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May 9th, 2016 
Awake Goy 
Print FriendlyAbove photo: Marching to the refinery. All photos by Jimmy Betts unless otherwise noted.
NOTE: Hundreds marched in Philadelphia on Saturday, May 8, to reject the expansion of dirty energy. The Right to Breathe march and rally was organized by Action United and Philly THRIVE. Here are photos from the day and a few local news reports. MF
By Meg Lemieur.
Protesters rally against proposed Navy Yard oil plan
By Jonathan Lai for Philly.com
Philadelphia, PA – Protesters decrying a proposed Navy Yard oil import/export facility rallied outside the Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) refinery in South Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon.
PES has proposed building the facility at the planned Southport Marine Terminal Complex at the eastern end of the Navy Yard.
Some nearby residents and activists want the company – operator of the former Sunoco refinery in South Philadelphia – to withdraw its proposal, one of six currently before landowner Philadelphia Regional Port Authority.
Police said about 200 protesters demonstrated peacefully Saturday, resulting in no problems or arrests.
PES currently processes about 335,000 barrels of crude oil per day from what it says is the largest oil-refining complex on the East Coast. Its import/export facility plan would begin with four 250,000-barrel tanks for storing crude oil and four 250,000-barrel tanks for storing gasoline and diesel.
It later would open two additional 250,000-barrel tanks for storing crude for export.
The Port Authority is evaluating the six proposals for the 120 empty acres just south of the Walt Whitman Bridge.
Southport, the city’s first major maritime expansion in five decades, also includes 75 acres around an old seaplane hanger at the Navy Yard and the north berth of Pier 124 on the Delaware.
Detailed plans are due by the end of August.
Other proposals include developing a traditional marine terminal with container- and cargo-ship berths, or combinations of warehouse, storage, and processing spaces.
Protesters issued a statement saying that turning the site into a container-shipping facility “will create thousands more living-wage union jobs than the dirty energy proposals.” They also said they oppose turning the city into a fossil fuel “energy hub.”
Protest Held In South Philly Against Proposed Oil Refinery Expansion
By Kristen Johansen for CBS
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The Port Authority is considering six different plans for developing a piece of land near the Navy Yard, called Southport. It’s a hot-button issue for residents, because one proposals involves the expansion of an oil refinery, and Saturday, they staged a protest.
Long-time Kingsessing resident Doreen says she is standing with activists and leaders to oppose the refinery expansion.
“I’ve been having respiratory problems for a few years now, and I know this is a part of it,” Doreen said.
She is one of hundreds who came out to 28th Street and Passyunk Ave, to march with signs and sunflower cutouts.
“We do not need anymore pollutants in this city,” she said.
Maxine has lived in the neighborhood for nearly 50 years, and says her family has suffered breathing problems from the already standing fossil fuels companies, burning near her home.
“Everybody in my house has asthma, and I got 1-2-3 kids that got asthma,” she said.
A fossil fuel company called Philadelphia Regional Energy Solutions is one of six possible plans that could take up Southport, which doesn’t sit well with South Philly resident Rich.
“I think Philadelphia can go in a different direction, I think we can develop an economy moving in a green direction, instead of sticking with this fossil fuel dinosaur economy that locks up into fracking, locks us into pollution,” Rich said. “I am concerned about the fact that Philadelphia Energy Solutions wants to expand a refinery that has been poisoning the air in our neighborhoods for decades.”
The Philadelphia Port Authority will make a decision on which company will take up Southport, by the end of the year.
Source Article from https://www.popularresistance.org/right-to-breathe-rally-rejects-becoming-dirty-energy-hub/
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