Will the Closure of an Oil Refinery Bring Justice or Gentrification to Philadelphia?
Advocacy/ StudentNation/ September 16, 2024
4 years after the biggest oil refinery on the East Coast closed down, homeowners in South and Southwest Philadelphia still do not understand what will follow.
A Philly Thrive demonstration at the auctioning of the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery in New York City.(Philly Thrive)
Maturing in the Grays Ferry area of South Philadelphia, Shawmar Pitts never ever reconsidered the oil refinery looming in the background, gushing hazardous fumes in plain sight. It wasn't till years later on that he lastly made the connection in between the refinery and direct exposure to chemicals that put his neighborhood at high danger for deadly illness.
"Every single home, someone has asthma, someone has cancer, someone has those cardiovascular disea...