Op-Ed: York County Has Taken The Initiative To Address Clean Water Issues

By Harry Campbell, Chesapeake Bay Foundation-PA

York County has again taken the initiative to address clean water issues. Based on support from residents, the county commissioners approved moving forward with a study of how to establish a stormwater authority.

York County would join about 1,500 communities in the United States that are taking more cost-effective steps to better fund and manage polluted runoff and nuisance flooding. This often occurs in developed areas such as malls, housing developments, roads and parking lots.

In doing so, the county will help itself and the rest of Pennsylvania get back on track toward meeting clean water commitments.

In 2010, the Bay states and the federal Environmental Protection Agency set pollution limits that would restore water quality in local rivers, streams and the Chesapeake Bay, and each state developed its own plan to meet those limits.

The goal is to implement 60 percent of pollution reduction practices to restore local water quality in the Commonwealth by 2017, and 100 percent implementation by 2025. Unfortunately, Pennsylvania will not meet its 2017 goal.

Statewide, efforts to reduce nitrogen and sediment pollution from agriculture and urban polluted runoff are off track by millions of pounds.

About 350 miles of the nearly 2,000 miles of creeks, streams and the Susquehanna River that flow through York County are polluted. Agriculture is the source of pollution to 160 miles of waterways, and urban and suburban runoff is responsible for pollution in 130 miles of York County waters.

The Commonwealth recently released its plan to “reboot” efforts to get Pennsylvania back on track, including addressing stormwater pollution.

Comprehensive stormwater management of the scale York County is considering offers three major advantages.  

First, it allows communities to “start at the source” of the pollution problem, not just where it is showing its greatest impacts.

Second, by working collaboratively communities can leverage expertise, equipment and other resources to get the best results at the least cost.

Third, pollution reduction practices that preserve and restore nature’s ability to capture, filter and infiltrate rain and snowmelt into the ground, are often more effective and cost less than traditional practices. They also clean the air, reduce heating and cooling costs and beautify communities.

With a countywide stormwater authority that addresses regular flooding from uncontrolled runoff that inflicts human, economic and property damage, York County is again at the forefront of clean water efforts.

York County was the first county in the Commonwealth to adopt the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s “Clean Water Counts” resolution, calling on state officials to make clean water a top priority for the Keystone State.

York County residents are also participating in the CBF’s “Clean Water Counts – York” effort, raising their voices through phone calls and signing a petition, asking Gov. Tom Wolf and legislators to support the Commonwealth’s new plan to reduce water pollution.

In the spirit of intergovernmental cooperation, the York County Regional Chesapeake Bay Pollutant Reduction Plan involves 43 municipalities to better reduce pollution at lower cost.

Earlier this year, the Planning Commission finalized a countywide watershed plan that analyzes strategies and targets the pollution-reducing practices most appropriately suited for York County.

The primary goal of the plan is to aid municipalities, citizens and businesses in determining how to most efficiently reduce pollution from urban and suburban runoff.

By taking the lead in collaborative stormwater management, York County continues to demonstrate that clean water counts. It is a legacy worth leaving future generations of York countians.

For more information, visit CBF’s Clean Water Blueprint webpage.  For more on Chesapeake Bay-related issues in Pennsylvania, visit the CBF-PA webpage.  Click Here to sign up for Pennsylvania updates (bottom of left column).

-- Harry Campbell is Pennsylvania executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. He can be contacted by calling 717-234-5550 or send email to: campbell@cbf.org.

NewsClips:

Op-Ed: Cheers For York County Regional Stormwater Plan

York County Works To Help Save Chesapeake Bay

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DEP Citizens Advisory Council To Discuss Longwall Mining, Chesapeake Bay Feb. 4

Coordinated State Effort Essential For Chesapeake Bay Watershed Cleanup

DEP: Pennsylvania Not Meeting Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Commitments

CBF-PA Urges Impairment Listing For Lower Susquehanna In Wake Of River Study

CBF-PA: It’s Time For PA To Reboot Its Commitments To Chesapeake Bay Agreement

CBF-PA: Milestone Assessment Finds PA Falling Short Of Its Water Cleanup Commitments

Rep. Everett: If We Don’t Meet Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Milestones, It Isn’t Pretty

Analysis: PA Isn’t Cleaning Up Our Rivers, Streams Quickly Enough To Meet Commitments

Open Space Institute Now Accepting Applications For Delaware Watershed Capital Grants

The Open Space Institute is now accepting applications for Capital Grants from the Delaware River Watershed Protection Fund.  Applications are due March 18.

The Fund supports capital projects that permanently protect lands that conserve water quality and quantity in the Delaware River watershed and invests in land conservation projects that--

-- Are located in watersheds that have the ability to produce high quality ground and/or surface water;

-- contribute to water quality through protection of streams, headwaters and other important recharge areas; and

-- protect sites that are vulnerable to erosion and groundwater pollution.

The grants are targeted to several cluster areas within the Delaware Watershed, including the Pocono and Kittatinny, Upper Lehigh and Schuylkill Highlands in Pennsylvania.

For all the details on how to apply, visit the Delaware River Watershed Protection Fund’s Capital Grants webpage.

DEP: Sunday Air Quality Action Day For 8 Eastern PA Counties

The Department of Environmental Protection and its regional air quality partnerships have forecast an Air Quality Action Day for Sunday January 31 in 8 Eastern PA counties: Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Northampton and York Counties.  Visit Here for all the details.

Partnership For Delaware Estuary Looking For Mussel Volunteers

The Partnership for the Delaware Estuary needs your help locating streams with mussels, as well as those with no mussels at all.

Working with local watershed organizations, volunteer partners play an important role in helping scientists monitor the health and locations of these extremely threatened animals, and identifying streams in need of mussel restoration.

Freshwater mussels are facing an uncertain future in our local waterways.  Once abundant in both numbers and varieties, many freshwater mussel species in the Delaware Estuary are now in danger of extinction.

Streams without mussels are at a serious disadvantage. Mussels provide valuable natural benefits, such as fortifying streambeds against erosion, and removing particles and nutrients that benefit other plants and animals.

Additionally, a single mussel can filter up to 10 gallons of water per day.  Imagine a healthy population of these filter-feeding powerhouses doing the work of a man made water treatment plant!

For information on training, a guidebook, data sheets and more, visit the Partnership’s Mussel Survey webpage.

POWR Now Accepting Applications For 2016 Sojourn Grants

The PA Organization for Watersheds and Rivers Friday announced it is now accepting applications for 2016 Pennsylvania River Sojourns Grants. Applications are due February 26.

Grants are available on a competitive basis for single and multi-day paddling events on Pennsylvania Rivers. Sojourns must incorporate significant educational programming, and be open to all participants (i.e., private trips are not eligible).

Applicants can request $900 per day for multi-day sojourns and $500 for a single-day sojourn.

The PA Sojourn Program is a nationally unique program that distributes more than $60,000 in grants across the state to support local organizations and their sojourn events.

Each year, between 12 and 17 paddling events are supported under this program, encompassing over 500 river miles, 50+ on-the-water days, offering more than 100 educational programs and engaging over 4,000 people.

POWR, an affiliate of the PA Environmental Council, administers the Pennsylvania Sojourn program. POWR has been in place for over a decade and has sponsored trips on many of the Commonwealth’s rivers.

The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is the prime sponsor of the program.

Click Here for an applications.  Click Here for instructions and sojourn budget forms.

For information on other programs, initiatives and special events, visit the PA Organization for Watersheds and Rivers website and the Sojourn webpage.  Click Here to sign up for updates from POWR (look for Water Updates).

Short Week In Harrisburg, But Still Long-Running Issues Dominated-- Budget, Kane

The snow might have shorted the legislative week in Harrisburg, but the state’s longest running dramas-- the budget impasse and what to do with indicted Attorney General Kathleen Kane-- still generated lots of heat.

First, the Independent Fiscal Office delivered the bad news everyone already knew: state revenues are forecast to grow at 3.3 percent annually, while expenditures will increase by 4.5 percent a year.

In other words, state government continues to dig itself deeper into a fiscal hole with no agreement on relief-- either cutting long-term costs like pensions or raising taxes-- in sight.

The IFO said just to balance the budget passed by the Republicans in House Bill 1460, and line-item vetoed by the Governor, would cost another $318 million and next year the deficit is expected to be $1.3 billion, if nothing changes.

The IFO also highlighted the loss of revenue from DCNR natural gas leases on state forest land dropping revenues for this fiscal year by 40 percent.  Most of DCNR’s personnel and administrative costs are funded by these revenues and not the General Fund.

On Saturday, the Public Utility Commission published a formal notice in the PA Bulletin reducing the Act 13 drilling impact fee by $5,000 per well reducing grants to local governments and state agencies for environmental projects by as much as $34 million.

The four legislative caucuses and Gov. Wolf did meet once on the budget Wednesday, but did not discuss any specific proposals that would move the process forward.  Here’s a recap of comments and actions on the budget this week--

-- Senate Republicans: Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman (R-Centre) and only the Republicans were working to finalize a supplemental funding bill (Senate Bill 1106 (Browne-R-Lehigh)) to fill the holes in the $30.2 billion budget bill created by the Governor’s veto.  The supplemental would cover the Department of Corrections, Agriculture and other programs, but they didn’t quite get done putting it together.  Republican members kept adding in their favorite programs.

-- House Republicans: House Majority Leader David Reed (R-Indiana) said let’s get the last 10 percent of the budget done around the $30.2 billion spend number the Governor vetoed and move on to the other issues of liquor privatization and pension reform later.  The House also removed several supplemental funding bills from the Table in preparation for a House vote: House Bill 1801- Dept. of corrections, House Bill 1802- Child advocacy centers, House Bill 1803- Dept. of Human Services medical assistance payments;

-- Senate Democrats: Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) said his Caucus is still fighting for its priorities of education, human services, economic development, recreation and other funding, but somehow more revenue has to be part of the equation.  He cited the IFO figures saying either we can’t fund state-related universities or there has to be more revenue, it’s that simple;

-- House Democrats: House Minority Leader Frank Dermody (D-Allegheny) said the $30.8 billion “agreed-to” budget framework spend number (rather than the $30.2 billion budget Republicans passed) is the right number they should be working toward.  He also said liquor and pensions can wait; and

-- Gov. Wolf: The Governor’s Office did not have a reaction to the meeting, but a spokesperson said the Senate and House must “move forward and fix the (structural) deficit and fund schools.”  Talking about the Governor’s budget address February 9, the spokesperson added, “We’re not going to make a huge splash with aspirational messages.”  [We do know of at least one splash the Governor intends to make-- a new Growing Greener funding proposal for environmental programs and projects-- from a DEP announcement last week.]

The public has finally said it does not like the continuing budget impasse.  A new Franklin & Marshall Poll released Thursday found Gov. Wolf is just as popular as Gov. Corbett was-- 33 percent to 31 percent.

52 percent blame the Legislature for the impasse and 32 percent the Governor. Only 15 percent think the General Assembly is doing a good job.

The more surprising result is those polled said state government and politicians were the No. 1 problem facing Pennsylvania, twice as many as education at 18 percent.

What’s Next

The Senate and House will return to Harrisburg the week of February 8 to hear the Governor’s second budget address on February 9.  Hearings on Wolf’s second budget proposal begin on February 22.

Related Stories:

Independent Fiscal Office: Oil & Gas Lease Fund Revenues To Drop Nearly 40 Percent

Drilling Impact Fees Drop By $5,000 Per Well In 2015, Revenue Loss Could Be $34 Million

Drilling Impact Fees Drop By $5,000 Per Well, Revenue Lost Could Be As Much As $34 Million

The Public Utility Commission published notice in the January 30 PA Bulletin that 2015 Act 13 drilling impact fees will drop by $5,000 per horizontal well, except for wells 3 years old.

The 2015 impact fee will be--

                     Horizontal        Vertical

1st Year $45,300 $9,100

2nd Year $35,200 $7,000

3rd Year $30,200 $6,000

4th Year $15,100 $3,000

5th Year $15,100 $3,000

The 2014 impact was--

1st Year $50,300 $10,100

2nd Year $40,200 $ 8,000

3rd Year $30,200 $ 6,000

4th Year $20,100 $ 4,000

The PUC will get reports from well producers in April that will be used to calculate the final revenue for calendar year 2015 based in part on this fee reduction.

Last June, the Independent Fiscal Office projected a decline in Act 13 impact fee revenues by $33.9 million for the 2015 Calendar year totalling $189.6 million.  In 2014 fee collections totaled $223.5 million.  Their assumptions were based in part on a reduction of the per well fee by $5,000 and declines in the price of natural gas.
For more information, visit the PUC’s Act 13 Drilling Impact Fee webpage.

Related Stories:

Short Week In Harrisburg, But Still Long-Running Issues Dominated-- Budget, Kane
Independent Fiscal Office: Oil & Gas Lease Fund Revenues To Drop Nearly 40 Percent

Delaware River Basin Commission Holds Feb. 10 Hearing, March 16 Business Meeting

The Delaware River Basin Commission will hold a hearing on February 10 and a business meeting on March 16 at Washington Crossing Historic Park Visitor Center, 1112 River Road, Washington Crossing, PA. (formal notice & agenda)

The agenda for both includes water withdrawal requests; authorizing the Executive Director to enter into a contract with the lowest qualified bidder for the analysis of periphyton samples from the non-tidal Delaware River (pdf 78 KB); authorizing the Executive Director to enter into an administrative agreement with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for the review of water withdrawal and wastewater discharge projects in the New York portion of the Basin; adopting the Water Resources Program 2016-2018 and other issues.

The hearing will begin at 1:30 and the meeting at 10:30.

Click Here for the hearing and meeting agenda, available handouts and other details.

For more information on programs and initiatives, visit the Delaware River Basin Commission website.  Click Here to sign up for regular updates from DRBC.

DEP Releases Climate Change Action Plan Update For Public Comment

The Department of Environmental Protection published notice in the January 30 PA Bulletin saying the next update to the Pennsylvania Climate Change Action Plan is now available for public review.  Comments are due March 30.

The Plan is required to:

— Identify greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and sequestration trends and baselines in this Commonwealth;

— Evaluate cost-effective strategies for reducing or offsetting GHG emissions from various sectors in this Commonwealth;

— Identify costs, benefits and co-benefits of GHG reduction strategies recommended by the Plan, including the impact on the capability of meeting future energy demand within this Commonwealth;

— Identify areas of agreement and disagreement among committee members about the Plan; and

— Recommend to the General Assembly legislative changes necessary to implement the Plan.

DEP’s Climate Change Advisory Committee considered a draft Climate Plan Update at its last meeting in November.  Click Here to read a copy.
Climate Plan Update Sections

Part of the Plan Update will include 13 work group reports making recommendations covering: Combined Heat and Power, Manure Digesters, GeoExchange Systems, Heating Oil Conservation and Fuel Switching, Re-Lighting Pennsylvania, Semi-Truck Freight Transportation, Building Energy Codes, High Performance Buildings, Coal Mine Methane Recovery, Urban and Community Forestry Role in Climate Change Mitigation, Act 129 Phase IV & V, Manufacturing Energy Technical Assistance and Energy Efficiency Finance.

Key Facts From Update

Here are some key facts from the Climate Plan Update--

-- Overall, Pennsylvania’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 are expected to be lower than in 2000.

-- Between 2000 and 2012 total statewide greenhouse gas emissions in Pennsylvania declined by  35.58 million ton carbon dioxide equivalents or by 11.02 percent-- from 322.96 MMTCO2e to 287.38 MMTCO2e.

-- The 13 specific Work Plans included in the Update are expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 337.69 million ton carbon dioxide equivalents.  

-- The Work Plans with the most cost-effective recommendations, according to the analysis done in the Update are: Energy Efficiency Finance, Semi-Truck Freight Transportation, GeoExchange Systems, Heating Oil Conservation and Fuel Switching and High Performance Buildings (see page 6).

-- The Work Plans with the highest potential reductions are: Energy Efficiency Finance, High Performance Buildings, Re-Lighting Pennsylvania, Heating Oil Conservation and Fuel Switching, and  GeoExchange Systems (see page 6).  [Note: 4 of 5 overlap.]
A copy of the Climate Plan Update for comment is now available online.

DEP Secretary John Quigley has said the Climate Change Action Plan and its updates are broader in scope than the specific requirement to meet EPA’s Clean Power Climate Rule requirements.  DEP is just now putting together Pennsylvania’s plan to meet the Clean Power Rule.

Comments can be submit through DEP’s eComment webpage or by sending email to: ecomment@pa.gov or in writing to the Department of Environmental Protection, Policy Office, Rachel Carson State Office Building, P. O. Box 2063, Harrisburg, PA 17105-2063.

A copy of the Plan update is posted on DEP's eComment webpages.  Questions about the Plan update should be directed to Mark Brojakowski, Bureau of Air Quality, 400 Market Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101, 717-772-3429, mbrojakows@pa.gov.

More background on the Climate Change Plan and other reports is available on DEP’s Climate Change Advisory Committee webpage.  The next meeting of the Committee is set for March 8.
For more information on PA climate-related issues, visit DEP’s Climate Change webpage.