A 70-year-old pipeline carrying jet fuel beneath a Bucks County, Pennsylvania residential neighborhood leaked into the groundwater for at least 16 months before the operator reported it. By the time it was discovered, at least 12 private drinking water wells had tested positive for jet fuel and related chemicals, including benzene. A criminal investigation, a class action lawsuit, proposed federal legislation, and an ongoing remediation effort are all now running in parallel. And this week, CBS News reported that in 2024, Sunoco Pipeline spilled more fuel than any other pipeline in the United States.
How It Started and How Long It Was Ignored
On January 31, 2025, Sunoco reported a leak in its Twin Oaks Pipeline, which runs through residential neighborhoods in Upper Makefield Township and transports hazardous liquid petroleum, including jet fuel, at high pressure from Aston, Pennsylvania, to Newark, New Jersey. Although Sunoco identified and reported the leak to federal regulators in January 2025, residents of the Mount Eyre neighborhood had been reporting odor complaints since at least September 2023.
Federal investigators with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration traced the failure to a faulty sleeve installed in 1995 over a dented section of pipe. The contamination stems from the 70-year-old Twin Oaks pipeline. Sunoco stated the release likely began in May or June 2024, but one resident reported smelling and tasting oil in her water more than a year before the official discovery. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection requested additional evidence to support the company's claim about the leak's 2024 start date.
The gap between when residents first reported the problem and when the operator acknowledged it is central to both the regulatory enforcement action and the civil litigation. A leak that went undetected, or unacknowledged, for 16 months in a residential neighborhood with private wells is not a minor compliance issue. It is the kind of documented failure that drives punitive damage claims, criminal referrals, and legislative reform.
The Contamination Footprint
Since the leak was first identified in January 2025, at least 12 wells in the neighborhood have tested positive for jet fuel or related chemicals, including benzene. The company is currently drilling four new private residential wells on Glenwood Drive, reaching depths of 150 feet or more, and work is underway on a new system to pump out contamination.
Benzene is a known human carcinogen with no safe level of exposure in drinking water under EPA standards. Its presence in residential well water, combined with the extended timeline of undetected contamination, creates a long-tail medical monitoring and bodily injury exposure that will develop over the years as affected residents are tested and monitored.
The affected pipeline dates back to 1956, and the failure demonstrates repeated errors by Sunoco over a protracted period. Sunoco failed to adequately respond to residents' reports on several occasions, its equipment failed to detect pollutants in residents' well water, and the pipeline's age and condition raised questions that regulators are still working through.
The Regulatory and Legal Response
The Pennsylvania Attorney General's environmental crimes section launched a criminal investigation into the spill in March 2025. A class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of affected residents. Congressional representatives from the district have demanded federal agency action and proposed new legislation.
What began as a local emergency has since exposed national weaknesses in pipeline regulation, emergency response, and public accountability, including a leak that may have gone undetected for as long as 16 months, at least six private drinking water wells contaminated with jet fuel, delayed and inconsistent information to residents about risks to their water, and local emergency responders incurring significant, unreimbursed response costs.
The proposed Wojnovich Pipeline Safety Act, named for one of the first affected residents, calls for a new federal grant program to replace or upgrade high-risk hazardous liquid lines. The bill reflects a recognition that the current regulatory framework, built around periodic inspection requirements and operator self-reporting, did not catch this failure in time to prevent harm.
Sunoco's Broader Spill Record
The Upper Makefield incident does not exist in isolation. CBS News reported this week, drawing on federal pipeline data, that Sunoco Pipeline spilled more fuel than any other pipeline operator in the United States in 2024. That finding, paired with a 16-month undetected residential groundwater contamination event on a pipeline with a sleeve installed in 1995 over a dented section of pipe dating to 1956, raises questions about the operator's overall infrastructure maintenance posture, which will factor directly into regulatory enforcement, civil litigation, and future insurance underwriting.
Sources: CBS News / CBS Evening News (May 14, 2025; July 2026); Philadelphia Inquirer (March 17, 2025); Berger Montague / Law360 (March 31, 2025); NewtownPANow.com (May 6, 2026); Delaware Riverkeeper Network (2026); Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick Press Release (January 31, 2026); WHYY News (November 2025). https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sunoco-pipeline-fuel-leak-pennsylvania-water