Rulemaking would limit TDS pollution

PENNSYLVANIA — The Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Review Board has proposed a rulemaking that would establish new effluent standards for new sources of wastewaters containing high Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) concentrations. TDS are composed of inorganic salts, organic matter and other dissolved materials in water. They can have toxic effects, with the major concern relating to the effects of increased salinity on the health of aquatic organisms.

The tighter standards for new effluents are proposed in part because water quality analyses performed for the major Pennsylvania watersheds show that many of the rivers and streams in Pennsylvania have a very limited ability to assimilate additional TDS. It is also in part a response to prospective increases in TDS pollution related to natural gas drilling, and the proposal establishes specific criteria for new sources of high TDS wastewater from fracturing, production, field exploration, drilling, or completion of oil and gas wells.

Comments on the rulemaking will be accepted until February 5. The proposal may be found at www.pabulletin.com/secure/data/vol39/39-45/2065.html ; scroll down to the “Public Comments” section for information on submitting comments.

Website for Manor flooding study

LIVINGSTON MANOR, NY — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia District, has launched an Internet website to help coordinate the Flood Damage Reduction and Environmental Restoration Feasibility Study being done in the hamlet of Livingston Manor, NY.

The website, www.nap.usace.army.mil/Projects/livingston_manor/index.htm, catalogs prior reports conducted in Sullivan County, local news articles and maps and data collected as part of the study.

The study is in response to flooding throughout the Livingston Manor area of the Upper Delaware River Basin, and is a cost-share project with the Corps of Engineers and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The study will examine the problems, needs, opportunities and potential alternative solutions for flood risk management and ecosystem restoration within the 100-square-mile watershed.

Health clinic closes

MONTICELLO, NY — The Monticello Family Health Center, one of the few local venues accepting Medicaid and uninsured patients, has closed due to the deployment of its founder, nurse practitioner Michael Rollin, who is a major in the U.S. Army Reserves.

The clinic was run by Rollins and his partner Sam Berger, both of whom also have full-time jobs at Catskill Regional Medical Center. With reimbursements for Medicaid low and many patients paying out of pocket, the two were unable to get anybody to take over the practice.

Other practices that will take some of the clinic’s patients are Hudson River HealthCare and New Vision Health and Wellness.

Thomas named BOCES superintendent

LIBERTY, NY —The Board of Education of the Sullivan County Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) has appointed Lawrence Thomas, of Marathon, NY, as the new district superintendent. Thomas was appointed at the special board of education meeting held on January 13 to fill the position that was vacated by Martin Handler in September of 2008. Thomas will start his tenure on February 1.

Thomas started his career at the Marathon School Districts as a Junior/Senior high school English teacher, where he later became high school assistant principal, district director of instructional programs and elementary principal. Thomas worked at Onondaga-Cortland-Madison (OCM) BOCES as the director of Special Education. He is currently the Superintendent of Schools at the Otselic Valley Central School District where he has extensive experience in labor management and negotiations, grants management, staff development, comptroller audits, budgeting and capital projects.

Paterson budget calls for gas tax

ALBANY, NY — If Governor David Paterson gets his way, gas drillers would pay a three percent severance tax for gas taken out of the Marcellus Shale or Utica Shale using horizontal wells. The administration doesn’t expect that the tax would raise any money in 2010, but in the following year it might generate more than $1 million for the cash-strapped state.

The gas tax was just one of a number of measures the governor put forward in his proposed budget for the fiscal year which begins in April, and which is currently facing a $7.5 billion deficit.

Among the other changes, smokers would pay more for a pack of cigarettes. The tax, which is now $2.75 per pack, would increase by $1, making it the highest of any state in the country.

There would also be a new tax on soda, which would be assessed at $1.28 per gallon of soft drink, or about a penny per ounce.

Paterson, who released the details of the budget on January 19, said it would aid counties and local municipalities by imposing a four-year moratorium “on all new, significant, legislatively enacted unfunded statutory mandates.”

The moratorium would prohibit any new state initiatives that required local governments or school districts to undertake new programs, increase the level of service for existing programs, or increase the value of any property tax exemptions at a cost of more than $10,000 for an individual municipality.

A press release from the governor’s office said, “During this four-year moratorium period, the governor would work with the legislature to secure approval of a constitutional amendment to protect localities from future unfunded mandates.”

In the area of public schools, the governor proposed a five percent reduction in school aid, with less money going to wealthier school districts.

The budget must now be negotiated with the assembly and senate before the final budget is passed by April 1.