Pennsylvania
Chapter Water Issues Newsletter
May 2007
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May 2007 Prepared by Thomas
Au, Barbara Benson,
and Robin Mann This
is the first in a series of periodic newsletters to keep Sierra
Club members and leaders informed on important water resources issues
and is being sent to Group Chairs, Group Conservation Chairs, and
Group Water leaders. We encourage
you to circulate the newsletter as you deem appropriate and welcome
your comments and input. If
you did not receive this newsletter and would like to receive future
issues of the PA Chapter Water Issues Newsletter, please send a
message to Barbara
Benson, asking to be added to the distribution list.
If you have received this newsletter and prefer not to receive
it, please send a message to Barbara
Benson asking to be removed from the distribution list. Stormwater
Best Practices Manual Implementation The
DEP Stormwater Best Practices Manual was released in final form
on Dec. 30, 2006. DEP and
other groups are conducting a number of workshops to train municipal
officials and developers on the contents of the manual.
The Model Stormwater Management Ordinance for municipalities
has not been released in final form by DEP.
This model ordinance is an important link for implementing
the best practices manual. Last
fall, DEP proposed four initiatives to expedite stormwater permit
review process. The chapter and some groups submitted comments
critical of the proposal. DEP
Secretary McGinty met with Clean Water Action, PennFuture, and others
on Jan. 3, 2007. DEP was
responsive to the concerns expressed.
DEP clarified some of the proposals and pared back some others.
However, no formal revision of DEP’s proposals has been released. The
Pennsylvania Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Policy is available for
public comment. http://www.dep.state.pa.us/TechnicalGuidance/Draft_technical_guidance.asp The policy is a refinement on current policy
designed to eliminate combined sewer overflow
(CSO) discharges and ensure the achievement of applicable water
quality standards. The comment period closes Feb. 28, 2007 In
January, DEP announced that it will be revising two sets of regulations,
relating to erosion and sedimentation control (Chapter 102) and
encroachments on wetlands and streams (Chapter 105).
Sierra Club and other Pa Campaign for Clean Water Action
members have met with DEP staff to discuss the concerns of the environmental
community and to propose changes the groups would like to see. DEP expects revision process to take two years. DEP
has convened a PA Chesapeake Bay Tributary
Strategy Stormwater Workgroup. The
workgroup held its first meeting on Nov. 20, 2006.
The group engaged in a lengthy discussion regarding
specific issues and/or concerns on the state of the science of best
management practices (BMP) pollutant removal efficiencies, BMPs
that should to emphasized (i.e., pretreatment), and the potential
impact of the integration of cap loads into MS4 permits. DEP wants to encourage additional nutrient reductions
(nitrogen, phosphorous, and sediment) in the Chesapeake Bay watershed
to meet the 2010 goals. The next meeting of the workgroup is March
8 in Harrisburg. On
December 30, 2006, DEP finalized its nutrient trading program for
the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The relevant documents can be found
at www.dep.state.pa.us/river/river_trading.htm. The policy and guidelines
provide specific criteria for tracking nutrient reductions and resultant
credits in the watershed. DEP admits that there is some level of
uncertainty in the ultimate success of nutrient and sediment reductions
that will serve as the basis for tradable credits. The chapter joined
with other environmental groups in a letter commenting on defects
in the draft proposal for this program. Many of the deficiencies remain in the final
policy and guidelines. DEP
recently certified its first two tradable credits - one involving
Mt. Joy Borough Authority and local farms and the second involving
Red Barn Trading Co. export of poultry manure outside the watershed. The
following information on special protection streams was reported
at recent PCCW steering committee meetings:
The first layout of a guide on the effects of special protection
designation (exceptional value, EV and high quality, HQ) has gone
to the printers and 2000 copies will be ready the first weekend
in March. The information provided in this guide should be very
useful in promoting understanding of what special protections mean
and don't mean. The Sherman's
Creek petition for EV has been accepted for further study. This
is a warm water creek, so special designation for this would be
a first. DEP has accepted
the Tunkhannock Creek petition for EV status and has asked for further
information. The Upper Perkiomen
petition for EV will be submitted on Feb 20th. There are 90 co-petitioners
and efforts are under way to obtain letters of support from municipalities. The
Northeast group received a significant Huplits grant that is being
put towards the purchase of some important habitat/watershed land
in the Moosic Mountain Barrens. The group has donated $26,000 to
the Nature Conservancy to support the preservation plan by purchasing
5,000 acres of watershed land from Theta Land Corporation.
They are working to protect other parts of the watershed
not part of this purchase. The
Borough of Lehighton is proposing to install a hydroelectric generating
station. On Jan. 27, 2007, the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission published a notice of receipt of the Borough’s application.
72 F.R. 3840. The project would use the Corps of Engineers'
existing Beltzville Lake Dam, and consist of a buried pipe, a powerhouse
containing two generating units with a total installed capacity
of 2.15 MW, a 12-kv transmission line. The project would have an
annual generation of 13.33 GWh.
The project is described as “run-of-river” – the operation
of a hydroelectric project in which the quantity of water discharged
from the project essentially equals the flow in the river in the
various seasons. The deadline
for filing additional scientific study requests is Feb. 27, 2007. Jennifer
Murphy of Mid-Atlantic Environmental Law Center reports that the
victory against the Alpine Rose motor sports track will stand. Last
fall the Environmental Hearing Board revoked the stormwater permit
that DEP had granted to Alpine Rose, siding with environmentalists
against the permit as allowing unacceptable and avoidable pollution
of Aquashicola Creek. DEP filed a motion to quash Alpine Rose’s
appeals of that decision. Sierra Club® and "Explore,
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