Philadelphia “energy hub” opponents lash out at community meeting

Katie Colaneri

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Katie Colaneri is a reporter for StateImpact Pennsylvania and WHYY in Philadelphia covering energy and the environment. Before joining StateImpact, Katie worked as an investigative and enterprise reporter at WBGO in Newark, New Jersey. She covered some of New Jersey's biggest stories including the devastation and aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, as well as the day-to-day triumphs and struggles to revitalize state's largest city. A native of New Jersey with roots in South Central Pennsylvania, Katie holds a bachelor's degree from Wellesley College.

November 18, 2015 | 3:07 PM

Katie Colaneri/StateImpact Pennsylvania

Southwest Philadelphia resident Teresa Hill speaks at a community meeting organized by opponents of the proposed “energy hub” plan.

As business and political interests in Philadelphia push to make the city an “energy hub” for processing and utilizing Marcellus Shale gas, opponents lashed out against the idea at a community meeting Tuesday night.

The lack of community involvement regarding energy hub plans was among the complaints aired at Grace Christian Fellowship Church in Southwest Philadelphia where about 50 people turned out to voice objections. One of them was neighborhood resident Teresa Hill.

“We’re asking them what is going on with this expansion plan and to stop it,” Hill said. “Who cares? We care… [L]et’s unite and fight. This is our community and let’s take it back.”

Hill is a member of Action United, a grassroots organization that is part of the Green Justice Philly coalition that formed in October to combat the “energy hub” plan.

The meeting organizers said their goal was to build momentum against the “energy hub” by involving residents who live near the Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) oil refinery. However, organizers seemed to confuse longstanding pollution concerns emanating from the refinery with plans for an energy hub.

PES CEO Phil Rinaldi is leading the charge to bring more shale gas to Philadelphia, which would mean building new pipelines to transport the cheap natural gas from Northeast Pennsylvania to the city, and revive its manufacturing sector.

Turning the idea into actual plans, however, has yet to materialize. And the vagueness of the project was illustrated by the confusion and misinformation expressed by several participants at the meeting.

“Today ‘energy hub’ is on everybody’s lips”

Adding to the complexity of the situation are the whims of the global energy market. Currently, prices for Marcellus Shale gas are at record lows, cheaper than gas from other parts of the country, in part because of over-supply and a lack of pipeline infrastructure. And since the energy hub was first floated several years ago as a way to attract European owned factories to the banks of the Delaware River, the price of oil has tanked, and with that, European natural gas prices, which are tied to the oil market. So it’s no longer as attractive to European manufacturers to move operations across the Atlantic. Of course, that could change if oil prices rise.

Energy hub booster Phil Rinaldi remains optimistic, and has been working with the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce’s Energy Action Team to promote the city as a place for manufacturers to set up shop and take advantage of the nearby, abundant natural gas supplies. The group held a conference last year to introduce investors to the concept. Speaking at a recent gathering at the Federal Reserve Bank in Philadelphia, Rinaldi said the “energy hub” is starting to get more defined.

“So when we put together the [Greater Philadelphia Energy Action Team], and we began to create the idea of this energy hub and how to build it, the first thing we had to do was to get the concept to be understood,” Rinaldi told a group of business people and industry attorneys. “And that’s what we did in the first year and we think that was awfully successful. Today ‘energy hub’ is on everybody’s lips.”

But strangely, it was not on a lot of lips Tuesday night.

Tensions flare at community meeting

Community organizers with Action United billed the meeting as a discussion about “oil refinery expansion plans.”

“If we all work together, we can stop that expansion, bringing more oil trains and polluting the air and making people ill,” said Southwest Philadelphia resident Maxine McCleary, referring to the trains that haul crude oil to the PES refinery.

Before allowing any plans to move forward, Action United members said they want the city to conduct a health study in the areas around the refinery, which puts out more than 70 percent of Philadelphia County’s toxic emissions, according to the federal government. They also asked the city to tally up how much the refinery received in tax breaks as part of the state’s Keystone Opportunity Zone program. Members also demanded the city hold community meetings about the risks of oil trains.

Action United invited several local politicians to arrive mid-way through the meeting so residents could make these demands known.

That’s when tensions flared.

Some staffers for local politicians arrived and claimed they had not been accurately informed about the meeting’s agenda. Two aides for City Councilman Kenyatta Johnson said they had spoken to PES and were told the refinery had “no plans” to expand.

While PES has no plans to expand its oil refining capacity, the company has expressed interest in buying vacant land in Philadelphia’s Navy Yard to build new units to process shale gas. And Phil Rinaldi has said PES wants to use natural gas to generate steam that runs the refinery and to create new products, such as agricultural fertilizer. Rinaldi has also said the Chamber is working with about 20 companies interested in locating factories in Philadelphia.

None of that was communicated at the meeting Tuesday night.

Gerald Johns, Chief of Staff for state Rep. Jordan Harris, was angry that he and other staffers had been put on the spot about plans they themselves did not adequately understand.

Raising his voice, Johns scolded the organizers for not inviting refinery representatives to attend.

“This is not how we get stuff done,” he said.

Philadelphia mayor-elect Jim Kenney, city councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, and state Sen. Anthony Williams were also invited, but did not attend the meeting.

“That army needs a playbook”

While the “energy hub” has been touted by local politicians as a potential job-creator, discussion of the plan among the Greater Philadelphia Energy Action Team has been held behind closed doors. That has made it more difficult for opponents to wage an informed battle against development they worry will only increase local air pollution and increase greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change.

Meanwhile, Rinaldi is working on his own plan to win over opponents outside of Philadelphia, in the rural and suburban areas where the new pipelines would be built.

“The army of people that are [supportive of the energy hub] is important, but it’s minuscule,” he told business leaders at a conference earlier this month. “It’s like a platoon. We really need an army, but that army needs a playbook.”

Rinaldi expects his playbook will be rolled out sometime next month, just in time for the next planned community meeting against the energy hub. It’s unclear how Rinaldi plans to win over opponents within the city limits.