Three years ago, the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery blew up, shaking our homes, releasing terrible odors, and frightening residents — even those of us who had lived through generations of fires and explosions from the East Coast’s largest and oldest refinery.
The explosion on June 21, 2019, sent a 38,000-pound piece of metal flying almost half a mile, released 5,239 pounds of hydrofluoric acid into the atmosphere, and prompted lingering worries about benzene emissions that persist to this day.