An oily sheen began to shimmer on the west bank of the Schuylkill River in Southwest Philadelphia in October 2018.They alerted officials, including the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. By early 2019, DEP inspectors traced the leaks to a petroleum facility off Essington Avenue, owned by PBF Logistics Products Terminals. The inspectors found a pinhole-sized leak in a pipe “from which petroleum product had been leaking slowly for many years,” according to a court document.
“DEP takes matters of environmental protection seriously,” Pat Patterson, the departments southeast regional director, said in a statement. “Whether it be through a penalty, corrective action, or both, DEP will always work to ensure that facilities are brought into compliance.”The department ordered the company to pay an $800,000 penalty in December 2021, which it paid. It ordered a second penalty of $250,000 on Wednesday. The agency announced both actions this week.
In seeking to find the leak, the petroleum company dug up a 38-foot section of corroded pipe in January 2019 and found a pinhole leak that had been leaking for years. The company replaced the pipe and other relevant infrastructure. For that leak, the DEP fined the company $800,000 and ordered it to make upgrades at the facility.