The Refinery Explosion
In Southwest Philadelphia, community members were accustomed to stuffing towels and blankets under their doors to keep the stench of chemicals out of their houses. Mere blocks away from the old Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) plant, the largest oil refinery on the East Coast, the neighborhood had been plagued by birth complications, cancer, liver malfunction, asthma, and other illnesses caused by the refinery, which had been in place for around 150 years.
Despite continuing to operate through numerous incidents and fires over the years, the PES refinery permanently shut down in 2019 after a massive explosion. PES filed for bankruptcy protection and Hilco Redevelopment Partners purchased the land soon after, with plans to dismantle the plant and convert the property into an e-commerce and industrial hub called the “Bellwether District.” But simply ceasing the refinery operations after more than a century did not erase its impact.
While the closure of the single largest source of air pollution in the City was an immediate benefit to the surrounding neighborhood, the plans for its replacement with a commercial hub that could result in a significant influx of diesel trucks offered minimal comfort to surrounding community members. Residents further worried about the rising cost of housing and possible displacement post-development. Such worries were exacerbated by the hundreds of people who lost their jobs once the refinery shut down.
“I’ve lived by the refinery for decades, and I’m glad it’s gone,” said Betty Beaufort, President of Friends of Queen Memorial Library. “But I had real concerns about what this new development would mean for me and my neighbors.”
The community’s concerns grew when Hilco offered up a non-enforceable community benefits document that was drafted without any consultation or input from the community itself. The document did not alleviate the community members’ concerns related to environmental health, housing, employment, and more.
The Negotiations
As a result, in early 2021, neighborhood organizations and RCOs came together to form the United South/Southwest Coalition for Healthy Communities (“Coalition”). The Coalition’s chief goal was to advocate for a community benefits agreement (CBA) with Hilco that was the result of a true negotiations process and would provide real benefits to the neighborhood surrounding the Bellwether District. The Coalition retained the Public Interest Law Center and Earthjustice in Summer 2021 to represent it during these negotiations with Hilco.
In September 2022, after much public pressure from the Coalition, Hilco agreed to commence CBA negotiations. Hilco announced it would negotiate with a group of local stakeholder organizations called the Community Advisory Panel (CAP), a vestige of PES’s operations, and that the negotiations would be overseen by a third-party facilitator.
The Law Center and Earthjustice successfully advocated for the Coalition to be added to the CAP so it could take part in CBA negotiations. The Law Center and Earthjustice further pushed Hilco to open a separate “parallel table” for the individual organizations of the Coalition that wanted to participate in CBA negotiations on behalf of themselves. Several members of the Coalition attended those “parallel table” meetings to advocate for their organizations’ interests.
On July 18, 2023, CBA negotiations between Hilco and the CAP commenced. After the first meeting, it was evident that the process for negotiations needed to be addressed. Thus, the Law Center and Earthjustice requested, and received, from Hilco and the third-party facilitator assurances that they would 1) distribute written meeting agendas prior to the meetings; 2) distribute meeting minutes after the meetings; and 3) allow CAP members to discuss any provisions of the CBA with their organizations prior to any vote. The CBA negotiation meetings, and corresponding “parallel table” meetings, took place approximately once a month until Spring 2024.
The Community Benefits Commitment
On August 13, 2024, Hilco sent the CAP a draft of a document titled Community Benefits Commitment (CBC), the purported culmination of the parties’ years-long talks and negotiations. The CAP was given until August 30 to provide feedback. Hilco, at the CAP’s request, extended the deadline for comments to the CBC to September 30. The Law Center and Earthjustice provided a detailed counterproposal to the CBC on behalf of the Coalition, requesting revisions on five issues: enforceability, term period, monetary value, trucks and traffic, and meaningful continued consultation with the CAP.
On October 3, Hilco circulated a final version of the CBC for CAP members’ review and signatures. In this final version, Hilco addressed the five issues that the Coalition specified in its counterproposal. While the final CBC did not contain everything that the Coalition sought, the Coalition ultimately voted to sign onto the CBC. The Coalition views the CBC as the start of a long-term relationship with Hilco.
“Based on the commitment we signed, I’m hopeful about our relationship with Hilco moving forward. The CBC is a starting point for addressing our serious concerns and leaves the door open for further discussions,” said Haley Dervinis of Point Breeze Community Development Coalition.
“I’m inspired by the Coalition’s ongoing fight for their community, including seeing this process through to the signing of the CBC,” said Sarah Kang, staff attorney at the Public Interest Law Center. “I think we have all learned the value of including affected neighbors in the decision-making process of a development of this magnitude from the start. Community members deserve a seat at the table where decisions are being made about their future.”
