Per the 2020 First Amendment to the Consent Order & Agreement dated June 26, 2020 (and the deeds transferring the parcels), Philadelphia Energy Solutions/Hilco committed to continuing to use the former refinery property for non-residential use. As such, Sunoco agreed to remediate the site to non-residential use standards under Pennsylvania Act 2 and Evergreen’s future Cleanup Plans will be developed based on the non-residential use of the property.
This also addresses the following questions:
We the environmental justice community are concerned about all of the other standards that have not been submitted yet. They were submitted with anticipated use of the site as a refinery, so are those standards going to be revised in terms of what the actual use of the property is going to be?
Delaware Riverkeeper Network is opposed to the site being cleaned up only to industrial use standards. This decision limits the use of the site and the cleanup required. The site is a rare opportunity for public open space and uses that are compatible with residence, mixed community use, and recreational use such as river access for paddling and water sports. The connection of people to the Schuylkill is of great value, as is demonstrated by the historically and economically important river access for rowing and boating upstream. These river friendly activities can be fostered by providing access from this property to the natural riverside on the Schuylkill and the downstream Delaware River. Most importantly, requiring clean up to residential standards and setting cleanup standards based on human health standards and site-specific scientifically-based standards that are protective of human health and the environment will provide maximum benefit and use of the site and not condemn it to always be a source of pollution because those responsible successfully avoided the costs of cleaning up the pollution they caused.