Reboot state efforts, restore the Chesapeake Bay

In the wake of the Flint crisis, all eyes are on water quality, including here in Pennsylvania. Nearly half the state of Pennsylvania is within the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and people are starting to realize the state’s shortcomings on Bay restoration efforts. 

"Polluted runoff from urban and agricultural areas, along with wastewater, degrades water quality here and downstream," said Jacqui Bonomo, vice president and COO of PennFuture. "The state has a key role to play in the health of the Chesapeake Bay." 

Faced with mounting pressure from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state environmental groups, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced an interdepartmental strategy to “reboot” the state’s efforts towards restoring our local waters and, ultimately, Chesapeake Bay water quality. 

The plan, jointly developed by DEP and the departments of Agriculture and Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), outlines six areas of improvement:

1.  Address pollutant reduction by: (a) meeting the EPA goal of inspecting 10 percent of farms and municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s) in the watershed annually, (b) ensuring that farmers develop and follow manure management and erosion and sediment control plans, and (c) enforcement for non-compliance

2.  Quantify undocumented Best Management Practices (BMPs) in watersheds impaired by agriculture or stormwater and put more high-impact, low-cost BMPs on the ground

3.  Improve reporting, record-keeping, and data systems to provide better documentation and obtain maximum credit toward Bay pollution reduction goals

4.  Identify legislative, programmatic, and regulatory changes to provide additional tools and resources necessary to meet federal pollution reduction goals by 2025

5.  Establish a DEP Chesapeake Bay Office to coordinate development and implementation, of Pennsylvania’s Chesapeake Bay efforts

6.  Obtain additional resources for water quality improvement

Jim Hershey of Hershey Farms shows Sec. Redding the engineering in farm equipment that will help meet Federal Clean water standards and help to restore the health of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Photo via: Commonwealth of PA 

Although the pollution reduction targets set for Pennsylvania by the EPA (mentioned on this post) will not be met by the interim milestone of 2017, the state is working hard to meet the final goals for 2025. 

To get there, the DEP hopes the reboot will intensify regulatory presence, increase funding for inspections and staff, and improve the documentation of pollution reduction within the state. Additionally, it seeks to create a culture of compliance among all the land-users within the watershed. 

As John Quigley, Secretary of the DEP, said in the webinar announcing the reboot: “It’s clear that the DEP cannot do this work alone and be successful.”

Sam Boden is a Messiah College student interning at PennFuture in Harrisburg. He is passionate about sustainable and effective environmental policy at the state and federal level.

Dedicated to protecting a unique place on earth

It's been named one of the last great places worldwide by the Nature Conservancy and, last week, nearly 100 citizens came out to support protections for the unique Pocono Plateau of northeastern Pennsylvania.

Community groups and residents attended the April 23 Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP) public hearing in Thornhurst Twp. to provide input on how to protect pristine waterways, wetlands, and habitats impacted by a planned electric transmission line. The hearing addressed the proposed PPL West Pocono-North Pocono 230kV line in Buck Township, Luzerne County and Thornhurst, Clifton and Covington townships, Lackawanna County as detailed in March 2015 in this blog space.

The proposed right-of-way for this project is twenty miles long and covers an area of approximately 296 acres in an area with at least thirty-four (34) perennial or intermittent streams and thirty-three (33) wetlands, the latter covering more than twenty-four (24) acres. A theme echoed by many of the sixteen speakers was the at-risk special features of these Exceptional Value (EV) streams and wetlands, and the importance of their habitat for native wildlife like otters, wild trout, deer, foxes, and an entire interdependent ecosystem enjoyed by countless Pennsylvanians. Among the potential negative impacts are loss of nesting and spawning sites, introduction of invasive species, toxic herbicide use, and water pollution during construction as well as in the permanent right-of-way clearing.

Area township elected officials, land trusts, conservation and angler organizations, and community residents were among presenters who provided thoughtful testimony asking DEP for specific improvements to conditions set in three environmental permit applications. North Pocono CARE's president and members, along with PennFuture staff attorney Mike Helbing, also testified. PennFuture and many speakers strongly urged DEP to set permit conditions that would give the highest level of protection to the region -- and limit the damage for humans and habitat in this special place.

If you have input on the environmental impact of the plans, please add your voice: DEP will accept written comments up until Thursday, May 7, 2015. Comments should be limited to the West Pocono-North Pocono 230 kV Transmission Line Permits #E40-761, E35-456 and PAI023514002. Please visit our page on this topic for the full permit applications.

Comments can be sent to: coconnolly@pa.gov or: Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Wetlands and Waterways Program, 2 Public Square Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701-1915 attn.: Colleen Connolly re: West Pocono-North Pocono 230 kV Transmission Line Permits #E40-761, E35-456 and PAI023514002

Kate Gibbons is northeast Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture and is based in Wilkes-Barre.

PA streams: Let's protect the best of the best.

Anyone who spends time in the outdoors knows Pennsylvania has abundant water resources. With more than 86,000 miles of streams, we’re second only to Alaska in the number of miles of streams. Although many thousands of these stream miles are polluted by a variety of sources, we are fortunate to find other rivers and streams in excellent health, capable of supporting a variety of fish and other aquatic life. The rivers and streams with the most outstanding water quality are afforded the greatest degree of protection, and are designated High Quality (HQ) or Exceptional Value (EV).

Pennsylvania has a detailed process for protecting the existing use and designated uses of all HQ and EV waters. The public may petition the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to upgrade a stream to HQ or EV if sufficient data exist to support the request, and partner agencies such as the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission may do the same. The DEP regional office may also make a recommendation for a stream re-designation. Ultimately, all streams proposed for re-designation must be approved by the Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board (EQB).

Protecting streams through anti-degradation policies and ensuring that streams have the appropriate regulatory designation prior to permitting development activities within the watershed is critical to protecting the high quality of the Commonwealth’s water resources, for today and for the future.

Unfortunately, the DEP has not proposed any stream re-designations to the EQB since September 2011. Since then, hundreds of miles of streams have been petitioned for upgrade with no formal action by the DEP to re-designate these streams and apply regulatory protections, mainly due to very limited staff.

To remedy this, we recommend that Gov. Tom Wolf ensure that the DEP has adequate staff resources to ensure that streams receive appropriate stream designation under 25 Pa. Code Chapter 93.

• The DEP should have adequate staff designated: 1) to review stream re-designation petitions submitted by the public and by partner agencies, and 2) to conduct stream surveys to determine appropriate regulatory designations.

• The DEP should revise and streamline its internal process for reviewing stream re-designation petitions.

• The DEP should respond to petitions for stream re-designations in a timely fashion and propose rulemaking packages to upgrade or downgrade streams to the Environmental Quality Board (EQB) at least three times per year.

This recommendation, along with many others, can be found in a recent PennFuture report that highlights actions Gov. Tom Wolf and his administration can take to protect Pennsylvania’s environment.

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

Guest post: Speak out on protecting exceptional streams in NE PA

Note: This week, we have a guest blog post from Barbara "Bonnie" Smith, president of the watershed protection group North Pocono CARE (Citizens Alert Regarding the Environment) and member of PennFuture's board of directors. NP CARE is working to protect over 20 Exceptional Value (EV) streams in the Lehigh River headwaters affected by a planned transmission line. PennFuture recently submitted technical comments on this project.

Thanks to the efforts of many local citizens and the Thornhurst Township Board of Supervisors, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has scheduled a public hearing as part of DEP's review of the PPL permit applications. The hearing is on the proposed PPL West Pocono-North Pocono 230kV electric transmission line in Buck Township, Luzerne County and Thornhurst, Clifton and Covington townships, Lackawanna County. This section of the line has an extraordinary number of exceptional value (EV) stream crossings and EV wetland crossings in its 21-mile length, all of which are highly sensitive to pollution. These permits -- NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) Permit (PAI023514002) and Water Obstruction and Encroachment Permits (E40-761and E35-456) -- address water and wetland protection issues that are so important to maintaining the health of our Lehigh River and its tributaries. This is our opportunity to provide comments.

Sand Spring Creek

We encourage all those who hike, fish, live alongside, and enjoy these streams and forests to attend and pre-register to speak at the hearing.

Details: DEP public hearing, Thursday, April 23, 2015, 6:00 p.m.
Thornhurst Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company, 351 Old River Road (formerly 125 River Rd.), Thornhurst, Lackawanna County

Keep in mind that the parameters of DEP's review are limited to environmental issues, and comments will be most actionable in setting permit conditions if they fall under the following areas:
•    Impacts on water quality - polluting streams, wetlands and the Lehigh River
•    Concern about forest destruction and fragmentation
•    Vehicles and equipment introducing invasive species into our woodlands and waters
•    Herbicide use that would be harmful to streams and wetlands

Please save the date and make plans to add your voice. Many thanks, Bonnie Smith, President, North Pocono CARE (Citizens Alert Regarding the Environment).

Polluted runoff = dirty water. Our recommendations to solve the problem.

In an effort to bring some much-needed attention to the Chesapeake Bay, PennFuture included Bay cleanup efforts in its recent report highlighting policies and action Gov. Tom Wolf and his administration can take to protect our environment.

The Chesapeake Bay isn’t on the minds of most Pennsylvanians, mainly because we don’t see the Bay every day, fish or swim there regularly, or rely on its oysters and crabs to fuel our economy. But it should be on our minds because it’s polluted -- and a significant amount of that pollution is coming from Pennsylvania’s rivers and streams.

In order to achieve a healthy Bay (and clean water here in Pennsylvania), states within the Chesapeake Bay watershed have committed to reduce pollutants enough to remove the Bay from the list of impaired waters by 2025, and to be 60 percent toward that goal by 2017. So far, Pennsylvania has had great success in reducing pollution from the wastewater treatment sector, but has fallen behind in meeting pollution reduction goals in the agriculture and stormwater sectors.

In an effort to get Pennsylvania back on track and achieve our clean water goals, we’re urging the Governor's administration to address significant sources of pollution -- agriculture, wastewater, and stormwater -- so that no single sector is responsible for more than its fair share.

Recommendations include:

Agriculture

Increased oversight of agricultural operations by the DEP; enforcement of all regulatory requirements; sufficient funding for DEP outreach and education; and technical and financial assistance to the agricultural community.

Stormwater

The DEP should take a leadership role in working with local governments to help promote formation of stormwater authorities and should develop a model stormwater fee ordinance to ensure funding for local stormwater management. See pg. 23 of the report for more details.

The DEP must ensure effective post-construction stormwater management (PCSM) by eliminating the PCSM exemption for activities that “require restoration.” See pg.13 of the report for more details.

Recently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released an assessment of Pennsylvania’s Animal Agriculture Program, i.e., they reviewed DEP’s Agricultural Erosion and Sediment Control Program and the Manure and Nutrient Management Programs, among others. EPA found the programs lacked consistency and sufficient resources and found the data tracking and reporting systems lacking.  Shortfalls in the agricultural sector are especially problematic, given Pennsylvania expects to achieve three-quarters of its pollution reductions from agriculture. 

We’ve made our recommendations, and EPA has echoed our concerns. Now, the question remains: Is anyone listening?

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

Get involved! Stormwater management in your community.

PennFuture and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council have developed an informative and educational program designed to help you (yes, you) become more involved in local stormwater management.

Stormwater, a.k.a. melting snow and rain that flows across parking lots, streets, and lawns, can pick up harmful pollutants like motor oil, lawn fertilizer, pet waste, and trash and carry them into storm drains and, ultimately, our rivers and streams. Stormwater can also erode stream banks and can lead to flooding. Simply put, poorly managed stormwater is an issue that affects all of us. That’s why we’re excited to offer this program.

PennFuture recently reached a legal settlement with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) that will change the way municipal separate storm sewer systems, known as MS4s, receive permits in Pennsylvania. Our goal is to offer assistance in clarifying and simplifying the stormwater permit process for watershed and conservation groups as well as citizens – and make public participation in your borough or township's planning process easier.

The program will cover:

•        What the DEP legal settlement means for you

•        Ways you or your organization and its members can get involved in the DEP's process for updating the general permit for MS4s.

•        Opportunities to get involved in your local municipality's stormwater planning process, including:

◦          When and how you can participate in the public input process — and why it's a key opportunity for citizens

◦          What to look for in permit applications, including pollutant reduction plans and TMDL plans

Where:  The Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania

                100 E. Northwestern Avenue

                Philadelphia, PA 19118 
               (in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia)

When: Monday, February 23, 2015 at 7 p.m.

To reserve a seat, you can either call Joy Bergey at 215-313-1311 or register online at

http://pennfuture-pec-workshop.eventbrite.com

For more information, please contact Joy Bergey, bergey@pennfuture.org, 215-313-1311.

If February 23 isn't convenient for you (either the date or the location) but you'd like to find out about other upcoming trainings, contact Joy (bergey@pennfuture.org, 215-313-1311).

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