Alliance 51st Street Property & Bartram’s Garden Mile Trail

This page was last updated on August 11, 2024

Site Facts

Area of Concern: Schuylkill Banks/Bartram’s Mile Trail (currently closed)
Former 51st Street Terminal Location: 1630 - 1646 South 51st Street, Philadelphia PA

Historical Uses of the Property:

1923: Lumber Storage
1923-1945: Cardboard Container Manufacturing
1951-2021: Fuel Oil Terminal

Previous Property Owners and Operators: 51st Street Terminal, PBF Logistics Products Terminal, Plains Products Terminals, Allied Oil Company, Hess Oil & Chemical Corporation
Current Property Owner: Alliance 51st St LLC (Alliance) purchased the property in December 2021.

Primary Contaminant of Concern: Hexavalent Chromium (Chromium VI)

What Happened?

On April 5, 2024 (PDF) an incident was reported to the National Response Center. The caller reported that "strange looking water is leaching from a former refinery...The material looks greenish."
DEP was one of 28 local, state, and federal agencies that received the notice from the National Response Center.

DEP’s Response

Three (3) DEP Programs were involved in response activities and are listed below. (Note: Some program responses involve City of Philadelphia agencies)
Clean Water Program (CW) – Initial response and responsible for overseeing potential pollution events to the river.
Waterways and Wetlands (WAW) – Responsible for evaluating the site's erosion & sediment controls to determine if any sediment is leaving the site and for ensuring the NPDES permit holder remains in compliance.
Environmental Cleanup and Brownfields (ECB) – Responsible for site sampling and cleanup oversight.

Pennsylvania Department of Health (PA DOH)

On July 19, 2024 PA DOH released a Fact Sheet: Potential Chromium Contamination Near Bartram’s Mile Trail (PDF)
PA DOH reviewed DEP’s sampling data from July 2024 and presented their findings during the July 31, 2024 virtual townhall hosted by State Representative Young. They determined that there was no health hazard associated with Hexavalent Chromium from ingestion or contact with soil except for children aged 1-6 years who exhibit soil pica behavior. See the Community Outreach Section, below, for more information

Report an Environmental Health Concern

While DEP is unaware of any confirmed environmental health issues related to the site, some residents have expressed concerns to DEP. Pennsylvania residents with such concerns are encouraged to report them to the PA DOH, where they will be evaluated and referred to an appropriate program area for potential investigation and follow-up. Please indicate in your message that your concern is related to Bartram’s Garden.

Complete the Environmental Health Concern Form
Phone: 717-787-3350
Email: env.health.concern@pa.gov
Contact Environmental Health

Clean Water Program

DEP Clean Water program staff and DEP emergency response team immediately coordinated information with the Industrial Waste Unit at the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD).
PWD was the first agency to visit the site on April 5, 2024, and inspected the site again on April 9, 2024.
PWD collected samples of the greenish looking material and sent it to their lab for analysis.
On April 12, 2024 (PDF) DEP conducted an inspection. No active discharge of "green liquid" was observed at the time of inspection. The inspector recommended that the property owner collect samples from their property to determine the composition of the green material, and that they install additional control measures (berms) to prevent any further discharge from the site.
DEP Inspections on May 2, 2024 (PDF) and on July 18, 2024, confirmed the construction of earthen berms across the drainage ditch by the property owner.

Waterways & Wetlands Program (WAW)

On September 5, 2023, DEP in conjunction with Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) issued National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit (NPDES) Permit No. PAD510225 (PDF) to Alliance 51st Street, LLC.
On July 18, 2024 (PDF), DEP conducted an inspection, in conjunction with the PWD, to evaluate site conditions. The inspection report indicated a failure to implement and/or maintain erosion and sedimentation control best management practices, failure to comply with DEP regulations and/or Clean Streams Law, and failure to take necessary measures to prevent pollutants from reaching waters of the Commonwealth.
On July 29, 2024 (PDF) DEP conducted a follow-up inspection which noted some erosion and sedimentation control improvements. Specifically, it was recommended during this inspection that the large stockpile of dirt on the site be temporarily stabilized with an erosion control blanket.
On August 8, 2024 (PDF) DEP conducted an unannounced site inspection and cited the property owner for failure to stabilize the large stockpile of dirt on the site.

Environmental Cleanup and Brownfields Program (ECB)
Background

In August 2021, twelve regulated Aboveground Storage Tanks (ASTs) were demolished and removed from the property. On August 30, 2021 DEP received a Notice of Contamination (PDF).
On December 15, 2021, DEP received an AST closure report (PDF).
On February 2, 2023 (PDF), the November 2022 Site Characterization Report (SCR) (PDF) was disapproved.
On June 27, 2023, a Revised SCR (PDF) was submitted to DEP and was approved on September 27, 2023 (PDF).
On November 27, 2023 a Remedial Action Plan (RAP) (PDF) was received. The RAP was approved on February 22, 2024 (PDF).
On February 14, 2022 (PDF), Alliance entered into the Act 2 cleanup program by filing a Notice of Intent to Remediate (NIR) to address nonregulated releases through the Act 2 program for lead, volatile organic compounds, and semi volatile organic compounds.

Current Investigation

On June 10, 2024 (PDF), Arcadis U.S., Inc. (Arcadis), consultants working on behalf of Alliance reported that soil berms had been constructed “across the low-lying area on the eastern portion of the site to prevent any discolored water from leaving the site.” Results from monitoring well sampling conducted on May 30, 2024, revealed the presence of chromium (trivalent and hexavalent) in the groundwater. Tests pits performed identified yellow-green stained soil. Analysis of the stained soil confirmed the presence of trivalent and hexavalent chromium.
On July 11, 2024 (PDF), Arcadis indicated that five test pits were installed on the southern property boundary on July 3rd. The stained soil layer was encountered a few feet below the ground surface and varied in thickness in each test pit.
On July 17, 2024 (PDF), DEP personnel visited the site to inspect areas of noted offsite discharge, to ensure berms are still in place, to observe if continued offsite discharge is occurring and to scout locations for sampling.
On July 22, 2024 (PDF), DEP collected 11 soil samples from along the bike path and riverbank and four surface water samples from the Schuylkill River. The soil sample results indicated that several locations along the trail contained moderate levels of hexavalent chromium. No surface water samples exceeded their respective water quality standards.
On July 29, 2024 (PDF), Alliance provided results of sampling they conducted alongside DEP and an updated NIR. The soil sample results revealed concentrations of hexavalent chromium at concentrations lower than what had been detected in DEP samples. Note, that samples were collected from the same sample locations as DEP, after DEP had collected its sample.
On August 1, 2024 (PDF), Alliance reported that cleanup efforts to address areas of elevated hexavalent chromium concentrations had been completed.
On August 8, 2024 (PDF), Alliance provided results of confirmatory samples collected on August 6. No hexavalent chromium was detected in the samples.

What’s Next

DEP will continue to closely monitor all activities, conduct regular unannounced inspections, and continue to work with all agency partners and Alliance.

Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ)

DEP has long worked with communities around Pennsylvania to further environmental justice in line with the statutes and authorities administered by the Department and will continue to reach out to communities living in EJ areas when they are facing an environmental crisis or dealing with a newly permitted facility.
In an effort to build long-lasting relationships with EJ communities outside of individual projects or emergencies, the Shapiro Administration has directed DEP to increase proactive outreach and engagement. OEJ’s goal is to increase strategic community education, outreach, engagement, and capacity building through intentional action.
DEP responds to hundreds of non-emergency incidents, like the one reported on April 5th, where it is determined that there is no immediate threat to the public. OEJ will work with our regional staff to identify which of those incidents are in EJ areas and recommend if community engagement is needed.
OEJ will increase outreach to community organizations and neighbors around Bartram’s Garden to share information about DEP programs and engagement opportunities.

Community Outreach

On July 31, 2024, DEP participated in a virtual townhall hosted by State Representative Young.

DEP Presentation (PDF)

Community Updates

To subscribe to updates, please send an email to: RA-EP-SEROECB@pa.gov. Please indicate in the subject line or text of the email that you’d like to receive updates related to Bartram’s Gardens.

DEP Update July 18, 2024 (PDF)

Contacting DEP

Please direct correspondence or inquiries to one of the following:

Project Information: RA-EP-SEROECB@pa.gov

Note, this resource account is monitored regularly by multiple program staff.

Community and Media Relations: Stephanie Berardi, Regional Communications Manager at sberardi@pa.gov
Environmental Justice (OEJ): Amani Reid, Southeastern Regional Coordinator at amreid@pa.gov
Legislative Inquiries: Lisa Strobridge, PG, Local Government Liaison at lstrobridg@pa.gov
Legal: Andrea Costello, Assistant Counsel, at acostello@pa.gov