Carley Felzer, JD Anticipated May 2024, Law and Public Policy Scholar
Philadelphia has struggled with pollution and environmental contamination since the Industrial Revolution, earning by the 1980s the unflattering moniker of “Filth-adelphia.” In 2012, it ranked as the second-worst northeastern metropolitan area for smog contamination. Although conditions have improved, the American Lung Association awarded the Philadelphia-Reading-Camden metropolitan area a failing grade for ozone pollution in its latest State of the Air Report. Exposure to high levels of air pollution increases risk of adverse health outcomes, including lung disease, heart disease, and asthma, especially for vulnerable populations like children, the elderly, and people living in low socioeconomic and minority neighborhoods. Nationally, Black Americans are exposed to 1.5 times as much pollution as white Americans, regardless of income. These unjust environmental burdens are starkly exemplified in Philadelphia, where many low-income communities and communities of color reside near major roadways or industrial areas replete with hazardous pollutants and emissions.
While much of the pollution plaguing Philadelphia stems from industry, including the toxic remnants of the Philadelphia Energy Solutions Refinery in Grays Ferry, a substantial portion of emissions originate from vehicles. To address this ongoing problem, Philadelphia has created comprehensive plans to electrify its municipal fleet, public transportation, and school buses, as well as mitigate the worst impacts of aviation. The City Council is also currently considering the Community Health Act, which would place environmental justice at the center of future infrastructure projects. This bill should be passed as soon as possible in order to protect communities that have been disproportionately impacted by pollution.
Since 1990, auto emissions in the Philadelphia metropolitan region have increased by twenty-two percent. Although public transportation is designed to reduce emissions and traffic congestion, the majority of SEPTA buses are still powered by diesel and produce 7.2 pounds of CO2 per mile – over seven times as much as the average passenger vehicle. Additionally, as of 2021, the City maintains a 6,000 vehicle municipal fleet, which represents approximately thirteen percent of the municipal government’s carbon footprint.
In October 2021, the City of Philadelphia released its Municipal Clean Fleet Plan, a strategy to transition the City’s fleet to “clean and electric vehicles.” The plan lays out seven overarching recommendations, including easing the transition with interim compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles, establishing a Clean Fleet Committee, and optimizing alternative fueling and electric vehicle charging mechanisms.
Philadelphia has also attempted to implement electric buses. While twenty-five of these buses were launched in 2019, requests from SEPTA officials for additional heavy batteries to prolong charges led to cracks developing in the vehicles’ chassis, grounding the fleet and undermining the endeavor. As an alternative to electric buses, SEPTA introduced its “SEPTA Forward: Bus Revolution” plan to reconfigure over 120 routes with the purpose of maximizing efficiency and improving service throughout Philadelphia and its four suburban counties. SEPTA asserts that improving its bus network is “one of the best ways to improve the lives of people with low incomes and people of color who rely the most on public transportation to meet their needs.” Following the three-year redesign project, SEPTA also aims to resume electrification and replace 100 diesel buses and 300 hybrid buses with electric buses by 2026. This change would reduce carbon emissions by fifty million pounds annually.
The Philadelphia School District has also begun the process of electrifying its own fleet of school buses. As of summer 2022, eleven electric school buses were operational. While this currently represents less than one percent of the total fleet, the District plans to replace all its diesel buses within the next ten years. The upfront cost of purchasing electric buses is significantly greater than diesel buses, but it is estimated that the electric fleet will ultimately save the District between $1 million and $1.5 million per year on fuel costs. Much of the funding for this initiative will come from the EPA’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) Program, which allocates $5 billion over the next five years to replace existing diesel school buses with zero-emission and low-emission models. As these electric buses are integrated into the system, the District should prioritize the transition for routes serving communities of color that have been disproportionately impacted by exposure to diesel and exhaust fumes, which pose a greater risk to children whose lungs and brains are still in the process of developing.
While Philadelphia is thus far making an admirable effort to curb auto emissions, there remain significant areas of concern, including aviation, which, according to the 2019 Greenhouse Gas Inventory, contributes more than fifty percent of transportation emissions in the City. In addition to diesel fumes and other emissions, neighborhoods located in the far southwest of the city near the Philadelphia International Airport exhibit high levels of aldehydes, toxic air pollutants known to be carcinogens with no designated “safe concentration.” Airport emissions have increased by three percent since 2006, driven primarily by an increase in travelers and cargo. Recently, Philadelphia International Airport received a $2.8 million grant from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Voluntary Airport Low Emissions (VALE) grant to install eleven pre-conditioned air (PCA) units. These units are designed to reduce emissions from volatile organic compounds (VOCs), nitrogen oxide (NOx), and particulate matter. The Philadelphia International Airport should continue to make use of VALE grants to improve sustainability and mitigate the most harmful effects of aviation.
The Philadelphia City Council has also made efforts to reduce pollution and advance the cause of environmental justice. In February 2022, Councilmember At-Large Helen Gym introduced the Community Health Act, which directs the City’s Department of Health to undertake comprehensive “environmental justice mapping” to identify communities that bear an “undue burden of pollution and adverse health impacts.” New industrial projects near or within these areas will undergo a cumulative impact analysis empowering the Department of Health to take mitigating steps before such projects can proceed. The Community Health Act also allows for communities to provide input in how the environmental justice maps and cumulative impact assessments are conducted. The City also established an Environmental Justice Advisory Commission made up of Philadelphia residents to guide and inform the implementation of the legislation. The Community Health Act would allow Philadelphia to become a “national leader in environmental justice,” and it is imperative that the City Council pass this legislation to improve outcomes for those most harmed by pollution and its devastating effects.
Greening Philadelphia’s public transportation is necessary to secure a brighter, more equitable future for all. With the City’s ambitious, optimistic plans and federal financial support, we possess all the right tools to move forward towards a cleaner day.