EPA RCRA ID: PAD002289700
On this page:
- Cleanup Status
- Facility Description
- Contaminants at this Facility
- Institutional/Engineer Controls
- Enforcement and Compliance
- Related Information
- Contacts for this Facility
Cleanup Status
Note: The EPA is the lead agency for managing cleanups at this facility.
The former Sunoco, Inc. Point Breeze Philadelphia Refinery is part of the Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) Refining and Marketing, LLC Refinery (Facility). The entire PES Facility consists of Point Breeze as well as the former Sunoco, Inc. Girard Point Philadelphia Refinery and the former Sunoco Schuylkill River Tank Farm. The Girard Point Fact Sheet can be accessed here and Schuylkill River Tank Farm Fact Sheet can be accessed here.
RCRA Corrective Action activities at this Facility are being conducted under the One Cleanup Program Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) jointly between EPA Region 3 and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP). Sunoco, Inc. submitted a Notice of Intent to Remediate (NIR) pursuant to of the Pennsylvania Land Recycling and Environmental Remediation Standards Act (Act 2) in October 2006. The MOA agreement was formalized on November 8, 2011 when EPA and PADEP signed a formal acceptance letter for participation in the program. For more information on the MOA, please visit PA One Clean Up Program
EPA issued a RCRA corrective action permit to the Facility which requires the investigation of three Solid Waste Management Units (SWMUs). The three SWMUs include a past disposal area, a lead tank bottom treatment area, and a storm water pond that drains the tank farm area and discharges into the Schuylkill River via an on-site industrial waste treatment plant’s NPDES outfall. Two PADEP Consent Order and Agreements (1993 and 2003) require the Facility to address underground free phase hydrocarbon and to perform remediation activities.
The remedial program is based on a site wide cleanup approach. EPA received a work plan for the site wide cleanup approach under the One Cleanup Program in November 2011. To aid in the investigations and possible remedial efforts, the refinery was divided into Areas of Interest (AOIs) based upon operational areas and risk-based factors. The former Sunoco, Inc. Point Breeze portion of the PES Facility consists of:
- AOI 1 – Belmont Terminal, #1 Tank Farm, #2 Tank Farm Point Breeze,
- AOI 2 – Point Breeze Processing Area,
- AOI 3 – Impoundment Area Point Breeze,
- AOI 4 - #4 Tank Farm Area Point Breeze,
- AOI 8 – Point Breeze Process Area North Yard, and
- AOI 10 – Point Breeze Processing Area West Yard.
The Facility has performed remedial activities since 1997 including light non-aqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) and groundwater recovery as well as sewer ventilation and biofiltration. The most recent January 2019 Groundwater Remediation Status Report (GSRS) indicates that the total cumulative LNAPL that has been recovered is 255,139 gallons. A copy of the January 2019 GSRS can be found on the Facility’s Corrective Action Documents, Reports, and Photographs webpage here.
Site characterization activities have been completed and approved at five of the six AOIs. AOI 1 was approved on November 1, 2016, AOI 2 was approved on October 18, 2017, AOI 3 was approved on June 14, 2017, AOI 8 was approved on March 22, 2018, and AOI 10 was approved on November 10, 2016.
AOI 4 has not yet been approved due to insufficient offsite groundwater delineation at the southeast property boundary. Evergreen is currently addressing this deficiency.
Cleanup Actions or environmental indicators characterizing the entire facility are shown below. It is not intended as an extensive list of milestones/activities. This listing, and all the data on this page, come from EPA’s RCRAInfo and are refreshed nightly to this page. For this table and the Cleanup Activities Pertaining to a Portion of the Facility table that follows, a blank in the Status column could mean the action either has not occurred or has not been reported in RCRAInfo.
Cleanup Activities Pertaining to the Entire Facility
| Action | Status | Date of Action |
|---|---|---|
| Human Exposure Under Control Human Exposure Under Control(CA725) | ||
| Groundwater Migration Under ControlGroundwater Migration Under Control (CA750) | ||
| Remedy DecisionRemedy Decision (CA400) | ||
| Remedy ConstructionRemedy Construction (CA550) | ||
| Ready for Anticipated Use Ready for Anticipated Use (CA800) | ||
| Performance Standards AttainedPerformance Standards Attained (CA900) | ||
| Corrective Action Process TerminatedCorrective Action Process Terminated (CA999) |
For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Cleanup Activities Pertaining to a Portion of the Facility
| Action | Area Name | Date of Action |
|---|
For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Facility Description
Link to a larger, interactive view of the map.
The Point Breeze facility, located on approximately 672 acres in Southwest Philadelphia, began as an oil distribution terminal in the 1860's and began batch processing crude oil in 1900. Gasoline went into full-scale production during World War II. Other past operations include production of chemicals such as acids and ammonia. Today the refinery produces only fuels and asphalts.
Corrective Action requires evaluation of legacy releases from Facilities that treated, stored, or disposed of hazardous wastes. In accordance with the contracted sale of the former Sunoco, Inc. Point Breeze Philadelphia Refinery to Philadelphia Energy Solutions Refining and Marketing, LLC., Sunoco retains all environmental liabilities for past environmental issues through September 8, 2012. Effective December 30, 2013, Philadelphia Refinery Operations, a series of Evergreen Resources Group, LLC (Evergreen) assumed Sunoco’s legacy environmental liabilities. A captive insurance policy was created to financially assure these environmental issues will be addressed. Environmental liabilities following September 8, 2012 are managed by PES.
Contaminants at this Facility
The main contaminants in soil and groundwater are hydrocarbons and lead.
Institutional and Engineering Controls at this Facility
There are no formal EPA or PADEP reviewed and approved institutional controls implemented at this time.
Institutional and Engineering Controls help ensure human exposure and groundwater migration are under control at a cleanup facility. Where control types have been reported by states and EPA in EPA’s RCRAInfo, they are shown below. Not all control types are needed at all facilities, and some facilities do not require any controls. Where there are blanks, the control types may not be needed, may not be in place, or may not be reported in RCRAInfo.
Are Controls in Place at this Facility?
|
Control(s) Type |
Control(s) in Place? |
Areas Subject to Control(s) |
Documents available on-line: |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Institutional ControlsNon-engineering controls used to restrict land use or land access in order to protect people and the environment from exposure to hazardous substances remaining in the site/or facility. (CA 772) |
Informational DevicesInformational Devices (ID) |
|||
|
Governmental Controls (GC) |
||||
|
Enforcement and Permit Tools (EP) |
||||
| Proprietary ControlsProprietary Controls (PR) | ||||
|
Engineering ControlsEngineering measures designed to minimize the potential for human exposure to contamination by either limiting direct contact with contaminated areas or controlling migration of contaminants. (CA 770) |
Groundwater ControlGroundwater Control (GW) |
|||
|
Non-Groundwater |
||||
For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Enforcement and Compliance at this Facility
EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) provides detailed historical information about enforcement and compliance activities at each RCRA Corrective Action Site in their Enforcement and Compliance Historical Online (ECHO) system.
RCRA Enforcement and Compliance Reports from ECHO
Related Information
For more information about this facility, see these other EPA links:
- RCRA information in EPA’s Envirofacts database
- Information about this facility submitted to EPA under different environmental programs as reported in EPA’s Facility Registry Services
- Alternative Names for this facility as reported by EPA programs in EPA’s Facility Registry Services
- Cleanups in My Community provides an interactive map to see EPA cleanups in context with additional data, and lists for downloading data
- Search RCRA Corrective Action Sites provides a search feature for Corrective Action Sites
Documents, Photos and Graphics
Contacts for this Facility
EPA Region implements and enforces the RCRA Corrective Action program for and federally recognized tribes.
For further information on this corrective action site, use the Contact Information for Corrective Action Hazardous Waste Clean Ups listings that are accessible through Corrective Action Programs around the Nation.