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The former Wade dump, site of a huge chemical fire 22 years ago and a subsequent Superfund cleanup, may soon become a parking lot for an expanded Delaware River boat launch and recreation area. The City Council hired RT Environmental Services Inc. yesterday to conduct a preliminary site review of the 2.2-acre former dump, at the foot of Flower Street in the shadow of the Commodore Barry Bridge. The review will determine what environmental problems remain, recommend how to proceed with the site's purchase, and study how it could be used under state "brownfields" legislation, which permits the reuse of polluted properties.

It's too early to tell whether the site of the Franklin Institute's $58 million Futures Center should be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, according to a preliminary report. Excavations of the site have unearthed mid-19th-century deposits from the Magdalen Society for "fallen women," the report says, but it's still too early to determine their significance. The preliminary report is being drafted by the Clio Group, the archaeological consulting firm in charge of the excavations, and will be submitted to the Franklin Institute within the next two weeks.

While the Philadelphia fire marshal continues to investigate the cause of a scrap-yard fire Thursday night, federal and state environmental officials yesterday checked the site for any environmental damage caused by the blaze. Reports of the waste-management and water-quality teams from the state Department of Environmental Protection will be available next week, said DEP spokeswoman Deborah Fries. Also inspecting the site were representatives from the city's Automotive Scrap Yard Compliance and Enforcement Program, she said.

The Eagles' search for a site to build their dream headquarters and practice facility has moved away from South Philadelphia and is now centered on an old reservoir in Roxborough. But team vice president Joe Banner said yesterday that the decision on where to locate the new facilities has not yet been made and that the team is still considering other locations inside and outside the city. "We're trying to stay within the city and we've been presented with a number of options," Banner said.

Opponents of the proposed site for a federal detention center gained some muscle yesterday when the facility's chief champion announced he had changed his mind. At a press conference outside the site, the southwest corner of 7th and Arch streets, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said he had met with opposition leaders and found their objections reasonable. Among the "issues of some importance," he cited the proposed 750-bed facility's proximity to the Afro-American Historical & Cultural Museum, the Market Street East Business Association's undertaking of renovations one block away, and the ongoing construction of the convention center.

Confirming what many had nearly taken for granted for months, UB Foods officially announced Tuesday that it had purchased the former Unibev site in Oxford. "The fact of the matter is, up until the 23d of October, UB Foods did not have the confidence it needed to consummate the sale," said Spencer Andress, a former borough councilman and a consultant who helped negotiate the sale. "As we all know, it ain't over till the fat lady sings," said the future plant general manager, Ed Pixler.

NEW YORK - The National September 11 Memorial and Museum on Wednesday marked the 10th anniversary of the end of cleanup operations at the site of the World Trade Center attacks with a tribute to recovery workers and first responders. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and former Gov. George Pataki attended the evening event at the Sept. 11 memorial plaza. "It looks peaceful, the extreme opposite of what I saw when I first came down," said Jaye Markwell, a Connecticut volunteer with the Salvation Army who helped deliver food during the effort.

More than 100 metal containers, some thought to hold hazardous materials, were moved from the site of a planned $100 million corporate center spanning Moorestown and Mount Laurel and into a secured trailer yesterday. Members of a state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) emergency- response team arrived at the site Wednesday after receiving a telephone complaint about what appeared to be chemical drums on the property. "It's been a nightmare," developer Thomas Whitesell said yesterday afternoon.

A federal judge found yesterday that the owners of a Cottman Avenue Superfund site were liable for the leakage of thousands of gallons of PCB-contaminated oil along the banks of the Delaware. The decision on the so-called Metal Bank site marked the end of only the first phase in a saga that has spanned 23 years. Next on the docket is how much money the company and its parent, St. Louis-based Union Corp., owe the government. Both the U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia and the companies' attorney, John Mattioni, said they had not seen the case and declined to comment on the outcome.

I love your site! Born and raised in South Philly and a Cherry Hill resident for 10 years, I've read the Daily News just about every day of my adult life (since the 1970s). When I moved to Florida 2 1/2 years ago, your paper was at the top of the list of things I would miss the most (along with Pat's Steaks, the Melrose Diner, the Vet and the 9th Street Italian Market)! I still read you every day now - online (although I ask all who visit to bring along a paper. I still like holding it in my hands, and turning the pages)