ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE FOR CHESTER
Welcome to Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living (CRCQL or “circle”). We are a community-led non-profit group leading the environmental justice movement for clean air and healthy communities in Chester City and Delaware County, since 1992.
BAN THE BURN: END TRASH INCINERATION IN CHESTER
Did you know that the LARGEST trash incinerator in the U.S. is located in Chester, PA?
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SAY NO TO LIQUIFIED NATURAL GAS (LNG) IN DELCO!
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“THE LAST THING OUR COMMUNITY NEEDS”: LNG in Chester, PA
View interactive storymap on the threat of LNG and other polluters
CRCQL COMMUNITY MEETINGS
Next CRCQL Community Meeting: June 19th @ 7pm on Zoom.
REGISTER HERE
CRCQL General Meetings are for Chester residents, Delaware County residents, allies & supporters of environmental justice in Chester City and across the region. We welcome newcomers!
JOIN A TEAM!
Action Planning & Communications Team meets every other Tuesday evening at 6:30pm on Zoom. The next one will be on June 24th. Research Team meets periodically.
Email GetInvolved@ChesterPAEJ.org to be added to our email list to receive meeting reminders and action alerts!
UPCOMING EVENTS
Visit our social media for more info on upcoming events! Check out our Instagram, our Facebook page, and the C4 instagram.
Protest at Western Fumigation Public Meeting – Tuesday, June 10 at 5:45pm
On Tues, June 10 at 5:45pm, CRCQL will be hosting an action outside of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)’s public meeting about the expansion of Western Fumigation’s operating permit at Penn Terminals in Eddystone.
Rather than hosting a formal public hearing about the plan so the public can testify and provide comment, the DEP has decided that they will ONLY have an informal public meeting to explain the operations and expansion plan. This is unacceptable!! Any proposal or permit modification in an Environmental Justice (EJ) community should AUTOMATICALLY trigger a public hearing. In addition, DEP has done a very poor job of publicizing this meeting ahead of time.
Join us in protesting this forum and demand that DEP follow the proper protocol for community engagement in EJ communities. We will NOT be attending the meeting. Contact getinvolved@chesterpaej.org or call 484-402-7530 if you have any questions.
LNG Info Session in Eddystone – Tuesday, June 17 6-8pm at John Hughes Memorial Hall (1112 E 7th St, Eddystone, PA 19022)
Chester and Eddystone are currently being targeted as the site of a potential LNG (liquified natural gas) export facility, a $7+ billion, 60+ acre project proposed by Penn America to process a massive amount of gas per day to export overseas. LNG facilities are extremely dangerous and will have drastic impacts on community health and well being, including reduced property values. Join us for a information session for residents to learn about how this project could impact your community and what you can do to prevent it. Click here for more info. Welcome to all!
LNG Info Session – VIRTUAL – Tuesday, June 24 at 6pm
Click here to register for meeting.
MEMOS
CRCQL Statement regarding Penn America:
June 6, 2025 – Chester, PA – This week, CEO of Penn America, Franc James, boasted to the press that he met with White House officials about his project to build a colossal LNG export terminal in Delaware County, PA. Penn America’s $7+ billion, 60+ acre project would process 100 million cubic feet of gas daily to export overseas. Community opposition groups and local leaders continue to argue that there is absolutely no room in this region for an LNG facility which would directly expose residents to explosion risk and more pollution.
Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living, a group fighting for environmental justice in the City of Chester, found out about this project back in 2022 and has been actively organizing with other groups in the region against it, educating the community and meeting with local officials. Penn America has been trying to make inroads in Chester since 2016, and originally planned for a site in Chester riverfront, but is now also considering Eddystone or Marcus Hook as potential sites.
“This major project would impact residents with explosion risk, pollution and decreased quality of life,” said CRCQL Chairperson, Zulene Mayfield. “It would lower property values and discourage people from remaining or relocating to this region. Coupled with the fact of two recent hospital closures and no access to a trauma center would increase the dangers of having such a large hazardous gasification plant in Delaware County.”
At the Pennsylvania LNG task force hearing at Widener University in August 2023, both Mayfield and Chester Mayor, Stefan Roots, spoke out against a facility being sited in Chester. “As a Chester elected official, I take public health and public safety very seriously,” Mayor Roots said. “The health and safety of Chester residents have been compromised by local industry for too long,” he continued. “Our residents are sick. We exceed in every measurable health disparity: asthma, birth defects, COPD, infant mortality, heart attacks, strokes, cancer, and a shorter life expectancy.”
Typically LNG facilities are located on the Gulf or coastline on large tracts of land, usually with hundreds of acres of buffer from populations. This would be the largest LNG export facility on the east coast and located on a highly trafficked river. “Impacts that would result from the development of the proposed Penn America LNG Export facility include toxic air and water pollution and the inevitable degradation of the region’s environment,” said Tracy Carluccio, Deputy Director, Delaware Riverkeeper Network. “The threat to public safety from the transport, storage, processing, transloading, and shipping of this highly dangerous gas cannot be safely done in our densely populated southeastern Pennsylvania region. There is absolutely no place to locate such a massive project that won’t pose unacceptable risks to the people and the environment here. That’s why the federal government advises these get placed in remote locations, far from vulnerable areas.”
Mayfield referenced the massive explosion at an LNG export facility in Freeport, Texas in 2022 that had devastating impacts on local residents. “We are in contact with communities in Louisiana and Texas that are living next to these types of facilities. They are all the same – come in with promises of jobs and economic growth – residents we talk to say it has only created more problems and led to decreased property values and more pollution.”
As far as the promised job creation and energy independence that Penn America and Senator McCormick praise, Mayfield states, “They are all false promises. These jobs require years of experience in LNG facilities which our local residents do not have. All of this gas is being exported overseas for private profit at the expense of Pennsylvanians’ lives.”
Learn more about this project and how to get involved in stopping it at NoLNGDelco.com.
CRCQL Statement regarding Chester Stormwater Authority:
Thursday, May 16, 2024 – Residents of Chester currently pay some of the highest stormwater fees in the United States. The Chester Stormwater Authority has borrowed millions of dollars that the residents will ultimately have to pay via rate increases.
CRCQL stands in support of the Chester Receiver’s actions to demand the financial records of the Stormwater Authority. We applaud the motion that the Receiver’s office filed with U.S. Bankruptcy Court for a federal judge to intervene. This intervention would provide residents with the much needed transparency as to the financial operations of this public authority.
For years, CRCQL has been concerned over the management of the Stormwater Authority, escalating fees for residents and lack of transparency. We are equally concerned about the roles of council members also serving as paid members of the Stormwater Authority’s Board, and the conflict of interest it creates.
WE NEED YOUR FEEDBACK – TAKE OUR STORMWATER SURVEY!
PAST EVENTS
Visit NEWS & UPDATES for full list of past events, actions and more. Or check out our Facebook page!
EJ Toxic Tour with Zulene: Each semester, Zulene leads a toxic tour of Chester’s industrial waterfront for Professor Giovanna Di Chiro’s class at Swarthmore College to discuss the impact of polluters in Chester, community resistance, and the opportunity for a cleaner future.
WEBINARS
“Looking Back, Moving Forward” Law, Policy & Environmental Justice
VIEW RECORDING OF CONFERENCE
Looking Back, Moving Forward, a 2-day virtual conference critically examining the past, present, and potential future roles of the law and legal strategies to advance environmental justice policy and action.
Zero Waste with Alex Danovitch
About CRCQL
Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living (CRCQL, pronounced “circle”) has been leading the fight against environmental racism in Chester, PA since 1992. Learn more about CRCQL’s history here.
CRCQL is a community-led activist group led by Chester residents and others concerned with air pollution and the health of our community, in Chester City and across the region.
CRCQL demands an end to toxic trash incineration at the Reworld facility, formerly Covanta, in Chester, increased emission standards for other polluters along the Delaware River, and opportunities of clean, green jobs for residents. Together we advocate for clean air and justice in our city and across Delaware County.
CHESTER IS NOT A SACRIFICE ZONE!
Email GetInvolved@ChesterPaEJ.org to contact us and learn more.
