The Upper Makefield Township Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday evening to allow Sunoco's parent company to put three recovery wells at the site of an oil leak in a Bucks County, Pennsylvania, neighborhood.

Residents packed the Upper Makefield Township Building to voice their concerns over three recovery wells planned to collect petroleum in the groundwater near the initial site of a Sunoco pipeline leak. One has already been dug at a home along Spencer Road that Sunoco purchased as a base for remediation.

Resident questions and comments included:

• "Can the township post or share the emergency response plan if anything should happen to the pipeline during this recovery period?"
• "How is the pipeline going to be continually monitored? How are these wells going to be continually monitored?"
• "Sunoco should not be blaming residents when Sunoco has not done all that is necessary."

On Jan. 31, 2025, Sunoco's parent company, Energy Transfer, confirmed petroleum from a 105-mile pipeline that runs from Aston, Delaware County, to Newark, New Jersey, had contaminated seven wells in the Mt. Eyre Manor neighborhood.

"We're frustrated because that's not to the scope of what they initially had shared with us and what it would take to identify what the problem is," said Daniel LaHart, who organized a local grassroots effort when the leak was first detected.

He said it's been frustrating to fight for transparency and follow-through with many questions still unanswered.

"There's just a lot of other things that are unknown at this time, and it feels like we're rushing to do incremental things that maybe don't solve the problem," LaHart said.

Township solicitor William Oetinger addressed residents, noting he's working with Energy Transfer on details including 9 a.m.-5 p.m. working hours, traffic control and school district bus notification.

In the end, the township voted to approve the wells. It's still unclear when work is set to begin.