(The following article by Jere Downs was posted on the Philadelphia Inquirer website on February 4.)
PHILADELPHIA — A $23 million legal settlement was wired to SEPTA’s bank account yesterday – the payoff from a 19-year-old court battle seeking reimbursement for costly removal of toxic PCB-tainted soil from the Paoli Rail Yard Superfund site.
But it is unclear whether any of the money can be be applied to the transit agency’s $49 million budget gap.
Unless relief is found by Feb. 23, SEPTA is poised to cut 20 percent of all service and increase fares Feb. 27.
In another development yesterday, the director of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission said the agency was ready to lay the groundwork for more regional highway money to be shifted to transit, should the state make such a request.
Of the $23 million in the pollution case, up to $14 million is committed, either to Conrail or continuing cleanup at the 40-acre site. SEPTA officials hesitated yesterday to declare the remaining $9 million free and clear.
“We are really uncertain about that,” said Marianne E. Brown, a lawyer for Dilworth Paxson L.L.P. “We are researching how the money can be used.”
City officials disagreed.
“There is money available, and there is absolutely no reason to cut services or raise fares,” said Lance Haver, the city’s consumer advocate.
The settlement, agreed to in November, is helping to close the story of the Chester County Superfund site, whose cleanup is nearly completed, said Mimi Gleason, assistant manager of Tredyffrin Township.
The site is bare now, she said, save for a stormwater basin or two.
Throughout much of the 20th century, the Paoli Rail Yard housed a railcar shop and electrical transformers owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad and its successor, the Penn Central Railroad. PCB chemicals were used to refrigerate transformers and were liberally dumped on the ground, decades before they were deemed toxic. The contamination came to light years after Penn Central dissolved in bankruptcy in 1976 and railyard operations were assumed by Conrail, Amtrak and SEPTA. Paoli was put on the list of Superfund sites in 1986 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Conrail, Amtrak and SEPTA sued American Premier Underwriters Co., an insurance firm formed from the assets of the bankrupt Penn Central, to recoup cleanup costs.
The case languished for years, and in 2003, SEPTA chief counsel Nicholas Staffieri revived it, at a cost of about $3 million.
Of the $23 million SEPTA received yesterday, $9 million will be forwarded to Conrail. An additional $3 million to $5 million is earmarked for further cleanup, Brown said. That leaves a minimum of $9 million for SEPTA. In a separate part of the settlement, Amtrak will receive $15 million for its costs associated with the PCB cleanup.
With SEPTA’s deadline approaching to cut service and raise fares, the region is ready to sacrifice more road projects to keep buses and trains running, said John Coscia, the director of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. The agency directs the use of all federally funded transportation grants in Southeastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey suburbs.
Last month, the commission voted, at the behest of Gov. Rendell, to shift $9.8 million in federal highway money to SEPTA. That transfer, along with some additional state money, enabled SEPTA to reduce its budget deficit from $62 million to $49 million.
Perhaps Rendell will direct the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to identify an additional $10 million or so in local road projects, Coscia mused yesterday. To prepare for that possibility, the Planning Commission might have a special board meeting on Feb. 22, he said.
Philadelphia and SEPTA officials are hoping for another infusion of highway funds. Describing that possibility, both parties persuaded Court of Common Pleas Judge Matthew Carrafiello yesterday to reschedule a hearing in a city lawsuit from Feb. 16 to Feb. 23 to prevent SEPTA from raising fares and cutting service.
But Kate Philips, spokeswoman for Rendell, cautioned that officials should not assume Rendell will shift more federal highway grants.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Philips said. Rendell loathes the thought of shifting more federal highway funds to transit and believes the legislature can soon come to agreement on a bailout for transit agencies statewide, she said.