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Title
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Health Problems That Came With Living Near The Refinery
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Description
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The South Philly refinery affected the health of people living nearby. The report says the refinery was basically the biggest source of a ton of harmful air pollution in the entire city sulfur dioxide, and VOCs such as benzene. All of that stuff is bad for your lungs, and research from other refinery communities shows more asthma attacks, more kids wheezing, and worse lung function overall. Even though no one did a full health study just on the South Philly neighborhoods, the same types of pollutants were coming from this refinery, which makes the health risks pretty obvious. People living close to the plant also had to deal with stress from constant leaks, equipment problems, and sketchy monitoring systems that didn’t always work. The refinery had a ton of incidents where it went over legal emission limits, and residents weren’t always told everything. Then in 2019 the huge explosion released over 5,000 pounds of hydrofluoric acid, which is very dangerous. They still don’t know how that affected people long term, but it shows how risky it was for anyone living near it.
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Date
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2014 – 2019
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Location - Physical Location
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Grays Ferry, South Philadelphia
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Name
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Owen Lewandowski
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cites
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https://www.phila.gov/media/20191204161537/Auchincloss-et-al-Statement-on-the-Health-Effects-of-Refineries-and-Implications-for-S-Phila-Refinery.pdf
