ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ADVISORY COMMISSION

What’s the Plan?

The Environmental Justice Advisory Commission is not really a plan, but as a critical environmental initiative it needs support from the next mayor. The importance should be obvious. The impact of environmental problems such as pollution, flooding and dangerous summer heat, to name a few, fall disproportionately on the shoulders of Black and Brown communities. Prominent examples include Gray’s Ferry residents who have lived next to the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery complex, inhaling everything it pumped out, and residents of Eastwick, who have had to deal with flooding, rampant illegal dumping and pollution from the Clearview landfill. The city government needs to understand and work to address the con- cerns of environmental justice communities. City legislation created the commission in 2019, and it was launched in February 2022.

How’s It Going?

Although it took a while to get off the ground, the commission is now taking action. As an advisory body it can elevate concerns and solutions, but it cannot force action. Its impact depends on what City leaders do next. Will the next mayor listen?

Rebuild

What’s the Plan?

Operations, including maintenance, is woefully underfunded at Philadelphia Parks & Recreation facilities, and it has been for decades. Little things fall apart and don’t get fixed; big things get patched in temporary ways. It all adds up to what people in government refer to as “deferred maintenance.” For people served by the government, it adds up to broken playground equipment, dank and smelly recreation center bathrooms and environmental centers closed through the winter because there’s no heat. Rebuild, an initiative launched in 2017 as a marquee program of the Kenney administration, promised a solution. A capital program (there is a technical but critical distinction in budgeting here — operations budgets mostly come out of taxes, while capital budgets are generally funded by government debt, i.e. selling bonds) would pay for renovations to run-down park and recreation facilities and libraries. The City would make payments on the bonds with proceeds from the sugary beverage tax. Problem solved! Back when it was launched, Rebuild was budgeted at $500 million, which included $300 million from the bonds plus another $200 million from foundation grants and other fundraising. That would pay for renovations for 150 to 200 facilities.

How’s It Going?

Right out of the gate Rebuild ran into its first hurdle, and it was a big one. Opponents of the sugary beverage tax sued to stop it, and the City banked the sugary beverage tax proceeds for two years until it won the lawsuit, since it didn’t want to be stuck with a whole lot of bonds it couldn’t afford to pay back. In 2018 the City started issuing bonds, and construction got moving, albeit slowly. Then the pandemic hit, and with it an economic roller coaster of supply chain disruptions (remember the spike in lumber prices in 2021?) and inflation. Now it looks like the City will be able to address 72 projects.

But even if Rebuild had met all its initial goals, it was never in its mandate to solve the fundamental underlying problem, which is that the City woefully underfunds the maintenance of its parks and recreation center infrastructure. Back in 2016, the William Penn Foundation (which funds Grid ) provided $100 million to Rebuild and funded a strategic plan that sought to improvebParks & Recreation’s maintenance system. As Grid has reported in articles about inequity in parks maintenance, the department still suffers from a massive deficit of funding compared to its needs. Shiny new recreation centers, playgrounds and playing fields will all fall apart without proper maintenance, just like everything else in the parks and recreation system. To give Philadelphians the parks, pools, playgrounds and rec centers that they deserve, now and in the future, the next mayor and City Council will need to fully fund operations and maintenance.

Pgw Business Diversification Study

appliances and make the switch to electric fuel for cooking and for heating their homes and water, demand for gas is falling. Moreover, emissions from burning methane (the primary fossil gas that PGW sells) are an important part of the greenhouse gas puzzle the City needs to solve, and the necessary reductions in emissions will result in a further erosion of PGW’s business. As revenue falls and fixed costs (such as maintaining the network of pipes that distribute gas) remain the same, the utility is forced to raise the price of methane, motivating consumers to cut back even more, leading to more rate hikes, what could be called a utility death spiral.

In an effort to force PGW to wake up to reality, the Office of Sustainability led the PGW Diversification Study in 2021, which tried to point a way to a sustainable (in environmental and business terms) future for the utility. It presented a set of options, with the most practical one being a shift in PGW’s business model to providing geothermal heating and cooling. Geothermal heating and cooling systems rely on the constant, moderate temperature underground to heat or cool air. Pipes underground carry fluids that pick up heat from the earth, which in winter remains warmer than the air. The warmed fluids are then run through a compressor that conveys the heat to the home or other space in need of warmth. In summer, when the earth is cooler than the hot air above, the system can essentially operate in reverse to provide air conditioning. Since these systems involve laying and maintaining networks of pipes, pumps and wells, PGW should be well equipped to operate them.

How’s It Going?

What’s the Plan?

The Philadelphia Gas Works is in trouble. As Philadelphians adopt more-efficient

Geothermal could take advantage of PGW’s physical infrastructure and labor force, but the utility hasn’t exactly leapt to the challenge. PGW continues to pick up new customers, as happened in 2022 when Amtrak opted to switch 30th Street Station from Vicinity’ Energy’s steam loop to gas. Under lobbying pressure from environmental advocates, PGW included $500,000 in its current operating budget to study a shift to providing geothermal heating and cooling. Based on a progress report PGW submitted to its City oversight board, the Philadelphia Gas Commission, the utility has begun the feasibility study. ◆