Philadelphia Refinery - Fire and Impact on City (Franklin, Girard: living, storage)

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by Patmcpsu

You might want to be careful about the word "force". Force implies government coercion, which sounds tyrannical and anti-market. While I'm sure there are people out there who would love to outlaw fossil fuels ASAP, the effects of doing so would be devastating for the economy.

Fossil fuels are popular because they are cheap. They will remain popular as long as they are cheap. The only way to overcome this is:
1) Wait for green energy to decrease in price, which will happen naturally but can be promoted.
2) Give tax incentives for green energy
3) Increase taxes on fossil fuels
4) Hope that people voluntarily opt for the more expensive forms of energy

Maybe the word "force" just struck my libertarian nerve - we can't ignore the free-market on something so vital to our economy, but we can nudge it in the direction we want it to go.

Definitely understand the libertarian perspective and wouldn't advocate for outlawing fossil fuels; that would most certainly not be feasible in the short-term anyway.

I do believe in setting standards, however, for reduction in fossil fuel use over time. My main point is that we have an overall "addiction" to oil/natural gas and we're doing a disservice to ourselves and the future by not making a more aggressive transition to renewable energy.

[Jeanie Beanie]

Originally Posted by cpomp

What are everyone's visions for the site?? Clean energy? Let mother nature take over? Development?

Once the refinery superstructure is removed you have a huge, level, contaminated lot that I can envision as a massive SOLAR farm. Yeah, yeah, fence it off to keep kids out (like now). It just seems like poetic justice. Out with the old technology, in with the new. Power lines TO the site to refine petroleum should be able to accept the juice from the sun, right? No odors, no flares/steam/off-gassing.

Thoughts?

[JacksonPanther]

For God's sake, build something that's attractive, for the thousands who get their first view of Philadelphia by crossing the bridge from the airport...

[Patmcpsu]

Good article from the Inquirer about the course of events as the accident occured (nothing too specific about what caused the explosion though): Refinery explosion: How Philly dodged a catastrophe.

In the middle of the chaos, an operator in the central control room, located in the shadow of the Passyunk Avenue Bridge far from Unit 433, took quick action and shuttled the hydrofluoric acid to a separate container, according to O’Callaghan, the steelworkers president. The industry term for that is “rapid deinventory.”

“The equipment that was installed to save the acid worked. She did a great job,” O’Callaghan said of the operator, who declined to be interviewed. “She saw it come up and she took action and followed her training.”

A refinery worker on the scene who wasn’t authorized to publicly discuss the matter offered this assessment:

“She’s a f-ing hero. Whatever she did up there,” he said. “When you’re ‘on the board’ as we call it, your alarm screen looks like a slot machine, all the alarms are going off.” He said she may have “saved the city, really."

Had the blast released a potentially lethal cloud of hydrogen fluoride, within 10 minutes it could have traveled as far as seven miles. More than a million people live within that area.

[DavePa]

Originally Posted by Patmcpsu

Good article from the Inquirer about the course of events as the accident occured (nothing too specific about what caused the explosion though): Refinery explosion: How Philly dodged a catastrophe.

I'd say she should get some recognition by the city ..... Gain some money from interviews on news broadcast. Even National exposure for more. But if not that type of person to go before cameras?

[Pilot1]

Originally Posted by kyb01

How many people work there or, right now, did work there? I can't find any numbers.

The company announced the decision after the refinery erupted into a massive fire and explosion last week. It’s the 10th largest refinery in the US and refines about 335,000 barrels of crude oil a day, according to the company’s website.

AAA spokeswoman Jenifer Moore said the closure of the largest oil refinery on the East Coast will likely have an impact on gas prices in and around the region.
“While it is too early to know how much prices could increase and for how long, motorists in the region will likely continue to see a fluctuation in pump prices — especially leading up to the busy Fourth of July travel period,” Moore said in a statement.

The fire has made it “impossible” to continue operations, CEO Mark Smith said in a statement. At least 1,000 workers will lose their jobs.

I couldn't find much on this from our local Philly media. I wonder why? It is making National News.


https://kxlh.com/cnn-national/2019/0...rtheastern-us/

[Patmcpsu]

The best I could find is this:

The 335,000-barrel-per-day refinery, the largest on the East Coast, employs more than a thousand people directly, including nearly 700 hourly union workers, and thousands of contractors.

There's also this article which deduces to:

• About 100 nonunion employees - These are probably engineers, managers and office workers.
• 614 refinery workers belonging to Steelworkers Union Local 10-1 - These are the plant operators
• Probably a few hundred other union jobs employed directly by the refinery - Mostly maintenance personnel
• Thousands of contractors - This number is hard to define, but I do believe it's truly "thousands".

And it seems the employees are getting cut from the payroll as quickly as possible:

Somebody asked about the state law requiring a 60-day termination notice, but the executives said that because of the devastating fire and explosion on June 21, the law did not apply to an emergency closure. They said they had already run it by legal.

[DavePa]

Since this thread died on the subject of -- What happens to the sight once the refinery is totally gone.

https://philly.curbed.com/2019/6/26/...nd-remediation

Apparently, nothing will very fast if ever?

From link:

- Land remediation is when contamination, often of industrial land, is cleaned up, or at least brought to levels that no longer pose a heath or safety risk.
- As it stands, Sunoco is legally liable for contamination at the site.
- They have legally binding agreements forcing them toward cleanup at some level.
- Whoever takes on the responsibility has a difficult job. Only part of the 1,300-acre site can be remediated for some kind of commercial use.
- The refinery dates back to the late 1800s, when Atlantic Petroleum Company built four warehouses along the Schuylkill River to store over 2 million gallons of refined oil product,
- Anyone hoping to use the land in the future would have to examine it on a parcel-by-parcel basis.

** This is never going to be a neighborhood it says.

Seems like a Big fenced area for a loooong time. Sadly, no doubt kids will find a way in. Groups like Philly Thrive hope that it can become the site of a new renewable energy source.

Maybe the Solar farm idea isn't so bad though .....

[Patmcpsu]

Yeah back in the 1800s and early 1900s, nobody cared about oil getting on the ground. By the time they realized how awful the pollution was, the damage was already done, but even then, there would still be leaking pipes and accidental spills.

The ground is forever unclean; I predict it will get paved-over and used for cargo storage. I guess solar panels or windmills would be provide enough symbolism for politicians to think it's the best use of space, but riverfront property is riverfront property (its docks may be the most valuable asset left at this point). The biggest obstacle is that the Girard Point Bridge doesn't have much clearance under it, so only relatively small ships will be able to access it.

The larger concern is ground contamination seeping into the river. We've already been living with this seepage for decades, but they should not cut any corners in making a permanent, robust and effective solution.

[Redddog]

Originally Posted by Patmcpsu

Yeah back in the 1800s and early 1900s, nobody cared about oil getting on the ground. By the time they realized how awful the pollution was, the damage was already done, but even then, there would still be leaking pipes and accidental spills.

The ground is forever unclean; I predict it will get paved-over and used for cargo storage. I guess solar panels or windmills would be provide enough symbolism for politicians to think it's the best use of space, but riverfront property is riverfront property (its docks may be the most valuable asset left at this point). The biggest obstacle is that the Girard Point Bridge doesn't have much clearance under it, so only relatively small ships will be able to access it.

The larger concern is ground contamination seeping into the river. We've already been living with this seepage for decades, but they should not cut any corners in making a permanent, robust and effective solution.

I mean, I can't imagine they would look to cut corners.