Sunoco’s Mariner East 2 and UGI’s PennEast pipeline projects are examples of key pieces of energy infrastructure needed immediately to transport low-cost, abundant supplies of natural gas and gas liquids from the Marcellus and Utica Shale regions to hungry energy markets along the East Coast and beyond.

Pipelines have crossed this state and our country for a century and are the safest way to transport many kinds of fuel — 99.999 percent safety rating. This is fact.

We’re also looking at jobs, good paying jobs. Upwards of 1,000 combined permanent jobs and thousands of jobs during the construction of both projects. One would be hard-pressed to name another industry creating jobs in our region at this rate.

It’s time for reasonable residents to support the speedy construction of these projects. Let’s move our ample supply of shale energy to the coasts and beyond, where it is sorely needed to lower fuel costs to residents paying higher rates than necessary.

Serious environmentalists realize that we can all benefit from clean-burning, affordable natural gas until other sources of energy might one day power our daily lives.