NAGP is a grassroots volunteer neighbors group, and a member group of Energy Justice Network. Energy Justice Network is also our non-profit fiscal sponsoring organization.

Our central mission has shifted since SEPTA’s gas plant in Nicetown began operating. Our current goal includes improving outdoor air quality, especially in the mile radius of SEPTA’s Midvale Complex in Nicetown.

In 2017 we organized to give neighbors more leadership in the citywide movement to prevent the construction and operation of SEPTA’s “natural gas,” (fracked methane from Western PA)) burning power plant. It is situated on SEPTA’s 4301 Wissahickon Avenue Midvale Complex property, next to their largest bus depot, and part of SEPTA’s 37 acre Robert’s Complex. SEPTA signed a contract with NORESCO which has built and now operates the plant.

SEPTA Midvale is located in Nicetown, across the street (Roberts Ave.) from Germantown to the NW and across the street (Wissahickon Ave.) from E. Falls to the SW. Most NAGP members reside among the 37,000 people in the surrounding mile.

The $26.8 million Combined Heat and Power plant, (CHP) generates electricity for running 6 regional train lines that pass through the Wayne Junction Station, a few blocks to the NE. Most CHP’s capture up to 90% of the waste heat and use it for heating buildings, but SEPTA has only found use for heating the bus depot. The amount of heat captured is not published, but has been estimated to range from 5%/year to 30% in cold weather. The majority of waste heat rises up through the plant’s smoke stacks. The EPA CHP Partnership Program told us that it assumes that CHPs are run efficiently, but does not monitor or enforce efficiency.

SEPTA’s on-site electricity production has no impact on regional rail reliability for commuters. Wayne Junction Station has never suffered a power outage. The CHP is designed to operate 365 days/year. If the CHP is shut off for any reason, PECO is the back-up system for the plant. PECO supplies extra power at peak hours, generally 30% of the power used at Wayne Junction.. See SEPTA’s Design Criteria Document, on page 23,Operating Description #3.

All air contamination permits in Philadelphia are given by Philadelphia Air Management Services (AMS) a division of the Philadelphia Health Department. The AMS “Plan Approval” (or permit) allows a maximum of over 73 tons/year of toxic emissions from the facility. Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide or fugitive methane emissions are not mentioned.

We were insulted that SEPTA decided to add this polluting project to our neighborhood, and have objected to it as environmental racism, in a long history of toxic dumping in Nicetown since the mid 1800’s. Nicetown’s SEPTA property is zoned “Industrial 2.” This zoning has historically enabled the surrounding community to be dismissed by the City’s administration.

Environmental Justice? The mile radius of SEPTA’s facility is over 90% African American. We know that “minority” communities are often considered “Environmental Justice neighborhoods” because they are most likely to live on the fencelines -or even in the midst of toxic dumping and dangerous risk of explosions.

A short list of environmental degradation that neighbors in the mile radius are dealing with: SEPTA’s power plant which burns fracked gas, exhaust fumes and soot from Route 1and heavy street traffic, SEPTA’s 300 diesel buses at their Midvale depot, diesel truck traffic serving a metal recycling plant on SEPTA’s property, “bomb trains” diesel burning CXS trains carrying crude oil or natural gas from SEPTA’s Roberts yard property, contaminated soil from past manufacturing on SEPTA’s property, SunChemical and since 2016 Eastern Crematory both on Hunting Park Avenue, random illegal dumping of construction debris by contractors.

Political maneuvers, professional engineering, detailed financial arrangements, and propaganda for public consumption made SEPTA’s methane burning CHP project happen, but these efforts were wasted on an outdated technology. In the 21st century, it’s too dangerous to add any more fossil fuel burning projects to our city or the planet. The public, forced to fund the project with their taxes, has clearly requested that this bad investment be mothballed.

How Big Is It?

SEPTA’s CHP has 2 electrical generators which are large enough to be a “major pollution source,” but the permit is for a “synthetic minor” sized source and requires SEPTA to restrict gas usage and run the generators under capacity. A SEPTA/NORESCO employee keeps a monthly log of gas usage and there is no requirement for independent monitoring. No one other than SEPTA knows how strictly the rules are adhered to.

A “Minor” permit means that there is no requirement for ambient air monitoring, no initial community notice in 3 major publications, community engagement in an EJ neighborhood for the permitting process was not required.. Activists, not SEPTA/AMS, informed the community that they could comment during the AMS public comment period on whether the City should allow the facility.

We believe that SEPTA set up what the EPA calls a “Sham Air Permit.” (See p 10 -14.) SEPTA published a plan to expand up to 10X, in their Design Criteria Document, (p 5,12,54) while applying for a minor permit. However, it appears that activism shut the expansion plan down.

The Legal Battle: In December 2017, NAGP and 350 Philadelphia in collaboration with The Center for Returning Citizens submitted appeals to the AMS air contamination permit for SEPTA’s CHP. Then the three groups combined our appeals.

The basis of our appeal was the PA constitution’s Environmental Rights Amendment Article 1 Section 27 of the PA Constitution which legally protects all the people’s right to breathe clean air and generally benefit from a healthy environment. It also ensures that future generations of the people can enjoy this environmental right.

We could not find a local law firm to risk the politically entangled case. Fair Shake Environmental Services in Pittsburgh represented us. For over a year, 9 well attended hearings were held in front of the Board of Licenses and Inspections Review at 1515 Arch St. Closing statements were completed by June 15, 2019. On November 26, 2019, the Board announced it had sided “with the City “.

NAGP decided to appeal Board’s decision, but just before our February 2021 court date at the Court of Common Pleas, we withdrew our appeal. Our new Fair Shake attorney had written a brief that described the Environmental Rights Amendment, but lacked sufficient detail about our specific case and we expected our case to lose. We knew that a losing case would set a bad precedent for the Environmental Rights Amendment.

Public health is the driving reason why we continue to oppose this project and wish to shut it down. Recent Philadelphia Health Department statistics, since the closure of the PES refinery, show 19140 (Nicetown) as the worst zip code for asthma. When the power plant was receiving the permit in 2017, Health department statistics showed 19140 as having the 2nd highest childhood asthma hospitalization rate, the highest rates for cancer mortality, 3rd highest in mental illness and premature cardiac-vascular disease, the city’s worst poverty and unemployment, the worst for access to green space, the 3rd lowest access to healthy food, and the lowest rate of adults completing some college by age 25.

We believe that the Philadelphia Health Department, which oversees AMS, is shirking its mandated responsibility to protect health in the vulnerable 19140 zipcode, from further toxic burden, due to long standing habitual and systemic discrimination by race and income.

For over 2 decades, The World Health Organization and the National Institutes of Health have linked outdoor air pollution exposure to respiratory, cardio-vascular, mental and emotional diseases, cancer, and low birth weights. Since 19140 is one of the worst health pockets in Philadelphia, it is also at the bottom of national statistics.

Philly is the 4th worst US “Asthma Capital”, and the worst large city for asthma. We also have the country’s highest child mortality rate. The EPA has determined that Nicetown has one of the worst air quality environments, relative to neighborhoods in the rest of the nation.

The Global Climate Crisis is the other major reason we say no to SEPTA’s “natural gas” burning power plant. The electrical grid must switch away from burning fossil fuels now, not wait to the end of the decade, if we expect to avoid a 1.5 rise in global temperature and irreversible climate disaster. To invest now in new infrastructure that burns a fossil fuel in the city will prolong fossil fuel burning here.

We oppose SEPTA's ideas for expanding this project later, to generate electricity for electric buses or for anything else. It doesn’t greenwash SEPTA’s image to sacrifice the people of Nicetown and Germantown. We have also opposed the building of several other “natural gas” power plants in our city, a plan which SEPTA decided on in 2017 but which currently hangs in limbo.

Article 1 Section 27 of the PA Constitution legally protects all the people’s right to breathe clean air.