Contamination in Birdsboro Shouldn't be Hidden

A natural gas power plant has been proposed for a Brownfield site in Birdsboro, PA. The plant, to be operated by Birdsboro Power LLC, will be served by a proposed natural gas pipeline, and connect to the grid via a new 230 kV transmission line. Permits are pending for some of the structures associated with the power plant, but the power plant site itself has largely escaped scrutiny, despite being used as a steel foundry for decades including serving as a military tank assembly operation for some of that time.
The site is known to be contaminated with PCBs and asbestos. Radioactive materials, including cesium and uranium, are known to have been used on the site in the past. During a remediation effort currently underway, buried canisters of chlorine gas were uncovered. Numerous buried items have been uncovered during remediation, but the community was not been informed. Little information on the condition of the site has been made public in the years since the site operated as a foundry.

In November 2017, when buried chlorine gas canisters were found, one was punctured by a worker who had to be hospitalized. In the event of a small chlorine spill, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommends isolation and initial protective action distances of 100 feet in all directions with subsequent protection of anyone downwind for 0.2 mi (during the day). Yet people living 500 feet from the site where the proposed power plant will be built were not informed.
Five days after the release of chlorine gas, Birdsboro Power sued the federal government for the cost of the “significant remaining contamination” on the site. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection issued the power plant’s air quality permit long before the chemical release in November and had just concluded the public comment period on the remaining permits for the power plant, gas pipeline, and electric transmission line. The public couldn’t comment on information it didn’t have.

Toward the end of informing the public, we are calling on state legislators representing the affected communities and Governor Wolf to require Birdsboro Power to make public the Phase 1 and Phase 2 environmental site assessments completed in 2016. The public must be given the opportunity to provide informed comment. We also ask them to require the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection re-open comment periods on all state pending permits and certificates required for this project to allow an informed public to weigh in.