The President is pressing for passage of a new trade deal called the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement (TPP). Leaked sections of the secret deal demonstrate it is light on environmental preservation and heavy on corporate protection.
The TPP would give foreign corporations the right to sue our government for millions of dollars if they believe a U.S. environmental law (State, Federal or local) has diminished its ability to make profits – one corporation is already taking action under similar provisions in NAFTA against Canada for a ban on fracking passed in Quebec.
If passed as planned, the TPP will also give special status to new countries who will then benefit from automatic approval LNG export plans – those countries include Japan, Vietman, Brunei, Malaysia, and New Zealand, with China expected to be added to the list soon. That means environmental and economic reviews of the impacts of the new LNG construction, operation and export would be by-passed.
More LNG exports means more pressure for shale gas development and fracking; more legal challenges against environmental protection laws means less protection against gas drilling and fracking.
And to top it off, the President wants Congress to pass a piece of legislation called the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities Act of 2014 — “Fast Track” for short, that will give the President super powers to be able to continue to negotiate his deal in secret, to sign the deal on behalf of the United States, to draft and put forth before Congress the legislation that would change or modify any existing U.S. laws necessary to bring the country into compliance with the TPP, and to relegate our Congress to a mere “yay” or “nay” vote, no hearings, no amendments, and very little conversation at all. The Constitution of the United States carefully shares authority for international dealmaking between the President and the Congress – President Obama wants to change all that.
To learn more review the white paper provided below. Also below is a copy of a recent letter sent to a variety of congressional representatives from around the region by 54 organizations. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc2UUeMqQ48&feature=youtu.be
On May 17, 2016 a case was filed in US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania challenging the DRBC’s authority over drilling and fracking actitivies and challenging its defacto moratorium that currently prevents such activities anywhere within the Delaware River watershed.
The case was filed by the Wayne Land and Mineral Group. The action was filed against the Delaware River Basin Commission. The Delaware Riverkeeper Network successfully intervened in the case.
March 23, 2017 the case was dismissed with an important legal determination that the DRBC does in fact have jurisdication over drilling and fracking activities in the watershed.
Act 13 amended the Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Act, preempting municipal zoning of oil and gas development. It also established an impact fee on natural gas.
The Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Maya van Rossum in her capacity as the Delaware Riverkeeper, Dr. Mehernosh Khan, and seven municipalities filed suit on March 29, 2012 challenging the law on the grounds it violates the Pennsylvania and United States Constitutions and endangers public health, natural resources, communities and the environment. The municipalities participating are: Township of Robinson, Washington County; Township of Nockamixon, Bucks County; Township of South Fayette, Allegheny County; Peters Township, Washington County; Township of Cecil, Washington County; Mount Pleasant Township, Washington County; and the Borough of Yardley, Bucks County.
The named Appellants are the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (“PUC”); Office of the Attorney General of Pennsylvania; and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”).
Oral argument was held before the PA supreme court on October 17, 2012.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court Decision
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued its decision on December 19, 2013. In that decision the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that Act 13 violates the Pennsylvania Constitution on the grounds that it violates the Environmental Rights Amendment. In doing so, the Court held that the right to pure water, clean air and a healthy environment are fundamental rights that must be given high-priority consideration and protection by every level of Pennsylvania’s government. The Court’s decision also struck down the shale gas industry’s effort to force every municipality in the state to allow gas drilling and related industrial operations in every zoning district. The Court’s decision upheld the ability of local governments to protect their local communities and natural resources through zoning. Chief Justice Castille authored the historic majority opinion. Justices Todd, McCaffrey and Baer joined in the result.
Justices Castille, Todd, and McCaffrey held that provisions of the law violate Article I, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution – the Environmental Rights Amendment. Justice Castille stated that “we agree with the citizens that, as an exercise of the police power, Sections 3215(b)(4) and (d), 3303, and 3304 are incompatible with the Commonwealth’s duty as trustee of Pennsylvania’s public natural resources.” In discussing Section 3304’s uniform zoning provisions, Justices Castille, Todd, and McCaffrey agreed that the provisions “sanctioned a direct and harmful degradation of the environmental quality of life in these communities and zoning districts.” They also concluded that the Act forced some citizens to bear “heavier environmental and habitability burdens than others,” in violation of Section 27’s mandate that public trust resources be managed for the benefit of all the people.
Justice Baer concurred in finding Act 13 unconstitutional, agreeing with the Commonwealth Court’s reasoning. Justice Baer stated that the provisions “force municipalities to enact zoning ordinances, which violate the substantive due process rights of their citizenries.” He further noted “Pennsylvania’s extreme diversity” in municipality size and topography and that zoning ordinances must “give consideration to the character of the municipality,” among other factors, which Act 13 did not.
At the January 22 meeting, the Town of Highland Planning Board announced that the written comment period on the Camp FIMFO draft EIS will be extended to March 11 thanks to a strong advocacy push and several letters from Delaware Riverkeeper Network and concerned members of the public detailing legal inadequacies with the original public comment proceedings. This is a win, giving the public additional time to submit new comments or expand on their original comments.
If you haven’t had the chance to write a comment, or if you have additional thoughts that you were unable to adequately capture during the first part of this comment period, we urge you to submit a written comment. Comments can come from any concerned person—not just Town of Highland residents—and can be submitted to the Planning Board at planningboardzba@townofhighlandny.com. You can read Delaware Riverkeeper Network’s first submitted comment here.
As everyone is well aware we need to continue to scream from the rooftops our opposition to Camp FIMFO. Yard signs put on public display to the Town of Highland Planning Board and Northgate Resorts that we are saying NO to Camp FIMFO. Additionally, this will help us spread the word to those who may not yet know about Camp FIMFO and help us raise broader public awareness.
A community member has generously offered to help serve as a pickup point for those interested in getting a yard sign. We ask that you join our No Camp FIMFO – Protect Our River Action Platform where we will be sharing the information on how you can get in touch to get a yard sign. This platform is a secure social media space so we can keep this information from opposition. By clicking the link you will be taken to a page where you can create an account. The bonus of joining this action platform as well is it is a closed community with our allies against Camp FIMFO where we will be able to quickly and easily share information and action items with you.
We Need Your Support
We need your support for the experts, lawyers and advocacy essential for protecting our River from FIMFO. Please donate what you can today.
On December 18, the Town of Highland held the only public hearing on the Camp FIMFO draft EIS. Following the hearing, Delaware Riverkeeper Network reviewed the transcript to discover it was an inadequate and potentially inaccurate record of the public testimony and notified the Planning Board with a letter.
Watch the video below to hear the powerful testimonies of community members telling the Planning Board to just say no to this project and protect the Upper Delaware River from overdevelopment.
Update Dec. 4, 2024:
On December 4, the Town of Highland announced that the draft Environmental Impact Statement was complete and ready for public comment. This came after months of review with input from NPS, UDC, and professional engineers that highlighted several of the inadequacies of the draft EIS. Once again, this public comment period was slated to span the busy holiday season, including a single public hearing held on December 18, 2024.
Background
In the Town of Highland, Sullivan County, New York, Northgate Resorts is proposing to overhaul the former Kittatinny Campground with an operation they call Camp FIMFO. The proposal would transform most of the existing low impact tent campsites to RV sites, cabins, and glamping structures with water, sewage, and/or electric hook ups; adding water slides, multiple pools, mini golf, more parking, more septic systems, propane distribution and utility lines, as well as demolishing some of the existing buildings and adding new infrastructure. According to one official on the Upper Delaware Council, this is the largest development project ever to come to the region.
Overall, the true scale and impacts of the project are being masked by a lack of clear information or transparency about project details. And if Northgate gets its way, we will be seeing more large scale theme-park-like operations invading our Upper Delaware region and amplifying the harm.
Northgate’s proposal is in the federally protected Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River Corridor. The National Park Service helps protect the River by reviewing many proposals in the Corridor to ensure they conform with the values in the River Management Plan (RMP) and Land and Water Use Guidelines (LWUG). After careful review, on May 25, 2023, the National Park Service issued a letter stating its determination that the project fails to conform with the RMP and LWUG for the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River. You can read about it in the River Reporter here.
September 14, 2023 – Delaware Riverkeeper Network held an informational meeting with residents in the Upper Delaware River region to discuss the proposed Camp FIMFO site changes.
September 26, 2023 – Delaware Riverkeeper Network secured the expert analysis of an urban planner with 30 years of experience. The findings were clear: The Town of Highland Planning Board must require a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), anything short would be a violation of state law and a betrayal of the public trust.
September 27, 2023 – Town of Highland Planning Board voted 3-2 in favor of conducting an Environmental Impact Statement for the project.
October 25, 2023 – Town of Highland Planning Board voted in favor of the proposed Scoping document for a full EIS initiating the public comment from Nov. 3 to Nov. 22.
October 27, 2023 – Delaware Riverkeeper Network sent the Planning Board a letter stating the public comment period was not enough time while also occurring in the middle of the holiday season.
November 9, 2023 – Delaware Riverkeeper Network submitted its comment on the draft Scoping document identifying several important areas for the draft EIS to address.
November 18, 2023 – Delaware Riverkeeper Network submitted a supplemental comment in support of all the issues identified by community members and highlighting several concerns raised by the National Park Service.
November 21, 2023 – Delaware Riverkeeper Network submitted a supplemental comment explaining the importance of considering all submitted comments in its decision making process.
December 20, 2023 – Town of Highland Planning Board approved the Final Scoping document for the Camp FIMFO draft EIS.
June 12, 2024 – Camp FIMFO submitted its first draft of the EIS.
July 24, 2024 – Town of Highland Planning Board, Upper Delaware Council, and the National Park Service issued comments necessitating revision of the draft EIS.
August 28, 2024 – Camp FIMFO submitted its second draft of the EIS.
September 25, 2024 – Town of Highland, Upper Delaware Council, and the National Park Service issued comments necessitating further revision of the draft EIS.
October 23, 2024 – Camp FIMFO submitted its third draft of the EIS.
November 20, 2024 – Town of Highland adopted the third draft of the EIS as adequate for public comment and set the deadline for public comment as January 10.
December 18, 2024 – Town of Highland Planning Board held the only public hearing on the Camp FIMFO draft EIS.
January 8, 2025 – Delaware Riverkeeper Network notified the Planning Board of the inadequacy and errors in the public hearing transcript.
January 10, 2025 – Delaware Riverkeeper Network submitted its first comment on the draft EIS detailing many flaws and inadequacies in the draft EIS.
On September 27th, the Town of Highland Planning Board held a meeting and voted 3-2 in favor of conducting an Environmental Impact Statement for the project.
The Delaware Riverkeeper Network has secured the expert analysis of an urban planner with 30 years of experience. The findings are clear, the Town of Highland Planning Board needs to require a full Environmental Impact Statement, anything short is a violation of state law and a betrayal of the public trust.
The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process is now getting underway. It begins with a public process call “Scoping”. This is where all of the issues of concern that must be addressed in the EIS are identified. You don’t have to provide the analysis of the issue at this stage, just clearly identify the issue to be analyzed. The Town has announced it will accept comments on the draft scoping document between November 3 and November 22. The Delaware Riverkeeper Network does not think a mere 20 days –particularly when they include travel days typically associated with Thanksgiving as well as election time — provides enough time and has submitted a comment urging the Town Planning Board to extend the comment period until December 21. You can review the Delaware Riverkeeper’s letter here. We are also urging others to demand this important extension of time.
The Delaware Riverkeeper Network has submitted comments regarding the Scoping Document. You can review our comment here. Feel free to use our comment as a guide for what you may want to say in a comment you submit.
Submit your comment on the draft Scoping Document to: Ms. Monica McGil, Planning Board Secretary at email address planningboardzba@townofhighlandny.com
–> You can review the notice regarding the public comment process by clicking here.
–> You can see a copy of the proposed document up for comment by clicking here.
Holding tanks from an old landfill – the Barnes Landfill, has been discovered to have leaked tens and thousands of gallons of leachate to surrounding streams:
Some Basic Facts:
The campground is ~223 acres and has many areas of wooded steep slopes and fronts along the Delaware River.
Beaver Brook, a stocked trout stream, flows through the central portion of the site.
In addition to the Delaware River and Beaver Brook, there are 7 wetlands and 6 streams within the campground.
The campground is home to many species, including endangered and threatened species such as the Bald Eagle, Orchid-of-the-Waterfall, and Dwarf Wedgemussel.
Much of the project site is located within the 100-year and 500-year floodplains.
Camp FIMFO has multiple locations, including two in Texas, that show the large size and magnitude of these projects.
Of the 342 campsites that exist currently, only 56 will remain tent campsites. The rest will be turned into sites for RVs including with water,sewer, and electrical hookups, permanent cabins, or sites with constructed glamping pods or safari type tents.
The proposed project would transform a great portion of the campground to pavement, resulting in roughly 7 new acres of impervious surface.
Camp FIMFO anticipates an increase in visitors, which would be three times the number of visitors the current campground has each season.
Holding tanks from an old landfill—the Barnes Landfill—has leaked tens and thousands of gallons of leachate to surrounding streams.
The proposed project would alter 41.5 acres of land with earth disturbance activities and clear nearly 15 acres of trees.
Clean and renewable energy options such as wind and solar, if supported today and coupled with concerted energy efficiency programs, could not only totally power every state in our watershed by the year 2050, but could put us on the leading edge of the clean energy industry. This would allow us to protect our natural resources including healthy water, clean air and vibrant natural resources, and also allow us to keep jobs in our region for generations to come as we build the technologies needed to support ourselves, our nation and countries across the world who will all be turning to clean energy and efficiency technologies with increasing investment and focus in the years, decades and generations to come.
Delaware Riverkeeper Network is working hard to help make the case that a clean energy future is achievable now – we have the technology, we just need the political will and public support.
Envisioning Pennsylvania’s Energy Future Video
Green Justice Philly
Delaware Riverkeeper Network serves on the steering committee as a founding member of Green Justice Philly, a coalition of organizations in the Philadelphia Region. The mission of Green Justice Philly, formed in 2015, is:
Green Justice Philly is a diverse and growing coalition committed to building a healthy, sustainable and economically just Philadelphia region. We work together to oppose the dirty fossil fuel industry that puts our neighborhoods at risk, makes our citizens sick, and does not contribute to our long-term prosperity.
Campaigns have included opposition to the development of fossil fuel projects at Southport, a private-public development site owned by the City of Philadelphia on the Delaware River and robust support instead of union and family-supported jobs. This Green Justice Philly campaign of a labor-environmental-community coalition led to the successful cancellation of a RFP for fossil fuel-related projects, including possible crude by rail facility or an oil/shale gas export terminal, and resulted instead in additional union-supported jobs at Southport and the greening of the Philadelphia Port with State funding.
Green Justice Philly is waging a campaign for clean, renewable energy in the City from locally generated solar; the Solar Justice Philly campaign. The Solar Justice Philly campaign calls for a commitment by the City of Philadelphia to provide 100% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030, generating at least 30% of the electricity used in government-owned buildings, departments and street lights from solar projects in the five county region, including installations on City-owned buildings and property and on properties in under-resourced neighborhoods.
In 2018, the Green Justice Philly’s Solar Justice Campaign became more focused on the goal of implementing the City’s renewable energy goals through specific actions by city government. In April, a letter signed by 11 Philadelphia-based organizations was submitted to the Philadelphia Office of Sustainability outlining actions that should be taken in the coming months, including solar energy projects generated on City-owned infrastructure such as buildings, street lights and bridges. These installations would spur new jobs for city residents and help generate new wealth for the City’s neighborhoods in the form of green jobs. See the letter. The letter was followed by petitions launched by groups and on-line platforms that are being submitted to Mayor Kenney and City Council members to support the local solar campaign. See a sample petition below.
The Concept
The concept is that Philadelphia’s transition to a renewable economy has the potential to improve regional air quality and curb climate change while spurring long-term economic development and jobs for the City’s residents. Since Mayor Kenney has set a goal of purchasing 100% of the electricity the city government uses from renewable sources by 2030, Green Justice Philly has recommended a number of initial actions to advance one specific strategy from the City’s published document on its energy vision – the purchase of long-term contracts for renewable energy called power purchase agreements (PPA). Green Justice Philly’s letter calls for the Mayor to issue a new PPA that would require the generation of solar energy locally on city infrastructure, to enlist other large city institutions to go solar, and to ensure that the new jobs will go to Philadelphia residents, with a commitment to ensuring the workforce reflects the racial demographics of the city as closely as possible and are under union conditions.
In August, Green Justice Philly and the Carnival de Resistance will be hosting a parade and rally to bring attention to and get people engaged with these issues. Partnering with organizations and residents from across the Philadelphia region, people will march for the use of renewable and clean energy sources; an end to power generation using fossil fuels, including fracked gas; and support for locally generated solar energy. The parade will start at PECO’s Headquarters to articulate EQAT’s demand of locally produced solar by PECO, stop at SEPTA Headquarters to demand their planned Nicetown fracked gas power plant is cancelled and end with a rally at City Hall so Mayor Kenny and City Council will hear the community’s demands.
