Park service calls for survey

Concerns raised over water withdrawal

By FRITZ MAYER

UPPER DELAWARE VALLEY — There may be three endangered species of aquatic life near the site of a proposed water withdrawal operation and at least one federal government official says they should be studied before a withdrawal permit is granted.

The official is Joseph DiBello, the conservation and recreation chief at the National Park Service (NPS). In a letter to the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), DiBello said that dwarf wedge mussels, Eastern pearl shell mussels and bridle shiner minnows exist in close proximity to the site. He wrote, “Freshwater mussels are currently the most rapidly declining animal group in the United States, and… there is currently little information regarding the mussel community at the actual withdrawal site or in that reach of river….”

DiBello wrote that both mussel species and the bridle shiner should be surveyed before any water withdrawal permit is given.

The letter was sent on July 14 and was one of 500 or so received by the DRBC in connection to an application by Chesapeake Appalachia for a permit to draw up to 1,000,000 gallons per day from the West Branch Delaware River. The proposed location for the withdrawal intake would be on the Pennsylvania side of the river across from Hancock, NY.

On July 15, citing numerous letters and comments from the public, the DRBC decided to postpone a decision on the matter, and it is not yet known if the commission will address it again at the next meeting on September 22.

DiBello also raised concerns about a possible negative impact on recreation. He wrote, “This area sees some of our most concentrated recreational use by flyfishers, and the lower West Branch into the main stem Upper Delaware is our most popular section for float trips by licensed river guides. These tranquil trips are now likely to be compromised by heavy water withdrawal truck traffic from this site (estimated to be 200 trucks per day, running 18 to 24 hours per day, seven days per week, with a truck leaving the site every seven minutes), along with all the associated noise, lighting and diesel-engine air emissions and an intake pipe.”

He also said that the draft docket, which is a document created by DRBC staff in response to the application, is not complete because it does not include a non-point source pollution control plan, which is required. He wrote that while the draft docket proposes to allow Chesapeake to submit a plan after approval, that option would deprive interested parties of public review and comment.

DiBello also brought up an issue that has been repeatedly emphasized by several environmental groups: the need for a study of the cumulative impacts of up to 40,000 gas wells that might be drilled in the Upper Delaware Watershed. He wrote, “This represents a tremendous additional burden on the high quality water resource of the Delaware Basin, both in terms of water withdrawals and assimilation of any waste loads associated with natural gas development activities. There is a need for an analysis of the cumulative impacts associated with any additional water withdrawals from the Delaware system, especially with out-of-basin transfers of this water. There is also a need for a complete programmatic environmental review of the full range of natural gas extraction activities that will affect the basin.”