Port Task Force
Minutes of meeting on Monday, February 13, 2006

Attending: Lionel Gillston, John Haak, John Hadalski, Sean Jacobs, Lisa Magee, Joe Minott, Perry Pandya, Kas Sellassie, Tom Sopko, Alison Tracy, Alice Wright-Bailey

Introductions/Announcements
-New guests included Alice Wright-Bailey from PA DEP and John Haak from Philadelphia Planning Commission (Northern Delaware River Project).
-John Hadalski announced that the City of Philadelphia has requested a Targeted Brownfields Assessment (TBA) for a scrap yard facility and 2 waste tire piles in the area nearest Tioga Terminal. A question that came up in past meetings was brought up again: Do the CARE TBA funds have to be used in the same geographic region as the other project elements? There will be a Brownfields subcommittee conference call in March to discuss the specifics.

Subcommittee Reports
Water- Sean reported on the first conference call meeting on 1/25/06. Minutes from this meeting were distributed and are posted on the PDD website. A top concern that came out of this meeting was the impact of storm water and wastewater draining from port facilities into the Delaware River and the surrounding communities. More specific information from individual operators is needed. Lisa Magee offered to find out what PRPA-tenant ports have an existing Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP).
Action items: Sean to schedule meetings with list of potential stakeholders developed from this conference call
Lisa Magee to pass along any relevant information, particularly SWPPPs
Air- Sean reported on the first conference call meeting on 1/27/06. Minutes from this meeting were distributed and are posted on the PDD website. A list of pollution sources/potential solutions was developed from this meeting. The most cost-effective methods suggested were Diesel Oxidation Catalysts (DOC) retrofits and improved truck queuing policies. Lisa mentioned a gate enhancement at Tioga Terminal is in the works. Bids are now out for a “gate retrofit” project. The target date for the project to begin is June or July.
Action items: Sean to follow up with suggestions from this conference call.
Land/Brownfields- The first meeting will take place in March; date TBA.
Action items: Sean to schedule conference call.

Outreach
We got into a discussion about expanding the circle of stakeholders to include community representation and others. Bob Blackburn with the Whitman Park civic group was mentioned as a top candidate due to his close ties the community and involvement with the PRPA. We discussed the possibility of an evening stakeholder meeting or informational meeting in one of the affected south Philadelphia communities. Suggestions for such a meeting included having food and beverages and inviting someone from the Ports to speak.
We also talked about the need to keep elected officials in the loop on the project. Having their buy-in or “blessing” early will help the process move along. One suggestion was to have a sign-on letter from elected officials to individual port facilities to encourage participation.
Action items: Sean to continue outreach and meetings with community groups/leaders.


NEXT MEETING: Monday, March 20, 2006 – 1:00pm