Overview

September 2013, a coalition of environmental groups including the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, filed three lawsuits in federal courts around the country (New York, San Francisco and Boston) seeking to force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to establish a clear standard that better protects the hundreds of aquatic species near the nation’s 1,065 power plants and other facilities. 

More than five hundred of America’s oldest and dirtiest power plants still use “once-through” cooling systems — Salem Nuclear Generation Station, Delaware City Refinery, and Mercer Powerplant on the Delaware River are among them.

These plants, along with others across the nation, withdraw trillions of gallons of water from our nation’s rivers, lakes, estuaries and marine waters each year, destroying billions of fish, shellfish and other marine life. The death toll includes hundreds of endangered species of fish, mammals, and sea turtles. Some of these species are being pushed to the very brink of extinction by once-through cooling. 

“Closed-cycle” cooling, on the other hand, is a widely used and proven technology that has been available for decades and can reduce fish kills, habitat disruption, and water withdrawals by 95% or more. Despite this fact, and decades of legal battles, EPA’s new rule, issued under Clean Water Act Section 316(b) and published on August 15th, once again fails to establish technology requirements that protect aquatic life in our rivers and oceans from destructive industrial cooling water intakes. EPA should have set a clear standard that requires closed-cycle cooling as the “best technology available” for minimizing these severe impacts. But EPA’s rule leaves it to resource-strapped state agencies to determine what technology is required on a site-specific basis. 

“EPA acknowledges that closed-cycle cooling is the most protective technology, and the agency’s own regulations have long required new plants to use it,” said Reed Super, lead attorney for many of organizations joined in this action.

Delaware Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum stated: “Facilities on the Delaware River and throughout the nation have been getting away with the needless slaughter of billions of fish — on the Delaware River there is one facility which alone kills over 3 billion fish a year, imagine the impacts nationwide of these operations. While these facilities are allowed to kill indiscriminately, commercial and recreational fisherfolk are limited in what size, how many and what species of fish they can take. Instead of addressing this horrible inequity, EPA, through its rules, is perpetuating it.” 

“The time has come to stop putting industry and big business before community interests and healthy ecosystems,” said Debbie Mans, Baykeeper and Executive Director of NY/NJ Baykeeper. “EPA’s ruling has failed its purpose in reducing significant environmental risks. Instead, billions of fish and other marine life will be killed and the effects, nationwide, may be irreversible. The environmental community certainly isn’t going to stand by and let that happen.” 

The Background

On November 22, 2010, Riverkeeper and other environmental organizations signed a settlement agreement with the EPA that resolved two lawsuits they brought against the agency in 1993 and 2006 addressing its failure to issue regulations implementing Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act for existing power plants and other industrial facilities. This section of the Clean Water Act requires industry to employ the “best technology available” for minimizing the adverse environmental impact of their cooling water intake structures. In 2001, EPA had issued regulations requiring all new facilities to use closed-cycle cooling, but EPA’s first attempt at existing facility regulations were send back to the agency by the courts as legally insufficient. In the 2010 settlement, EPA agreed to draft new regulations for existing facilities by March 14, 2011, and to take final action regarding the new regulations by July 27, 2012. EPA issued its final rule in May, 2014. 

In the 2014 rule, EPA failed to set a clear standard, leaving it completely to the discretion of state regulators to determine what cooling water intake technology is best on a case by case basis. This failure subverts the entire purpose of the 316(b) regulation, to have a national baseline standard that provides all waterways the highest level of protection. Federal agencies responsible for protecting endangered species found that 266 threatened and endangered species are affected by power plants with once-through cooling, with the effects ranging from direct injury to habitat degradation and destruction of other aquatic species relied on as part of the aquatic food chain.  

For decades, the power industry has campaigned against updating regulations to protect biologically and economically important aquatic ecosystems from further damage from industrial cooling water intakes. Industry argues that more environmentally protective regulations will force plants across the country to shut down and threaten the reliability of the nation’s electricity supply. But studies by EPA and by outside groups showed that the gradual move to closed-cycle cooling under this rule would have little or no impact on the power grid. In fact, EPA concluded that moving to closed-cycle cooling will actually reduce the vulnerability of the American power sector to droughts and climate change.

Overview

The US Environmental Protection Agency determined that Salem entrains 14.7 billion fish, eggs and larvae every year and impinges an additional 6.6 billion a year.  This is a direct loss of fish, but also removes the abundance of aquatic life from the food chain and all of the cascading benefits they provide to a host of other species.  

Many of the species PSEG impacts are either endangered (such as Shortnose and Atlantic Sturgeon as well as Kemps Ridley and Green Sea Turtles) or have already experienced population declines in the present or recent past, thus magnifying the adverse impact of the Salem impingement and entrainment takes they suffer.  For example:

• “The bay anchovy is a species whose numbers have been decreasing at an alarming rate.”[1]  
• Blueback herring and Alewife have been identified by NOAA as a species of concern and one that has been experiencing declines throughout their range, including in the Delaware River.[2]  
• The ASMFC has determined: “ The American shad stock in the Delaware River is considered stable but at low levels compared to the historic population.” (emphasis added) [3]  
• Weakfish populations in our region are in a “depleted state.”[4]
• The Atlantic Sturgeon of the Delaware River are listed as endangered as part of the NY Bight DPS:  “In the NYB DPS, there are two known spawning populations – the Hudson and Delaware Rivers. While the Hudson is presumably the largest extant reproducing Atlantic sturgeon population, the Delaware is presumably very small and extremely vulnerable to any sources of anthropogenic mortality.”[5]

The Federal Clean Water Act (CWA) 

Despite a requirement in Section 316(b) of the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) that facilities like the Salem Nuclear Generating Station (“Salem”) use the best technology available on the design, location, construction and capacity of their cooling water intake structures to minimize their adverse environmental impact (i.e. their kills of fish and aquatic life), and despite the existince of cooling water intake technology that could reduce the fish kills at salem by over 95%, the state of New Jersey continues to issue permits that allow the facility to continue to operate using their deadly, existing, once-through cooling system.  

The Delaware Riverkeeper Network has been fighting for over 30 years to stop the unnecessary death toll that is having such serious impacts on the aquatic life of our River.  Learn more about our efforts here.   

PSEG, the owner of Salem, has been looking to expand and to build yet another nuclear power plant called Salem 4 on the banks of the estuary in an area known to experience storm surge.  A new nuclear plant on our River, particiularly in this location, will have unwanted dangerous consequences.  Learn more about our efforts to stop the project here.

DRN is also fighting the proposal to take Salem Nuclear waste across the country to dispose of it in New Mexico near indigenous and other communities fearful of the environmental and safety ramifications.  Follow DRN’s efforts to oppose this dangerous, unwise and immoral effort.

[1] Bay Anchovy Fact Sheet, NJDEP, http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/pdf/delriver/artdel_sp_bayanchovy.pdf

[2] River Herring (Alewife & Blueback Herring), Species of Concern, NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, 5/19/2009.

[3] Delaware River Sustainable Fishing Plan for American Shad, Prepared by the Delaware River Basin Fish & Wildlife Management Cooperative for The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission  Shad and River Herring Management Board, December 2011.

[4] Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, ADDENDUM IV TO AMENDMENT 4 TO THE WEAKFISH FISHERY MANAGEMENT PLAN, Nov 2009.

[5] Final Rule, Threatened and Endangered Status for Distinct Population Segments of Atlantic, Sturgeon in the Northeast Region, Fed Reg Vol 77 No. 24, Feb. 6, 2012.

Related Topics:

Salem 4 – New Nuclear Plant Being Pursued for Artificial Island

Salem Nuclear Generating Station

316b Cooling Water Intake Regulations Challenged Again for Fish Kills They Allow

Overview

The Philadelphia Gun Club owns property adjoining the Delaware River in Bensalem, Pennsylvania.  The Club operates an outdoor shooting range on its property adjoining the Delaware River.  The Club’s members have used the outdoor range for recreational target shooting of for approximately 132 years.  Delaware Riverkeeper Network believes that the Club hosts at least twelve regular, day-long trap shoot meets for its members each and every year.  Unlike other gun clubs, the Philadelphia Gun Club uses live pigeons as its targets instead of clay ones.  These live pigeon shoots are banned in most places given the animal abuse involved.

For video of what is taking place at the gun club see here.    

The Issue

Because of the configuration of the Club’s shooting range and the layout of its property, all shooting on the outdoor range occurs over and in the direction of the Delaware River.  This activity results in the continuous discharge of pollution to the river including shot, shot fragments and wadding composed of lead, steel and other metals and materials enter the Delaware River. Also falling into the water are the bodies of the dead and dying pigeons.  Despite discharging pollutants into the Delaware River, the Club is operating without any permits.  The Delaware Riverkeeper Network brought a legal action to challenge this unpermitted effort.  Initially the Delaware Riverkeeper Network’s legal action seeking that the Philadelphia Gun Club comply with the Clean Water Act by seeking all necessary permits was a success until the state responded with a determination that no permit was required despite the ongoing pollution inputs.
  
The Club’s activity also poses a hazard to the physical safety of those who boat and recreate on the Delaware River and are not aware of the need to take precautions to protect themselves.  The Club admitted the danger of personal injury in statements it made to the United States Coast Guard, yet it has done nothing to warn or otherwise protect the public from the Delaware River adjoining its shooting range.  
  
For these reasons, October 26, 2010 the Delaware Riverkeeper Network sent the Philadelphia Gun Club a notification that if the facility did not stop violating the Clean Water Act with its annual live pigeon shoots that they would file a citizen suit for violation of State and Federal law.      

The notice letter reads: “The PGC holds live pigeon shoots on its property adjoining the Delaware River at 3051 State Road, Bensalem, Pennsylvania, and has been doing so for well over one hundred years. During the course of these day-long shooting events, the PGC discharges and allows the discharge of pollutants (including, but not limited to, lead shot and fragments, steel shot and fragments and shot and fragments composed of other metals) into the Delaware River without a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit (“NPDES permit”) in violation of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (“Clean Water Act” or “CWA”) and Pennsylvania’s Clean Streams Law.

Update:

March 30, 2012 the Delaware Riverkeeper Network filed a complaint: challenging the pollution caused by the Philadelphia Gun Club’s ongoing live pigeon shoots. The complaint was filed in District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The lawsuit challenges the pigeon shoots as a violation of the Clean Water Act, introducing ongoing pollution into the Delaware River in the form of gun shot and both live and dead birds which rain down on the water during the regularly held events.

September 17, 2012 the Federal District Court in Philadelphia entered a final judgment against the Philadelphia Gun Club in the Clean Water Act citizen suit brought by the Delaware Riverkeeper, Maya van Rossum, and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network. The judgment obligates the Philadelphia Gun Club to apply for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (“NPDES”) permit from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection by December 31, 2012, and to pay legal costs incurred by the Delaware Riverkeeper Network.

December 31, 2012, the last day of the  year, the gun club finally files their application.  But it is an application that sorely misrepresents the activities of the gun club and the level of shot that hits the water and could hit any boaters who happen to be passing by.  DRN sends DEP multiple letters pointing out the misrepresentations and the law that requires permitting for the PGC’s activities. 

September 9, 2013 the DEP issues a short decision asserting the gun club’s activities require no regulation.

Victory re Site Contamination State agrees with Delaware Riverkeeper Network that Clean Up is Needed and Gun Club Plan is deficient:

Also at issue are the decades of pollution settling onto the landscape and soaking into the soils.  The Delaware Riverkeeper Network successfully petition for a review of the need to clean up the site of the dangerous contaminants found there that slowly seep into the River water over time.  The government agreed and mandated a clean up plan.  And on October 25, in response to our many comments and state reviews the following determination was published:

“Philadelphia Gun Club, 3051 State Road, Bensalem Township, Bucks County. Kevin Davis, PE, Pennoni Associates, Inc., 1900 Market Street, Suite 300, Philadelphia, PA 19103 on behalf of Dr. Bruce DiDonato, Philadelphia Gun Club, 3051 State Road, Eddington, PA 19020 submitted a Final Report concerning the remediation of site soil contaminated with metals. The Final Report did not demonstrate attainment of the Site-Specific Standard and was disapproved by the Department on September 4, 2019.”

Overview

The EPA Risk Assessment report draws specifically on DRN/GeoSystem’s data in their conclusion that the PGC did not go nearly far enough in their Risk Assessment and that the contamination was worse than the PGC’s assessment led everyone to believe.  Worse in terms of possible other contaminants on-site and how much of the Delaware River could be impacted. 

According to DEP, upon receipt of EPA’s evaluation of PGC’s Risk Assessment, did not know about the DRN/GeoSystem’s data.  Thankfully DEP had denied the Club’s assessment on other findings – albiet much weaker ecologically speaking reasons.  The PGC had scheduled a meeting with DEP to challenge DEP’s denial, but cancelled the meeting once they recieved EPA’s report. According to DEP, the PGC admitted they knew of the DRN/GeoSystem data but didn’t believe it so didn’t include it into their report.  DEP suggested that they could have collected their own data if the didn’t trust DRN’s data.

Background

I think alos that our comprehensive comments to PGC’s Risk Assessment report empowered and encouraged EPA to do a much more thorough job themselves.
If you stood next to a park or recreational trail used throughout the year and shot a gun up into the air so that gun shot rained down on that park or trail, even during times when people play, run, walk, cycle or otherwise use the area you’d be stopped by the authorities, probably ticketed or fined. If you continued those shoots 12 times a year every year you’d be in even bigger trouble. It would only take one call to get the authorities to act. 

If you stood on the banks of the Delaware River 12 times a year and for 4 to 6 hours threw trash in, handful after handful, you’d be stopped and probably get a fine. If you stood on the banks of the Delaware River and shot a gun up into the air so that gun shot came raining down onto the water, even when boaters were boating by, you’d be stopped and probably fined. If that is the case then why is it that the Philadelphia Gun Club can do that very same act, a whole gun club not just one person, and shoot their gun up into the air so gun shot rains out over and into the river, polluting the river and putting in jeopardy anyone boating by, with no permit and no repercussions? 

A curtain the Philadelphia Gun Club has hung to hide their actions on the site does not protect river users from the rain of gun shot, and does nothing with regards to the gun shot from the club’s shooters that stand and shoot openly from the banks of the river. Check out this video to see for yourself: http://youtu.be/W76vm4vTcr0 

Up to 12 times a year the gun club shoots out over the Delaware River. Boaters in open topped boats with no face, eye, neck or body protection power through the area at their own risk of getting pelted in the face or body with the falling shot, shot so dangerous it cut the skin of a person sitting still in a kayak when hit – could you imagine the harm to a person traveling at a high rate of speed on a motor boat who happened to run into a rain of shot? 

We have witnessed power boats travelling with the driver exposed and powering through the area right by the gun club during the time of a shoot. We at the Delaware Riverkeeper Network don’t understand how this dangerous situation can be allowed to continue. And as the boat season lengthens with the warmer winters we are seeing more and more boaters go by when the club does its shoots during the months of November through March. 

We have asked the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to act on the pollution that is raining into the water, and the Coast Guard to address the safety issue these shoots create – so far neither have acted. (Learn more about Delaware Riverkeeper Network legal actions on the matter)  

Now it is also time for our politicians to get involved.  To sign a statement of concern that can be used to help convince our legislators to take a stand on this issue go to our action alert.

Overview

Dragon Springs Buddhist Inc is proposing to dam a headwater stream, destroy headwater wetlands, discharge poorly-treated wastewater to a Basher Kill trout stream, create acres of impervious cover and runoff, all of which would adversely impact the Basher Kill and the Neversink River. This development has already damaged the aesthetics and quality of the Basher Kill and the Neversink River, impacting fish, mussels and other aquatic life that are both ecologically and recreationally important to the region.  The Basher Kill and Neversink River are important recreational resources supporting highly valued swimming and fishing opportunities for both residents and visitors. 

One of the biggest threatened impacts is the proposal to dam a headwater stream in order to manage stormwater runoff.  An extensive forested headwater wetland with amazing ecological biodiversity and ecosystem function would be lost. 

The proposed wastewater treatment plant would pollute both a local trout stream and the Basher  Kill and the Neversink River, with problems such as excessive nutrients impacting trout and endangered species living in these streams and rivers. 

Threatened and Endangered Species

A number of state and federally listed Threatened and Endangered species are also located on-site or in areas affected by on-site activities. Among the biggest impacts that need to be evaluated are the water quality impacts to the Dwarf Wedgemussel and the Brook Floater, two freshwater mussels whose last remaining strongholds in New York state are here in the Neversink River but whose populations have severely declined already in recent decades.

The Delaware Riverkeeper Network is actively working with concerned residents and local organizations to address this major threat.  Dragon Springs included a Draft Environmental Impact Statement with its proposal, but neither a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement nor a Final Environmental Impact Statement have been shared.  Scathing testimony at the public hearing from the Delaware Riverkeeper Network and all of our partners and residents has slowed the impacts from this proposal. 

Overview

There is a moratorium on natural gas drilling/fracking and water withdrawals in the Delaware River Watershed, enacted by the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) in May 2010, by unanimous vote of the Commission’s voting members – representatives of the Governors of Pennsylvania. New York, New Jersey and Delaware and President Obama’s representative, the Army Corps of Engineers. When natural gas regulations were proposed by the DRBC with a close of public comment in April 2011, the public became engaged in a big way. Breaking all previous records for public input, 69,000 comments were submitted to the DRBC, most calling for the proposed rules to be scrapped because they were too weak and narrow and advocating for a comprehensive environmental impact analysis of what gas development would do to the Watershed and the 17 million people and almost 13,000 square miles of ecosystem that rely on the health and abundance of the Delaware River Watershed for water supply and habitat. In November 2011 the moratorium was almost lifted and the rules almost adopted but public pressure and the announcement of Gov. Markell of Delaware and the head of New York’s Dept. of Environmental Conservation that they would not vote to approve the rules, caused the meeting to be cancelled and the rules to be sent back to the drawing board because there was not an assured majority to approve the lifting of the moratorium. As the DRBC continues to consider allowing drilling and fracking, the watershed health hangs precariously in the balance. Delaware Riverkeeper Network and many groups representing hundreds of thousands of members have called for a permanent ban on gas development in the Watershed since the dangerous practices involved are not compatible with maintaining and sustaining the water resources and ecosystems of the Delaware River Watershed.

The Impacts 

The environmental impacts of natural gas drilling include water quantity (on average 11 million gallons of water is used to frack each well), water quality (hydrofracking chemicals, radioactive and highly toxic wastewater, drilling muds and cuttings, waste solids and residuals that results from the well development process), stormwater runoff (nonpoint source pollution, erosion, stream degradation), habitat and ecosystem destruction and disruption, air quality (pollution from methane and other gases, VOCs and other volatile materials, silica, particulates, etc.) noise and light pollution, and community/cultural, scenic and quality of life impacts. These impacts result in direct harm to public health, especially for those where drilling and its activities are occurring.  A large body of evidence is being published today of the harms to human health and the environment. Inadequate regulation of the industry at every level allows these impacts to occur, burdening communities and the environment but no matter how fracking and shale gas development is regulated, the damages are unavoidable – fracking simply cannot be made safe or sustainable.

The practices required to extract natural gas are intrinsically polluting, allowing our aquifers and the environment to be permanently degraded, in violation of our environmental rights. The only way to avoid these negative impacts is to convert our energy systems away from these dirty fossil fuels and towards clean, sustainable, and renewable energy sources and energy efficiency policies.

As shale gas drilling and development inches closer to encroaching on the Delaware River Watershed, public concerns are growing for the safety of water supplies, air quality, the natural environment and communities that will be affected. The 17 million people who rely on the Delaware River for water, including New York City, Philadelphia and millions of residents of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware will all be directly effected if the water resources of the high quality upstream River is degraded. The practices that are used by the gas industry to extract and develop shale gas involve dangerous techniques such as hydraulic fracturing that inject chemicals–most of them hazardous, toxic and/or carcinogenic–and millions of gallons of water into each gas well.

The polluted flowback or “produced water” that erupts back up is contaminated with additional pollutants from the deep geology, such as radioactive materials, and is stored on the well site until it is trucked away to a wastewater plant or injected into the deep wells (even though there are not enough facilities to handle the wastewater and earthquakes caused by the injections in Ohio and other states where many injection wells are located have caused the shut down of several, this highly toxic waste continues to be produced every day throughout the Marcellus and Utica shales). Well sites have huge well pads, usually over 5 acres, containing 6, 10, even 15 or more gas wells each; miles of roads and gas pipelines and compressor stations are begin built; and  forests, farms, and rural communities are being transformed into urban, industrial conditions.

Wells can even be drilled in floodplains in both NY and PA. Communities across Pennsylvania where gas drilling is charging ahead are experiencing pollution incidents, accidents, gas well blowouts, spills, leaks, and illegal dumping of toxic wastewater and produced water, water well contamination, stream degradation and ruined farms and towns.

Join

DRN invites you to join with the growing number of people who want to take action to defend our region from the degradation of shale gas drilling. We cannot sacrifice our water and environment to gas companies. Check out the supporting information below – there are links to multiple studies and reports that delve into all things fracking. Information is power and an informed public is our best defense. People and communities are organizing and fighting back and there are many ways to get involved.

The Delaware Riverkeeper Network published (September 2015) a guidebook, “Defending the Environmental Rights of Pennsylvania Communities from Shale Gas Development”, to provide support and guidance to elected officials, government entities, and residents working at the municipal level to protect the environment and community resources from shale gas development.

The need for a permanent ban on all natural gas development, including drilling and fracking, in the Delaware River Watershed

In the Delaware River Watershed in 2017, DRBC has prohibited natural gas extraction projects in the Basin since 2010 while they study its potential impacts on water resources, a de-facto moratorium that does not allow permits to be issued until natural gas regulations are adopted. The DRBC almost adopted regulations in 2011 but its voting members, the Commissioners, cancelled the meeting where the vote would have occurred amid overwhelming public opposition and that stand-off has endured to this day.  However, in early 2017, the DRBC staff raised alarm bells with signals that the DRBC may be moving to adopt regulations and lift the current moratorium. 

The Delaware River Basin Commission’s moratorium was put in place 7 years ago by the Commission based on the determination that natural gas projects, individually or cumulatively, could have a substantial impact on the River’s water resources. 

Water 

Water use for oil and gas well development and for stimulation and extraction of gas from wells is very large, particularly for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) – the predominant method used today to extract gas – which requires high volumes of water. On average, 11 million gallons of water is used to frack a shale well, a depletive use because the water is not returned to the source, most of it completely removed from the hydrologic cycle when it is injected into deep formations. Of particular concern in the Delaware River Watershed where the shale underlies the upper basins’ streams, is that the required water can remove up to 70 percent of the water in small streams, permanently depleting crucial flows, disrupting natural flow regimes and increasing damaging runoff^[3], essentially turning some of our highest quality streams into ditches.  Removal of fresh water flows also allows for the concentration of contaminants when aquifers are overdrawn, reducing base flow of streams, in turn affecting water quality and habitats. 

Pollution

In terms of pollution potential, fracking uses toxic chemicals and hazardous materials are produced by the formations that are fractured.  1,076 chemicals are known to be used in fracking fluids, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),^[4] many of them carcinogenic, including some linked to childhood leukemia.^[5]

 

Waste Production

In terms of waste production, reuse and disposal, both wastewater and solid wastes pose challenges that have not yet been resolved by government agencies or the industry.  Currently, no set of federal regulations for waste produced during fracking exists except for a prohibition by EPA for the treatment of gas and oil wastewater at sewage treatment facilities.  This only addresses part of the management issues and leaves some critical loopholes in place that pose environmental threats.  Because of a 1988 oil and gas industry waste exemption from the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), oil and gas waste is not regulated as hazardous, even though it contains hazardous constituents.  In fact, the shale gas industry has received unprecedented exemptions from our nation’s most important environmental and public health laws, making adequate regulation virtually impossible.^[10]

A Lawsuit Brought

A lawsuit brought by the industry-backed Wayne Land Management Group is attacking the jurisdiction of DRBC over gas development, raising concerns about its outcome. The new Trump Administration is rolling back environmental protections, pushing dirty fossil fuel development including domestic shale gas, and defunding and declawing agencies that protect natural resources, public lands and parks, scenic and recreational rivers. The federal agency vote on the DRBC, the Army Corps of Engineers, represents President Trump so there is mounting concern over how the new federal Administration will influence the DRBC policies and decisions, particularly gas drilling and fracking.

The Coalition

The coalition of organizations that make up the campaign to Ban Fracking in the Delaware River Watershed have vowed to fight for a COMPLETE ban on fracking throughout the Delaware River Watershed, including a ban on frack wastewater processing and discharges and a ban on water exports to fuel fracking elsewhere.  Nothing less is acceptable; it makes no sense to ban fracking but allow its toxic pollution and water depletion to ruin the Watershed.

The Coalition to Ban Fracking in the Delaware River Watershed submitted a letter with DRBC for a more open and just process for commenting on the draft regulations and proposed ban. The comment period was set to close February 28, far too short, and one a few hearings, all in Pennsylvania, were set. The groups demanded more public input opportunities and changes to the difficult process that DRBC set for how to submit comments – the agency wouldn’t even allow written comments to be submitted by email, fax or regular U.S. Postal Service mail. See the letter here. Groups also attended the DRBC’s December public meeting to deliver the message that fair and accessible public input into this all-important rulemaking was essential and must be provided to protect the watershed and to provide a just process.

Group Actions

Group actions during the summer of 2018 included banners being unfurled at popular river recreation areas to raise awareness. For instance, demonstrators met on the Barryville Bridge that connects Shohola Township, Pennsylvania and Barryville, New York to hang a banner that proclaimed, “Defend the Delaware; Ban Fracking and Frack Waste” as people paddled and floated by on the river. New York Governor Cuomo and Pennsylvania Governor Wolf were called to unite to completely ban frack drilling, ban the processing and discharge of wastewater produced by fracking, and ban water withdrawals for fracking. At another event, kayakers and canoeists unfurled the same banner while paddling on the river at Bordentown Beach in NJ. See the news report here.

WHAT HAPPENED FERUARY 25 AT THE DRBC Special Meeting:

The DRBC voted to permanently ban fracking throughout the Delaware River Watershed, affecting four states, after 12 years of raging debate and public discourse. The Delaware River Frack Ban Coalition and many members of the public – reported by DRBC to be at 400 during the meeting – joined the virtual DRBC meeting. The Governors of the four states – New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware – and a federal representative for President Biden from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – voted to enact the regulations that were pending since the public comment period closed in March 2018. All four states voted to approve the ban; the Army Corps representative abstained.

See the resolution adopting the regulations that ban fracking here: https://www.nj.gov/drbc/library/documents/Res2021-01_HVHF.pdf

References:

[1] http://www.nj.gov/drbc/programs/natural/

[2] PSE Healthy Energy Library, https://www.zotero.org/groups/pse_study_citation_database/items; See Compendium, http://concernedhealthny.org/compendium/; Delaware  Riverkeeper Network, “Unsafe and Unsustainable,” http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/Documents/DRN_Report_Unsafe+Unsustainable_fr.pdf 

[3] Hansen, L., Habicht, S., and Faeth, P., CNA, “Potential Environmental Impacts of Full-development of the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania”, September 2016, p. 35.

[4] Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 2015. Assessment of the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas on Drinking Water Resources – External Review Draft. June 2015. Available at: www.epa.gov/hfstudy; Hein 2012, p. 2.

[5] Deziel, N. et al, Yale School of Public Health, Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental and Epidemiology, January 2016.

[6] Concerned Health Professionals of New York and Physicians for Social Responsibility, “Compendium of Scientific, Medical, And Media Findings Demonstrating Risks And Harms Of Fracking (Unconventional Gas And Oil Extraction)”, Fourth Edition, November 17, 2016.

[7] Delaware  Riverkeeper Network, “Unsafe and Unsustainable,” http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/Documents/DRN_Report_Unsafe+Unsustainable_fr.pdf

[8]http://files.dep.state.pa.us/OilGas/BOGM/BOGMPortalFiles/OilGasReports/Determination_Letters/Regional_Determination_Letters.pdf accessed by DRN 12.27.2016

[9] https://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/hfstudy/recordisplay.cfm?deid=332990

[10] Oil and Gas operations are exempt from portions of major federal environmental laws including: Clean Air Act; Clean Water Act; Safe Drinking Water Act; Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (the Superfund Law); and Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. Amy Mall, et. al., Natural Resources Defense Council, Drilling Down, October 2001, p.iv.

[11] NYSDEC, Division of Environmental Remediation, August 2012, re. Allied Landfill, Niagara County.

[12] Warner, NR, et al, “Impacts of Shale Gas Wastewater Disposal on Water Quality in Western Pennsylvania,” Enviro Science and Technology, Oct 2, 2013, pp. 11849.

[13] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 2013. Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

[14]  http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/01/03/1612066114.full

[15] PSE Healthy Energy, “Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions Associated with Projected Future Marcellus Development”, 2017.

[16] https://www.epa.gov/climate-impacts/climate-impacts-water-resources

[17] http://www.paenvironmentdigest.com/newsletter/default.asp?NewsletterArticleID=38363&SubjectID=

High Quality, Cold Water Fishery

The Bushkill Creek is a High Quality, Cold Water Fishery in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. It is a prized wild trout stream, fished and enjoyed by many, spanning several boroughs, townships and communities, flowing into the Delaware River at Easton. As a stream that is protected under Pennsylvania’s Special Protection Waters program, it is protected by regulation against degradation and its existing use as a Fishery is required to be preserved. Substantial evidence, gathered over several years by various agencies and experts, shows that the Stockertown Quarry (the Quarry) owned and operated by Hercules Cement, doing business as Buzzi Unicem USA, is contributing the repeated dewatering and pollution of the Bushkill Creek and surrounding region, including the formation of sink holes in the creek that remove water that is diverted to the quarry. Reports are that adverse impacts occur in the Little Bushkill Creek and on land as well. The Quarry mines limestone.

The Quarry pumps approximately 55 million gallons of water per day from the Quarry into the Bushkill Creek to replace a portion of the lost water that has been uncontrollably diverted there by their mining activity, which has destabilized the hydrologic balance.

DRN believes that in the past twenty years there have been at least 15 events of pump failure resulting in the dewatering of the Bushkill Creek and significant fish deaths, including a severe event on June 5, 2020, killing approximately 2,000 fish and an unknown number of other aquatic species. This event lasted for 15 hours, causing a significant fish kill, including the death of wild brown trout. This is a grievous loss, especially because these are wild reproducing brown trout, not stocked trout, and these fish and the ecosystem they require to thrive is gravely harmed by these events. The last such event occurred on October 15, 2020. Hercules/Buzzi Unicem does not have backup systems in place to operate the pumps when there is an outage or, in the case of October 15, a planned maintenance operation. There is no excuse for his, yet it has been occurring for years and many fish and aquatic species have been lost.

Notification of a Citizen Suit 

Notification of a Citizen Suit was mailed by Delaware Riverkeeper Network to Hercules Cement/Buzzi Unicem on November 6, 2020. This letter served as a pre-suit 60-day notification for a Citizens’ Suit on behalf of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, its members, and Maya van Rossum in her role as the Delaware Riverkeeper (collectively “DRN”). DRN is demanding that the situation be remedied so that no more dewatering events occur as a result of the Quarry’s mining operation or the quarry operations should be shut down. DRN is prepared to file suit under the Clean Streams Law and the Non-Coal Surface Mining Act, and is also willing to engage in discussions with Hercules Cement should they wish to prevent further harms to the environment and the community that relies upon it. See the Notification letter and other supporting materials below.

Right to Know Requests 

DRN continued to file Right to Know requests with PADEP to discover what the plans are for addressing the issue. Through file reviews and other research it was made clear that the quarry was considering installing generators to back up the electric system that operates the pumps from the quarry into the creek. These generators would prevent the pumping from stopping in case electric power was lost, as in the 2020 storm that caused a 15-hour outage.  But the cost was considered too high by the company. DRN, members of the public, and local partners at Trout Unlimited advocated for backup generators to be installed.

The quarry also was in the process of securing permission from PADEP to deepen the quarry, expanding their operations. There is tremendous community concern over the effects that would have on the stream. The Bushkill Creek is pulled into the quarry through sinkholes that have developed over the years due to the mining operations, disrupting the natural flow of the stream and the aquifer.

Trout Unlimited members presented organized testimony from many members of the local chapter – the Forks of the Delaware. Other members of the public spoke as well. DRN testified verbally at the Hearing and submitted written comment to PADEP. DRN’s comments are under Supporting Documents below. Hercules Cement Company, LP d/b/a Buzzi Unicem USA announced that they would be installing backup generators to prevent any future dewatering of the Bushkill and any fish kills.

Since then DEP has not made any pubic announcements or shared any new information about the plans to deepen the quarry.

On May 17 and 18, 2023 Hercules/Buzzi Unicem started to install the generators. Why they waited almost 2 years to install the generators is unknown. However, they chose a dry spell with little rainfall. The Bushkill Creek was dewatered and a fish kill and the loss of aquatic life occurred on the second day of installation operations (May 18) because of the company’s actions. This latest catastrophe is documented as a catastrophic pollution event that DRN responded to starting when we were notified on May 18. The letter documenting the event, which recounts DRN’s report to PADEP and PA Fish and Boat Commission, is posted below under Supporting Documents. DRN is advocating that action be taken by PADEP and the Fish and Boat Commission immediately to ensure no further dewatering or fish kill events occur, that reparations be made by the company, and that the quarry not be allowed to expand its operations, based on its inability to manage their operations without harming the creek and its inhabitants. Trout Unlimited members of the Forks of the Delaware Chapter who were at the creek as a result of the notification of an planned outage to install the generators, responded swiftly and with dedication to the dewatering event and fish kill, trying to save fish and documenting with photographs and a location map what occurred. This evidence was included in DRN’s letter to the agencies.  Copies of the photographs and location map and copies of the USGS gauge graphs are included in the letter.

DRN has engaged a geologist who is a karst expert to assist in the review of technical reports and proposed permits related to the Hercules Cement Company/Buzzi Unicem mining operation. The quarry is planning to expand by increasing the depth of their mining and the environmental impacts of that expansion are of great concern, as are the ongoing effects of mining operations there, alongside the Bushkill Creek. PADEP has not announced any final action on the permitting or conditions for the permits to expand the mining operations as of January 2024.