Achieving a strong cleanup standard for the former refinery site
The toxic legacy contamination at the shuttered Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery is extensive and will require a robust cleanup based on appropriate standards.
In Feb 2020, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) proposed a revision to allow for higher concentrations of lead in surface soil at nonresidential properties, including those used for industrial and commercial purposes like the former Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery site. Pennsylvania requires those cleaning up contaminated property to meet this public health standard. DEP proposed to increase this value for lead in soil by two-and-a-half times.
Clean Air Council wrote technical comments to argue against this because it would not be protective of public health, and got over 450 of our members to oppose it. The Council made the argument that the DEP should be using more protective assumptions to calculate the lead standard. After all of this public pressure, the DEP announced it will not increase the standard as proposed. This is very important to the ongoing remediation of the PES refinery site because Evergreen, the Sunoco subsidiary responsible for remediation, has stated it would follow DEP’s lead on this standard.
In addition to raising concerns about DEP’s proposed changes to its statewide standard for lead in soil, the Council also reviewed extensive reports about environmental contamination of the former refinery site and submitted technical comments in January. In the comments, the Council urged Evergreen to lower the lead standard, consider climate change impacts like sea level rise, improve its analysis of groundwater pollution, and include additional toxic chemicals used in fire fighting foams in its investigation. Council staff reached out to organizations and residents in neighborhoods surrounding the site to ensure they knew about the comment period and had everything they needed to submit a comment. The Council recruited a dozen groups and over 330 nearby residents to submit comments.
On a recent virtual public meeting, Council staff asked Evergreen to recommit to following DEP’s direction on the lead calculation and a representative agreed. This will greatly increase the number of locations at the site that must be addressed during remediation. In addition, Evergreen also publicly agreed to consider climate change impacts to the site, and additional toxic chemicals. These concessions are a huge win for public health in Philadelphia.
While groundwater remediation has already been going on at the site for years, a more extensive remediation will begin in the coming years and there is a new 2030 deadline for Evergreen to meet the cleanup standards. As Evergreen completes its environmental investigation, the Council will ensure the cleanup protects public health of Philadelphia residents as much as possible.
For more information contact Matt Walker, Community Outreach Director, at mwalker@cleanair.org.
