property. This prolonged crisis has become more than a local environmental disaster; it has exposed critical flaws in Pennsylvania’s legal framework, prompting a coalition of lawmakers and citizens to demand a sweeping overhaul designed to shift power from polluters to the people they harm. The resulting legislative battle raises a crucial question: can a new law finally force accountability when the old one failed?
A Community’s Water Smells of Jet Fuel: Why Did It Take a Year to Demand Action?
The ordeal for the Mt. Eyre neighborhood began officially on January 31, 2025, when a leak from a Sunoco pipeline was confirmed, contaminating the private drinking wells of at least six households with jet fuel. However, the contamination’s roots ran much deeper. A preliminary investigation by the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration suggested the leak had likely been active for a staggering 16 months before its discovery, silently poisoning the local groundwater. This revelation transformed the community’s anxiety into anger, as residents grappled with the knowledge that the threat had been present long before any official action was taken.
In the year that has passed since the official confirmation, the path to recovery has been mired in frustration and a perceived lack of urgency from the pipeline’s parent company, Energy Transfer. According to Ben Weldon, chair of the Upper Makefield Township Board of Supervisors, the cleanup effort has been alarmingly slow, with less than a quarter of the spilled fuel recovered. He noted that the company has compounded the community’s distress by scaling back water testing and refusing to continue maintenance on filtration systems for some homes, leaving residents feeling abandoned. This slow, opaque response has become a case study in the consequences of a system that residents and officials alike argue is failing to protect them.
The Upper Makefield Leak: Exposing a Broken Environmental System
The prolonged crisis in Upper Makefield has cast a harsh spotlight on the inadequacies of Pennsylvania’s existing environmental laws. State Senator Steve Santarsiero, a primary architect of the proposed reform, explained that statutes like the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act were designed to address large-scale industrial sites and landfills, not hazardous spills that directly poison residential communities. This mismatch has left a dangerous gap in the state’s ability to compel a swift and comprehensive response in situations where families are on the front lines of contamination.
The core of the problem lies within the state’s Land Recycling Program, commonly known as Act II, the very framework under which Energy Transfer is managing its remediation. Senator Santarsiero has publicly characterized Act II as “largely voluntary,” a critical flaw that grants polluters significant control over the cleanup process. The act lacks statutory deadlines for completing investigations or remediation, and it fails to give the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) the explicit and immediate authority to take over a cleanup and bill the responsible party. This legal loophole, Santarsiero argued, creates a scenario where “residents can be left waiting while responsibility and remediation plans are debated,” a precise description of the year-long ordeal in Upper Makefield.
From Voluntary to Mandatory: A Breakdown of the Proposed Legal Overhaul
In direct response to these systemic failures, Senator Santarsiero and State Representative Perry Warren have championed the Pennsylvania Environmental Cleanup and Responsibility Act. Modeled on New Jersey’s successful Spill Act, the proposed legislation is designed to dismantle the voluntary framework of Act II and replace it with a mandatory, polluter-funded system that prioritizes public health and environmental restoration over corporate timelines. This bill aims to fundamentally change the dynamic, ensuring that from the moment a spill is identified, the clock starts ticking on the polluter, not on the affected residents.
The proposed law introduces several powerful, non-negotiable provisions. It would mandate that polluters immediately contain, investigate, and clean up any hazardous substance spill, eliminating the delays that have plagued the Upper Makefield community. Furthermore, the bill establishes legally binding deadlines for remediation and guarantees that any cleanup must meet stringent standards suitable for unrestricted residential use, explicitly protecting drinking water, soil, and air quality. This shift from suggestion to statutory command is intended to provide the DEP with the “teeth” it currently lacks.
Central to the reform is the empowerment of state regulators and the reinforcement of financial accountability. The legislation would grant the DEP the authority to act decisively, taking over cleanup operations when a polluter fails to comply and then recovering the costs. It also solidifies the “polluter-pays” principle through the legal standard of joint-and-several liability, ensuring responsible parties are held financially accountable. To foster transparency, the bill would require the DEP to establish a public information portal, allowing residents to track cleanup progress and access vital information about health risks, a resource that would have been invaluable to the families of Mt. Eyre.
Living in Limbo: Residents Share the Human Cost of Regulatory Loopholes
The legislative debate is fueled by the powerful and emotional testimony of those living through the contamination. Kristine Wojnovich, for whom a related federal bill is named, recalled first reporting the smell of jet fuel in her water in September 2023, months before the leak was officially acknowledged. Speaking for her community, she expressed unwavering support for any legislation that would accelerate leak identification and mandate a complete restoration of their environment, a basic right that was taken from them. Her experience underscores the human cost of a reactive rather than a proactive regulatory system.
For neighbors Melissa Tenzer and Ruth Kuenzig, the past year has been a constant disruption of digging, monitoring, and deep-seated fear. A year after the discovery, Tenzer emotionally expressed her disbelief that they still lack definitive answers about the full scope of the contamination. Both families rely on bottled water for drinking and cooking, unwilling to trust the filtration systems installed by Energy Transfer. “We’re not fully contaminated, but it’s still higher than the normal standards,” Tenzer stated, lamenting the loss of her family’s sense of security. The simple act of getting a glass of water, once taken for granted, has become a source of daily anxiety.
This persistent uncertainty has trapped families in a state of emotional paralysis. Tenzer, a resident of 24 years, grapples with the heartbreaking choice between staying in the home she loves and fleeing the invisible threat it may pose to her children. “I worry about if something happens, I’ll never forgive myself for not moving,” she confided, perfectly articulating the impossible position many of her neighbors face. Her description of their family’s state as “living in limbo” captures the profound psychological toll that regulatory failures inflict long after the initial emergency has passed.
A Multi Pronged Attack: How Federal State and County Officials Are Joining the Fight
The push for accountability is not confined to the state capitol. At the federal level, U.S. Representative Brian Fitzpatrick has introduced the bipartisan “Wojnovich Pipeline Safety Act,” a bill aimed at upgrading high-risk pipelines and increasing public transparency surrounding their operation. Fitzpatrick is simultaneously pressing the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration for a full and public report on its investigation into the Upper Makefield leak, ensuring that federal oversight contributes to the local solution.
This effort has galvanized a coordinated response across multiple levels of government. Newly-elected Bucks County District Attorney Joe Khan has pledged his office’s full support for the ongoing investigation by Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday, declaring the situation an “all hands on deck matter” that demands civil, criminal, and statutory remedies. Khan has initiated a 120-day action plan to better protect the environmental rights of county residents, signaling a new era of local vigilance. In parallel with these governmental actions, several affected residents have initiated a private lawsuit against Energy Transfer, seeking justice through the court system.
The convergence of legislative reform, federal pressure, local law enforcement engagement, and citizen-led litigation represented a comprehensive strategy to address the crisis. It was clear that the community and its elected officials viewed this not as an isolated incident but as a critical test of Pennsylvania’s commitment to its environmental and public health obligations. The proposed Environmental Cleanup and Responsibility Act was the centerpiece of this effort, a recognition that without stronger laws, future communities could easily find themselves in the same prolonged nightmare. The fight in Harrisburg was not just for Upper Makefield; it was for every Pennsylvanian living in the shadow of the state’s vast network of pipelines and industrial sites.
