September 9, 2024
PHILADELPHIA, PA On Friday, after three years of requests and two years of litigation, the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ordered the National Park Service (NPS) to disclose to Clean Air Council key documents relating to the proposed federal investment in fossil fuel-fired heating equipment for buildings at Independence National Historical Park. The Council brought the lawsuit in 2022 to compel the federal government to produce documents in response to its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
This effort has been part of the longstanding campaign of the Council and partners to get Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) to halt its drive to build more long-term methane gas infrastructure during the climate crisis. A diversification study was conducted in December 2021 presenting PGW with multiple options to convert Philadelphia to renewable energy.
“The power of sunshine laws, like the FOIA, allow us, the People, to make sure our government sincerely and correctly upholds laws that exist to protect the environment and public health,” said Lauren Otero, Clean Air Council staff attorney. “Federal decisions to lock itself into fossil fuel infrastructure for decades to come contradicts the Biden administration’s mandate to preserve a stable climate and undercuts our overdue need to reduce carbon emissions.”
NPS has 45 days to turn over to the Council feasibility studies and associated documents that claim gas-fired boilers are the best solution available to reduce carbon emissions. If NPS says it can’t separate out those materials from confidential or proprietary information, it will give them to the Court to review and then decide what to disclose.
“Given the climate crisis, new fossil-fuel heating is wrong for the City and wrong for the planet,” said Elaine Fultz, a member of Citizens’ Climate Lobby’s Philadelphia Chapter. “It would exacerbate global warming, worsen air quality in the Old City neighborhoods, and undercut both City and Federal targets for reducing carbon emissions. Philadelphia Gas Works must transition to the distribution of clean energy, and Philadelphia’s National Historical Park should be a leader, not a laggard, in the green transition.”
For a copy of the opinion, click here
For a copy of the order, click here.
