New report shows PA failing to reduce water pollution

I’ve written many times on this blog about pollution fouling our local waters and ultimately making its way to the Chesapeake Bay, and I’ve also written about the plan to clean up the Bay and its watershed by 2025. In this plan, the Bay states have committed to incremental goals, or milestones, that help track each state's progress in reducing water pollution from agriculture, stormwater, and wastewater.

Earlier this week, the Choose Clean Water Coalition (CCWC), of which we are state lead organization for Pennsylvania, and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation released their joint Milestones Report which details whether or not the Bay states are on track to meet their water pollution reduction goals.

There are reports for each of the Bay states and Washington, D.C. but I’ll focus on Pennsylvania. After a quick look at the report, it’s clear that Pennsylvania is way off track when it comes to reducing pollution from the agriculture and stormwater sectors. This is troubling because these two sectors contribute the largest amounts of pollution to our waters and the Bay. The one sector where Pennsylvania has met its goals is the wastewater sector.

However, there is still time for Pennsylvania to get back on track. To better manage stormwater, our Department of Environmental Protection should promote the formation of regional stormwater authorities to local governments. To reduce pollution from agriculture, increased outreach and technical and financial assistance to farmers can ensure increased adoption of conservation practices that will keep soils and nutrients in place and out of our waters.

The plan to clean up the Bay will only work if all sources of pollution do their fair share. Along with accountability measures, the plan contains consequences such as requiring further costly reductions from wastewater treatment plants if we cannot get the necessary pollution reductions from agriculture or stormwater.

Jen Quinn is central Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture and is based in Harrisburg. She tweets @QuinnJen1.

Clean Water Communities

Last week, the Choose Clean Water Coalition held its sixth annual conference in Harrisburg. The theme this year was Clean Water Communities, reflecting the important role local communities play in restoring clean water throughout the entire Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Throughout the conference, we focused on how to engage communities in the Coalition’s efforts to improve and preserve local clean water because, after all, communities rely on these local waters for recreation, drinking water supplies, and as an integral part of the local economy. Sessions focused on better organizing and networking, development of more effective communications, and increasing diversity to connect with more stakeholders.

And like any good conference, there were great field trips, such as paddling on the Conodoguinet Creek; a walking tour of Gettysburg National Military Park to learn about its stormwater management efforts; a City Beautiful walking tour to introduce folks to Harrisburg’s past, present, and future; and a tour of the Conewago Creek Initiative, where multiple organizations have been working with farmers and landowners to adopt land management practices to improve water quality.

This year’s conference was a great way for folks from Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, New York, and Delaware to connect to our abundant water resources in Pennsylvania, if only for a few days, and we all returned home inspired and ready to continue the work for clean water.

Jennifer Quinn is central Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture and is based in Harrisburg. She tweets @QuinnJen1.

Choose Clean Water Conference: Attend, learn, engage.

The Choose Clean Water Coalition (CCWC) brings together over 200 organizations from the Chesapeake Bay watershed that are committed to restoring the Bay and its thousands of rivers and streams. PennFuture is the state lead organization for the roughly 30 Pennsylvania members of the CCWC who are working throughout the Commonwealth for clean water locally. 

We were delighted when the CCWC announced they would hold their sixth annual conference in Harrisburg. A conference is a great way to connect with other groups and learn from one another. Even better, this conference will showcase the Susquehanna River and the work of many of the Pennsylvania member groups. Best of all, it's open to anyone interested in clean water!

Join us on May 19-20 to learn new skills, see how clean water goals are being met locally, hear policy updates, and discuss best practices to reduce polluted runoff and increase conservation measures.

Sessions will include:

• Best practices for building new partnerships
• Passing, implementing, and communicating about stormwater utilities
• Responding to the impacts of natural gas pipelines on local communities
• Innovations in agriculture

Great field trips:

• Paddle on the Susquehanna River
• Take a walking tour of Harrisburg to see the local water infrastructure and the city's greening efforts
• See what the Gettysburg National Military Park is doing to create a sustainable environment
• Visit the Conewago Creek Initiative's best land management sites
• Join with a Harrisburg community group to pick up trash in their neighborhood

For an agenda and to register, click here. If you're interested in volunteering, please contact Jen Quinn quinn@pennfuture.org . In exchange for a few hours of time, volunteers can attend the conference for free. I hope to see you there!

Jennifer Quinn is central Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture and is based in Harrisburg. She tweets @QuinnJen1.

Congratulations to these eastern Pennsylvania colleagues

Congratulating a Pocono ally on twenty-five years
Since 1989, Brodhead Creek and Cherry Creek watershed in Monroe County have been watched over by a group of volunteers from the Brodhead Watershed Association (BWA). The association's extensive membership-supported work includes protecting natural resources through education and outreach; community programs; and training a corps of volunteer water monitors who regularly check the quality of their local Pocono streams. In 2012, PennFuture and BWA also secured major water quality benefits for the Poconos by suing – and then reaching a favorable settlement with – a sewage treatment plant that had more than 600 permit violations affecting Forest Hills Run.

Restoring a Superfund site back to nature
Further "down the 'pike," as we like to say, the Lehigh Gap Nature Center in Slatington just received a national award for their work on the contaminated Palmerton Zinc Superfund site. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized the Center for its work on improving wildlife habitat, which involved re-vegetation with native warm season grasses and a whopping 13,000 trees, including 4,000 of the nearly extinct American Chestnut. If you've ever traveled the Lehigh Tunnel, you've seen the once-decimated mountainside that today is being transformed into a wildlife habitat and natural oasis.

Recognizing a Lackawanna leader

Bernie McGurl is being honored this month for his 25-plus years of work improving the health and quality of the Lackawanna River and its 350-square mile watershed. Leading the Lackawanna River Corridor Association, he's improved the water quality and aquatic diversity in the Lackawanna River, created a riverside network of trails, reclaimed abandoned mine lands, and been the face of the river in Scranton and beyond.

PennFuture's work in broad coalitions is just one of the ways we engage with the community statewide. Brodhead Watershed Association and Lehigh Gap Nature Center are fellow members of the Delaware River Watershed Coalition (we're a steering committee member), and the Lackawanna River Corridor Association is a longtime member of the Choose Clean Water Coalition, which PennFuture leads in Pennsylvania. Learn more about this work on our website's water section.

Kate Gibbons is PennFuture's northeastern Pennsylvania outreach coordinator and is based in Wilkes-Barre.

The Chesapeake Bay Agreement -- is it just for show?

Last week, governors from six states, including our own Governor Tom Corbett here in Pennsylvania, signed a new Chesapeake Bay Agreement- the fourth such agreement in 31 years.

The Bay Agreement establishes goal and outcomes for the restoration of the Bay, its tributaries and 64,000 square mile watershed. When the first draft of the agreement was released early this year, many environmental groups were shocked. There were no goals to reduce or even research toxic contamination, even though toxic contamination in some areas is severe enough to lead to fish consumption warnings. Climate change was also not addressed despite it being one of the biggest environmental challenges we face.

Environmental groups like the Choose Clean Water Coalition, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, PennFuture, and many others submitted comments to the Chesapeake Bay Program, urging them to include goals for toxic contamination and climate change in the final agreement -- and it worked! Reducing toxic contamination and increasing the resiliency of the Bay watershed to withstand the impacts of climate change are two of the ten goals in the final agreement, along with increasing public access and environmental literacy, and improving water quality and protecting healthy watersheds, to name a few. Each goal is linked to a set of outcomes that are measurable and have target dates.

Sounds good, right?  Well, if you happen to read the agreement, you’ll find something not so good. Like previous Bay Agreements, this new version is voluntary and depends on funding, so states can opt out without repercussions. This fatal flaw remained in the agreement despite outcry from many organizations.

Even though the agreement is voluntary, the Bay states have committed to draft plans, within 90 days, detailing how they will achieve the agreement’s goals and outcomes. We will have to wait and see just how committed they are to cleaning up our waters.

Jennifer Quinn is central Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture and is based in Harrisburg. She tweets @QuinnJen1.

Pennsylvania is making progress, but needs to do more for clean water

The Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Blueprint is made up of the Bay pollution limits (TMDL) and state-specific plans to achieve these pollution limits. The Bay states committed to reduce pollutants enough to remove the Bay from the nation’s impaired waters list by 2025, and to be 60 percent of the way to that goal by 2017.

In order to stay on track, Bay states committed to two-year goals -- or milestones -- which allow progress to be measured with respect to the larger 2017 and 2025 pollution reduction goals by taking a critical look at the implementation rates of pollution reducing practices and programs.

Yesterday, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Choose Clean Water Coalition, of which PennFuture serves as the lead organization for Pennsylvania, released their report evaluating Pennsylvania’s progress. We evaluated eight practices/programs: five from the agricultural sector, two from the stormwater sector, and one from the wastewater sector. Pennsylvania achieved its 2013 goals for four of the eight practices, however, particularly concerning is the gap between what has been done and what needs to be done by 2017.

We’ve made great progress when it comes to permitting wastewater treatment facilities but we’re struggling with agricultural practices and urban and suburban stormwater management. We’re only halfway to our 2017 goal for installation of forest buffers, one of the most cost-effective practices to improve water quality. To meet its 2017 goal, Pennsylvania needs to install 50 new acres of forest buffers per day. You can read more about each of the practices here. 

The Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Blueprint has given us a clear path to clean water. While we’ve made progress, we still have a lot of work ahead of us. In order to meet our goals, we need cooperation and collaboration between government, industry, and citizens as well as a sense of urgency and dedication to cleaning up our waters.

Reducing pollution isn’t just good for the Chesapeake Bay, it’s good for Pennsylvania. By reducing the amount of pollution in the Susquehanna and its tributaries, we’re protecting our drinking water, improving fish habitat, and increasing the number of places we can safely swim and boat. It’s pretty simple -- you can’t have a clean Chesapeake Bay without a clean Susquehanna River.

Jennifer Quinn is central Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture and is based in Harrisburg. She tweets @QuinnJen1.

Fight for clean water locally becomes national issue

The Chesapeake Bay is polluted. High levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment from agricultural activities, wastewater treatment facilities, and stormwater cause “dead zones” where fish, crabs, oysters, and other aquatic life die due to low amounts of oxygen. Excess pollution has also harmed vital Bay habitats. The current oyster population is only 1 percent of historic levels and this decline over the past 30 years has meant a loss of $4 billion for the economies of Maryland and Virginia; the decline in blue crabs has led to losses of $640 million from 1998-2006.

While the Bay states have tried to clean up the Chesapeake for the past 30 years, their efforts have largely failed to meet pollution reduction goals. Finally, in 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) exercised its authority under the Clean Water Act and established enforceable pollution limits for nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment in the Bay (this pollution limit is technically referred to as a Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL), with the goal of removing the Bay and its tributaries from the nation’s list of impaired waters. Subsequently, the Bay states developed plans to meet those pollution limits by 2025.

After its release, the EPA’s pollution limits were challenged in federal district court by special interests, including the Farm Bureau, the Fertilizer Institute, and the National Association of Home Builders, claiming government overreach that violated states’ rights. Chesapeake Bay Foundation, PennFuture, National Wildlife Foundation and other environmental groups intervened on behalf of EPA and clean water and, last year, a federal judge ruled in favor of EPA and the TMDL.

Almost immediately, the decision was appealed and again, instead of spending their limited funds on restoring clean water, EPA and environmental groups had to devote their resources to litigation. Additionally, attorneys general from 21 states, mostly from the Mississippi River valley and Midwest but some from as far away as Alaska and Wyoming, filed a joint amicus curiae, or friend of the court brief, supporting the appeal and opposing the Bay states’ efforts to clean up local rivers and the Bay. These states fear that a successful TMDL in the Bay could serve as a model for clean up efforts in their part of the United States.

On the other side are amicus briefs from Virginia, Delaware, Maryland and the District of Columbia. The nation’s largest cities also support clean water, with amicus briefs coming from New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Baltimore. These cities support a holistic approach to water quality improvements that address all sources of pollution, not just easily regulated point sources, but non-point sources of pollution that historically haven’t been held accountable for their fair share of pollution. Professors of environmental, constitutional, and administrative law from across the country have also weighed in, supporting clean up efforts in the Bay.

Additionally, the ChooseClean Water Coalition has led the charge to organize environmental groups from the 21 aforementioned states to file a brief in support of the TMDL. This resulted in the National Parks Conservation Association, West Virginia Rivers Coalition, and 24 regional and national organizations filing a brief that supports restoring clean water in the Chesapeake and its tributaries. 

The case has far reaching implications for clean water initiatives across the country, with the Bay TMDL either serving as a model for other impaired waterways or as an example of special interest monies defeating everyone else’s interest in clean water. Oral arguments are expected this summer.

Jennifer Quinn is central Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture and is based in Harrisburg. She tweets @QuinnJen1.

Crisis in West Virginia's waterways

This guest post is from Angie Rosser, Executive Director of the West Virginia Rivers Coalition and a fellow Steering Committee member of the Choose Clean Water Coalition.     --Kate Gibbons, northeast Pennsylvania outreach coordinator, PennFuture

I'm one of 300,000 West Virginians who learned their water had been contaminated by a chemical leak just upstream from the state's largest drinking-water intake. Predictably, politicians and the public are clamoring for heads to roll -- most notably, those of managers at the Freedom Industries plant responsible for the leak.

Freedom Industries should be held accountable, but that won't fix the problem. That's because the Elk River spill wasn't an isolated accident. It was the inevitable consequence of weak regulatory enforcement over many years, made possible by our collective failure to uphold the values we profess.

We all say we value clean water, so why do we accept pollution as the status quo, as a byproduct of everyday life? In public opinion polls, Americans routinely and overwhelmingly say it's the job of government to ensure clean water. And yet, we continue to let elected officials off the hook when it comes to clean water laws.

In this light, the Elk River leak could be the future of many American cities -- a future in which systems failures cause local catastrophic events, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill to clean up after polluters.

Since the earliest days of the chemical industry, it has been a major part of West Virginia's economy. We live every day with the potential for toxic leaks into our waterways, knowing the consequences can be devastating. We shouldn't have to live this way.

Since the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, industry has worked diligently to weaken the law's enforcement and oversight.

As director of an organization that advocates for clean water, I regularly witness the audacious influence of industry as it cajoles lawmakers and regulators to lower production costs by lowering the bar on public health. I review the same data as the politicians do on the risks to public health posed by weakening clean-water standards. But when it comes to environmental stewardship, data and facts are no match for industry's sway over government.

At times like these, I see the irony of politicians scapegoating a company whose pollution is enabled by government's failure to adequately regulate. We've allowed them to foster a culture of neglect instead of one of oversight and accountability.

The Mountain State enjoys an abundance of water but, year after year, we have seen access to clean water diminish. Our water has paid the price for our legacy of mining, gas drilling, coal-burning power plants, and chemical production. We have seen the steady chipping away of our water quality standards to help reduce costs to big coal. We have seen the injustices of people's right to clean water usurped by industries. Indeed, there are parts of West Virginia that will never have access to clean water, where industrial pollution has caused irreparable harm to water supplies.

I hope the West Virginia water crisis reminds us about how dependent we are on clean rivers for our health and security. Now is the time to take a critical look at how to better protect our water sources. We can do this only by acknowledging that the Elk River spill is not a story about an isolated leak. This is about the need for systemic changes in industrial practices, and our national responsibility to establish and enforce adequate protections.

We need to look at ourselves and remember our values. We need to be true to our relationship with water by expanding our expectations of elected leaders. And industries and consumers need to accept the costs of safer, more environmentally sound production of certain goods and services. That's the price of clean water.

Clean water is essential for life. It is also essential for our national and global security. I hope that once the immediate crisis is over, serious thought will go into meaningful reforms and investment in protecting the rivers and streams that are our lifeline.

Angie Rosser is executive director of the West Virginia Rivers Coalition in Charleston, a statewide nonprofit organization focused on water quality issues. She lives on the Elk River upstream from the spill. In 2013, she was part of a successful effort to secure endangered species status for the Elk River Diamond Darter, a fish found only in the Elk.

Join us November 13 for "Eat, drink, and chat: A conversation on climate change"

As PennFuture’s new Central Pennsylvania outreach coordinator, my efforts will be focused mainly on water quality issues. For one, I will be working to improve the health of Pennsylvania’s rivers and streams as part of our work with the Choose Clean Water Coalition. Another aspect of my job is meeting people and planning events, which in my opinion, is pretty awesome -- and since meeting and getting to know PennFuture’s members and supporters is high on my list, I’d like to invite everyone to Eat, drink, and chat: A conversation on climate change. 

This free (yes, that's right -- free), informal gathering will be an opportunity for you to socialize while learning what’s happening with climate change (and what you can do about it), and will allow me to introduce myself to you. We’ll be joined by PennFuture’s federal policy director, Joy Bergey, and Ed Perry of the National Wildlife Federation. As well, we'll have a very special guest -- PennFuture's new president and CEO, Cindy Dunn. Cindy is delighted to be at the helm and eager to meet our members and supporters, so come on out and join us!

We’ll provide snacks and beverages, but feel free to bring something to share.  Special thanks to the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg for hosting our event.

When- Wednesday, November 13
             6:30-8:30 p.m.

Where- Unitarian Church of Harrisburg
               1280 Clover Lane
               Harrisburg, Pa. 17113

RSVP - by November 11 to quinn at pennfuture dot org

Hello, world. I'm diving in!

Hello, readers! My name is Jen Quinn and I'm PennFuture’s new Outreach Coordinator in central Pennsylvania. I will be focusing on water and Chesapeake Bay issues including the Pennsylvania work of the Choose Clean Water Coalition of the National Wildlife Federation. And, as you may have guessed, I will be blogging regularly about water and other environmental issues.

On September 28, the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay hosted its 8^th annual Chesapeake Watershed Forum. Over 400 people were in attendance, representing state and federal agencies, universities, and various NGOs from the six states that make up the Chesapeake Bay watershed (Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia) and the District of Columbia.  Presenters discussed multiple topics including science and conservation, land use planning and regulation, and advocacy and citizen engagement.

In a time when divisiveness and political polarization is the norm, it was inspiring to see hundreds of people working toward a shared goal: The protection and restoration of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. This is no pie-in-the-sky goal -- it's absolutely achievable in our lifetimes.

Over the past 30 years, federal, state, and local governments throughout the watershed, as well as NGOs and academics, have been working to reduce the amounts of nutrients and sediment making their way to the Bay. Thankfully, these efforts have had a positive impact on the health of the Bay. However, much more needs to be done.

The Bay’s water quality remains degraded because of too much pollution. Current oyster populations are less than 1 percent of historic levels and the Bay’s habitats are so degraded they cannot support thriving populations of aquatic life. Increased development, insufficient management of polluted stormwater by our towns and cities, and polluted runoff from agricultural operations continue to harm the Bay ecosystem.

Even so, there's reason for optimism. Thanks to the new “pollution diet” for the Bay issued by the Environmental Protection Agency, we can truly address these problems. This pollution diet, technically referred to as a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), limits the amount of nitrogen, phosphorous, and sediment that can enter the Bay. Implementing the pollution diet isn’t going to be easy but through continued cooperation between the state and federal governments, and local action by homeowners, farmers, NGOs, and municipalities, we can all enjoy cleaner water and a healthier and more productive Chesapeake Bay.

Water, water everywhere -- and, now, here

As our work on water issues around the state, including our effort as state lead for the Choose Clean Water Coalition, continues to grow, we've decided to jump into the blogosphere with this newest PennFuture blog. As the name says, it all flows downstream -- and what comes around does indeed go around in the cycle of water.

Earlier this summer, we worked on a key bill enacted into law in Pennsylvania which will make it easier for local governments to manage stormwater. Stormwater problems cause flooding and road, bridge, and sewer damage, and are an enormous source of pollution to our rivers and streams and, ultimately, to the grand Chesapeake Bay, which is the nation's largest estuary.

In California right now, the Rim Fire (187,000 acres as of today) has been causing great concern for the threat it could pose to San Francisco's drinking water. Climate change is only going to increase these dangers. Conversely, citizens across the Commonwealth are concerned about the impacts from shale gas on Pennsylvania's water for drinking as well as recreation throughout Penn's Woods. That's one reason we've been working as part of a statewide coalition keen to prevent possible drilling in the Loyalsock State Forest. Last week, 12,000 signatures were presented to Gov. Corbett's staff on this issue and you can still add your voice to protect our forests and waters. (Speaking of which, The Department of Forests and Waters was the former and expressive name of the Pennsylvania state agency created in 1923 by Governor Pinchot. Today, it's part of the larger Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.)

There's a lot happening here in our state known for our forests and its waters. Our aim is to bring you the latest and the little-known challenges and good things happening from the grassroots up.