Demand Action!
TAKE ACTION BEFORE/ON JANUARY 12th:
Against Hilco Air Pollution Permits

Hilco Redevelopment Partners is pursuing permits from the City to pollute Philadelphia's air in two major ways: during the continued demolition of refinery equipment and by continuing to operate the oil tanks for import, storage, & export of petroleum products. The United South/Southwest Coalition holds a value of environmental health & justice, and therefore opposes the City granting the permits as they are written. If you agree, here are the opportunities for action:


  • Speak at the public hearing! Here are key messages & instructions for signing up to speak that the Coalition has put together. If you would like support to prepare to speak, there will be an open Zoom session Tuesday 1/11 from 7-8:30pm to practice and get pointers on what to say. The Zoom link for that prep session is here.

  • Spread the word to others! Here is a Facebook event for the public hearing you can share with neighbors & friends. Updates will be posted to that page.

  • Submit a written comment! The earlier document has instructions & key messages for sending a written comment before/on the 12th. It's possible a form may get set up to make emailing comments even easier, and we'll send that out if so.
COUNTY EXECUTIVE RICH FITZGERALD ATTACKS THE MESSENGER

PSR PA and other partners in the Breathe Collaborative are being attacked by the Allegheny County Executive. Fitzgerald's lack of interest in the health of SWPA residents is a clear call to action for healthcare professionals and concerned residents to speak out against his inflammatory rhetoric.

A December 20, 2021 Public Source article featured an interview with Rachel Filippini, who led the Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP) to new heights over the last 17 years. The article sought a response from County Executive Rich Fitzgerald to Filippini’s thoughtful comments; the highlighted portion below of what he had to say, speaks volumes about the reason Southwestern Pennsylvanians live in one of the unhealthiest places in the country for toxic air pollution. 

“...for the activists...substantial progress will never be enough.
If there aren’t complaints and issues raised by those extremists,
then they are less able to raise funds to continue their operations.”

Rich Fitzgerald, whose salary we pay through our taxes, would rather attack the messenger, than fulfill his responsibility to the public by facing the fact that despite improvements: 
  • We live in one of the top 1% of regions in the country for cancers caused by air pollution. 
  • Our youth asthma rate is nearly triple the national average for those living near major sources of pollution.

There are four things that you can do to respond:

Sign the petition to Allegheny Health Network and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center:  https://swpaths.org/our-latest-petition/ 

Register for SWPATHS 5th Virtual Resident Town Hall https://www.eventbrite.com/.../achd-fails-to-leverage... on Allegheny County Health Department’s failure to leverage community-based science to fight deadly air pollution, scheduled for Wednesday, January 26, 2022, noon via Zoom

Watch the 3 minute trailer for Inversion, a documentary being produced by Mark Dixon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ6OdXQOZDo

Share this communication with your contacts, in order to leverage our impact.
Have questions or suggestions for PSR PA? Email us at info@psrpa.org.