Environmental Justice in Gray's Ferry

This episode of Data Remediations features the voices of residents of South Philadelphia, long home to what was, until it blew up last year, the world’s longest continuously operating petroleum refinery. Residents talk about life with the refinery, scientists and public health experts weigh in on the environmental and health impacts it has caused. Everyone considers the futures beyond refining they’d like to see transform this sacrifice zone. In February, bankruptcy court approved the purchase-sale agreement of the massive site along Philadelphia’ rivers to a Chicago-based developer, Hilco, Earlier this month (April 2020), amidst a global pandemic and shelter in place orders, Hilco botched a demolition in Chicago and dust and debris settled across the local neighborhood. With Hilco’s plans largely unknown, Philadelphians are getting ready for a new chapter in the struggle for environmental justice.