Toxic Site Cleanups

Clean Air Council works with communities across Pennsylvania to influence decisions related to cleaning up contaminated soil at former industrial sites. Pollution from old industrial sites can be harmful to public health. The regulations for environmental cleanups and redevelopment are complex and often difficult for the public to track and engage in.

The Problem

Given Pennsylvania’s immense industrial history, including Philadelphia’s, pollution from former fossil fuel, chemical, and other industrial facilities poses a serious risk to human and environmental health. Lead is a significant pollutant of concern at sites like the former Philadelphia refinery and is known to cause brain development issues and impair the functioning of internal organs, specifically the liver and kidneys. Asbestos, benzene, and other carcinogens are also commonly found at historic industrial sites. Contaminants trapped underground have been known to migrate off-site even onto residential properties like what happened at the Lower Darby Creek Superfund site, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s designated environmental cleanup site in a predominantly black neighborhood in southwest Philadelphia.

Increased precipitation from climate change can spread pollutants trapped underground, potentially bringing them to residential properties and into waterways. Toxic pollutants in soil are often disturbed during construction and demolition and can enter a person’s body through the air outside and can even be brought inside homes from shoes, pets, or opened windows. 

The Solution

Pennsylvania requires property owners doing a cleanup of contaminated property to meet certain public health standards. The Council works with communities to organize around removing as many pollutants as possible from contaminated sites and redeveloping them in ways that protect public health and the environment. Land owners often attempt to redevelop already polluted sites with more polluting facilities because there are lower environmental standards for industrial sites. Clean Air Council advocates for the most protective cleanup standards so that former industrial sites can be safely redeveloped in ways that meet the needs and goals of every resident in the community, which often includes advocating for development or conservation that protects human health and air and water quality.

Current campaigns 

• The Council has participated heavily in reviewing and commenting on the environmental contamination at the former Philadelphia refinery site in South/Southwest Philadelphia.  The Council has continuously urged Sunoco, the former owners of the former Philadelphia refinery site, to improve the cleanup standard they are using for the amount of lead in soil at the site. This would greatly increase the number of places at the site that Sunoco will need to address during remediation. The Council is also asking Sunoco to seriously consider the effects sea level rise and increased precipitation will have on soil and groundwater pollution at the site and to assess the extent of contamination of PFAS and PFOS chemicals –  chemicals that do not break down in the environment.  Clean Air Council has also worked with residents, city agencies, local elected officials, and experts to envision the long-term future of the former refinery site. Council staff continue to work with neighborhood groups to support their vision of how the former refinery site should be used and developed. Multiple Council staffers currently support the coalition of community groups working to develop a community benefits agreement with Hilco Redevelopment Partners, the current owner of the former refinery site. 

• The Council is engaging Northeast Philly residents in a proposed cleanup plan for the former Philadelphia Coke site in Bridesburg The 63 acre waterfront site is now the largest swatch of greenspace in Bridesburg (by far) and is home to many trees, deer and other wildlife. BP Bridesburg LLC is now proposing to redevelop the site by constructing two large warehouses and leaving only 8 acres of greenspace. This goes against the City of Philadelphia’s goals to expand tree coverage, improve drainage, and expand and maintain waterfront recreational access. The proposed development will include 8 acres of waterfront greenspace, but the environmental impact of the 55-acre shipping warehouse complex will severely diminish the recreational experience at this space and the connecting trail. The redevelopment proposal will also further degrade already poor regional air quality and stormwater management.

• Clean Air Council is currently investigating the final cleanup report at 6901 Elmwood Avenue, the site of a proposed Amazon shipping hub. The Council is particularly concerned about the forthcoming stormwater permit at the site. This area of Southwest Philadelphia has documented flooding instances and new large industrial developments with mass amounts of impervious area could make flooding worse. The Council will support local residents in commenting on the upcoming stormwater permit at the site. 

• The Council works to decrease air pollution at newly proposed shipping hubs in Philadelphia, many of which are proposed on sites contaminated by former industrial pollution. Clean Air Council has urged the City of Philadelphia to accurately apply the “Complex Air Pollution Permit” to all large transportation pollution sources in the City. The regulation is written broadly and should be applied to any “New or modified Complex Sources that are projected by the Department to generate peak rate traffic in excess of 100 motor vehicles per hour; 25 diesel buses per hour; or 12 heavy duty diesel vehicles per hour.”

• The Council engages in commenting on various projects proposed on polluted industrial sites: 
  • Objected to a construction project at a Berks County gas compressor station based on concerns that the construction would release existing polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) pollution in the soil at the site.
  • Opposed the construction of a proposed liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminal on the Delaware River at the Gibbstown Logistics Center in Greenwich Township, New Jersey. The construction and operation of this LNG export terminal would threaten the health of the Delaware River and accelerate climate change by supporting the expansion of the fracking industry in Pennsylvania. The Gibbstown Logistics Center is located on a Superfund site that is contaminated by several different toxic and hazardous substances. The construction of the dock along the edge of this contaminated site will require dredging 45 acres of the Delaware River, which would disturb sediment and soils that may be contaminated by toxic pollutants from the Superfund site.

• Council staff regularly assist residents in reporting migrating dust from construction at polluted former industrial sites, especially in Philadelphia. Please visit cleanair.org/complaints to learn how to report illegal construction dust.

Take Action

• Come back soon to learn how to comment on environmental contamination assessments for the former south Philadelphia refinery site

Recent successes

• One of Clean Air Council’s most significant policy victories was the effort to prevent the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) from increasing the allowable amount of lead in nonresidential soil.  In Feb 2020, 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 PES refinery site. DEP proposed to increase this value by a whopping two-and-a-half times. The Council strongly opposed this change because it would not be protective of public health. Council staff wrote extensive technical and legal comments and engaged a large number of residents to oppose the change. DEP recently announced it will no longer greatly increase the standard. This has major implications on the lead cleanup standard at the former Philadelphia refinery site.