Related
A report from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board revealed that 3,300 pounds of hydrofluoric acid — a highly toxic chemical — dissipated into the atmosphere during the refinery disaster.
The city says no HF was detected by its monitors outside the refinery. That's worrisome to this South Philly resident.
"You're walking around breathing in this stuff. You have children and everything else. You don't know what's going on," said one South Philadelphia resident, bothered by the news. "I would have to believe the feds. If they say it was released and the city's not detecting it, what can you do?"
The city's readings only go so far to comfort Angel Torres, who lives at 18th and Wolf streets.
"It's worrisome," he said. "Because you've got city officials saying one thing and federal officials saying another. You do worry about your health, do you know what I mean? And then you worry about what they're going to do. Like, who's actually telling the truth? And who's going to be responsible for the cleanup?"
Torres said he wonders whether any health effects won't turn up for a while.
"There are a lot of, like, older residents in this area. A lot of people who are not as healthy as some others. And you may not know the effects of that stuff right away," he said. "We may not see anything now or maybe not for a year. But eventually somebody's going to come up with something like, 'Hey, I'm not feeling well. What's going on with this?' Then you have to figure out what's going to happen then."
In the meantime, resident Michelle Leone wonders what will happen with the refinery property. "A lot of people lost their jobs. I mean, it's sad," she said. "And again, what are you going to do with all of that land? There's 150 years of whatever has been seeping into that ground. It can pretty much only be used for that."
The refinery closed after the explosion. Philadelphia Energy Solutions has filed for bankruptcy, and a woman answering the phone there said no one would be available to comment.
A federal bankruptcy judge has announced that PES would be allowed to give more bonuses to top executives. Judge Kevin Gross on Wednesday approved the company's request to award the bonuses, and to keep the amounts secret.
PES gave its executives $4.6 million shortly after the refinery closed and hundreds of workers were laid off. The company last month asked the judge to approve a second round of bonuses and to keep them under seal, so they wouldn't affect employee morale.