River council begins again

By SANDY LONG

NARROWSBURG, NY — Following installation of its new slate of officers, members of the Upper Delaware Council (UDC) heard reports from representatives of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR).

Delaware River Basin Commission

Carol Collier, executive director of the DRBC, reported that the highly-anticipated Flood Reservoir Model was presented to the public on December 15. The model looked at 13 reservoirs and how a 20 percent void would impact the NYC reservoirs. At the end of January, the DRBC plans to have a workshop on the model so that interested parties can test different scenarios. Additional information is available on the agency’s website, www.state.nj.us/drbc/ .

Town of Deerpark, NY representative Phil Chase applauded the work of Collier and the DRBC, but added that the terms of the 1954 Supreme Court Decree must be revisited in order to improve the organization’s ability to effect meaningful change. “New York City is in charge of our watershed,” he said. “We’re being run by New York City because of the decree and it’s a bad setup. Until that changes, we’re not going to have the help we need in terms of flooding. The DRBC should be in charge.”

On the topic of natural gas, Collier noted that Stone Energy has two applications pending. One is for approval of the Matoushek Well in Clinton Township, Wayne County, PA. The company has drilled an exploratory well and now needs approval from the DRBC to continue exploration of the Marcellus Shale. “We have drafted a docket and that is under commissioner’s review now,” said Collier. “We also have a water withdrawal request from Stone Energy on the Lackawaxen River in Mount Pleasant Township, PA. We have drafted that docket; it’s out to the commissioners and if we get comments back from them in time, we will have a public hearing in early February prior to the commission meeting on March 3rd.”

Collier noted that the DRBC is currently working on full regulations to address the cumulative impacts of gas well drilling. She added that the industry wants a faster process. The DRBC only has five commission meetings per year, so applications can be delayed. “We’re looking at a potential for an approval by rule,” said Collier. “This is to provide a faster track, but it doesn’t mean there will be a lesser review.”

Although not approved by the commissioners yet, as a tradeoff for the faster review, the DRBC would require compliance with a number of environmental conditions, such as setbacks from streams and wetlands and avoiding prime forest areas. “One of our concerns is the potential fragmentation of forests and what that means to water resources,” said Collier. “Siting of the well pad is very important, how close to a road is it, how much off-road effects there would be, how close it is to fragile areas.”

Collier added that the tri-state cross-borders Common Waters initiative, which DRBC is involved with, has learned that it will receive a grant totaling more than a million dollars. “The Pinchot Institute submitted a proposal application to the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities for a Healthy Forests, Healthy Waters program. They are receiving over a million dollars in this grant to educate water purveyors and users downstream of this area to the value that this wonderful headwaters area provides to them. One is education, two is prioritizing areas for restoration and forest protection and three is how can we connect the dots and secure funding from downstream to support the protection upstream.”

New York Department of

Environmental Conservation

William Rudge, the DEC’s Region 3 natural resources supervisor, reported that the agency received 12,576 written comments during its recent public comment period on the draft supplemental generic environmental impact statement (SGEIS) “Many people brought up impacts to water quality, cumulative impacts and the issue of disposal of wastewater,” said Rudge.

Rudge was asked whether the comments will be posted to the DEC website and whether there is a proposed timeframe for completion of the project. “We do prepare a summary, so you’ll see the range of comments that we got and the relative number of people that commented on each issue,” he said. “We got a lot more comments than we ever anticipated, and it’s going to be a significant task to deal with those. It’s going to be hard to estimate that timeframe right now.”

According to Rudge, DEC commissioner Pete Grannis will make the final determination as to whether to accept or reject the SGEIS.

Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

Dennis Demara, DCNR’s Natural Resource Program Supervisor, Northeast Regional Office, announced that the Lackawaxen River has been named Pennsylvania’s River of the Year.

In addition, the open grant period for the 2010 Community Conservation Partnerships Program (C2P2) opened January 6 with a deadline of April 21. A workshop will be held at Luzerne County Community College in Nanticoke on February 18 for those interested in learning more. Visit www.grants.dcnr.state.pa.us/index.aspx or call 800/326-7734 for more information.

Demara also noted that Pennsylvania’s Statewide Comprehensive Recreation Plan is now available. The 112-page book and its companion CD are the result of an extensive process that identified the state’s recreation priorities for the next five years. Visit www.paoutdoorrecplan.com for more information. Also available through its website is the new publication “Managing Natural Resources: A Guide for Municipal Commissions” for municipal officials who manage parks, open space and other natural resources.

Demara also presented the new multi-municipal plan developed by Lackawaxen and Shohola Townships in Pike County, PA. “We provide funding for open space, greenway and recreation plans, in addition to these multi-municipal comprehensive plans,” said Demara. “When townships come to us for funding with priorities that have been identified in such plans, it paves the way for future funding.”

The UDC also voted unanimously to approve a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission asking the commission to deny New York City’s request for a waiver permitting it to use the Traditional Process in favor of the Integrated Licensing Process in its pursuit of a license for its Hudson Hydroelectric Project.

The UDC meets on the first Thursday of the month at 7:30 p.m. at its office on Bridge Street in Narrowsburg. Meetings are open to the public. Visit www.upperdelawarecouncil.org for more information.