Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper®

Read that technical comment letter regarding flaws in DOE’s economic study of LNG export here.

Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper joined the Sierra Club, Delaware Riverkeeper Network and many other conservation organizations in telling the Dept. of Energy (DOE) that its economic study of liquefied natural gas (LNG) export is seriously flawed.

The DOE is using that study to inform its decision on whether to approve 16 applications for developing export liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals. Together, the pending applications would add export capacity for immense volumes of gas equivalent to about 45 percent of current domestic production. The increased demand for natural gas in the domestic and global markets would mean more fracking by oil and gas companies, especially the upstream Susquehanna Watershed, which already exploit exemptions from major federal environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Tags: flawed LNG economic study, LNG and fracking, LNG economics, LNG export, Susquehanna fracking

Feb 12

Smallmouth Bass, Pennsylvania’s Impaired Waters List, & the Lower Susquehanna

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Action Alerts

Tags: lower susquehanna river, pennsylvania's 2012 303(d) list, smallmouth bass die-off, smallmouth bass fishery, susquehanna river impaired

There can be no question that the Susquehanna, or at least the portion of it that lies below its confluence with the Juniata at Duncannon, is in serious trouble. The Lower Susquehanna from the greater Harrisburg area down to the Holtwood Dam once fairly teemed with fish and other wildlife, including holding a world-class bass fishery. Today it is hosts a bass fishery in what could be called terminal decline; a body of water that often seems to be eerily devoid of once plentiful sport fish.

In Pennsylvania your ability to fish is protected at law. If the public’s fishing or river experience is diminished, it is the duty of the Dept. of Environmental Protection to take action that will restore those protected uses. Yet here, with the precipitous decline of the Lower Susquehanna’s prize Smallmouth fishery, the Dept. takes the position that the Susquehanna cannot be designated as “impaired” at law because the sources and the causes of its impairment are not fully known, and because all aquatic life is not threatened. We disagree.

We’re working to ensure the Dept. of Env’tl Protection takes action to save the Lower Susquehanna’s Smallmouth, and to protect your rights to fishable water. But to do this we need your help! If your ability to use the Lower Susquehanna River has been affected in recent years please contact us: LowSusRiver@Hotmail.com.

Working together we can save the Smallmouth Bass and keep the Susquehanna fishable and swimmable!

Jan 25

Public Comments Criticizing Flawed LNG Export Economic Study

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Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper worked with the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Food & Water Watch, and the Sierra Club in delivering thousands of public comments, including extensive technical comments and a companion economic analysis report, to the Dept. of Energy (DOE) concerning a new economic study on shale gas exports this Thursday, January 24th.

DOE’s newly published economic study purports to show that liquefied natural gas (LNG) export is an economic benefit for the United States. Our comments and rebuttal studies emphasize that LNG exports would lower wages and employment in the U.S., while enriching energy companies by billions of dollars, including overseas investors. Moreover, exports would also trigger a corresponding new increase in fracking in order to supply LNG export, leaving upstream communities like the Susquehanna with expensive, long-term environmental damage and health threats. These important considerations were totally absent from DOE’s study and need to be fully studied prior to any decision-making concerning LNG export!

Tags: DOE LNG study, fracking, liquefied natural gas export, LNG export, Susquehanna fracking

Jan 11

Conowingo Dam & Health of the Chesapeake Bay

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Press

2013 is here and along with it significant opportunities to improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay. In particular, opportunities to address excess sediment, nitrogen and phosphorus (nutrient pollution) that tributary rivers discharge to the Bay.

For the past 5 years Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper has engaged with decisionmakers and scientific experts on how best to address sediment trapped behind Conowingo Dam, particularly through that facilities’ relicensing. In 2013 we expect some of the more promising solutions for addressing trapped sediment to become finalized, as well as expect significant improvements to be made in terms of fish passage for the Susquehanna.

The Bay Journal just published a great short piece concerning Conowingo Dam’s relicensing and why it represents an opportunity to create meaningful, positive change for the Bay. Read the Bay Journal article here, and keep tuned to our website for more updates on our progress in Conowingo’s relicensing.

Tags: conowingo dam, conowingo sediment, sediment pollution

Dec 13

Smallmouth Bass & the Susquehanna River

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Press

Fish are natural indicators of good, or conversely bad, water quality. Fish need the right amount of oxygen to breathe, and good habitat in which to forage for food. When excess pollution, particularly nutrient pollution, enters waterways local water quality often suffers because nutrients deplete water oxygen levels and lessen the amount of good habitat for fish to live in and feed.

The Lower Susquehanna’s smallmouth bass is a great indicator of water quality and lately, the entire fishery has declined. Why? That is exactly what we want the Dept. of Environmental of Protection to investigate and then fix by listing the Lower Susquehanna River as “impaired” on its triennial Impaired Waters List.

Want to learn more? Read our technical comments to the Dept. of Environmental Protection concerning its 2012 Impaired Waters List, and also read this article by PennLive reporter Don Gilliland on the smallmouth bass, the PA Fish and Boat Commission, and Pennsylvania’s Impaired Waters List.

Tags: impaired susquehanna river, pennsylvania's 303(d) list, smallmouth bas die-off

Nov 27

The SRBC, Fracking, and a Cumulative Impacts Study

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On Monday November 27th six other environmental organizations joined us in urging the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) to provide details on how, and when, it will conduct a cumulative impacts study of shale gas fracking on water resources of the Basin. Securing a strong commitment from the SRBC to perform this study will provide key baseline scientific data that will better guide states and agencies in regulating fracking. Take a look at the letter by clicking here.

Tags: cumulative impacts study, SRBC comprehensive plan, SRBC fracking reguations

Letters & Petitions, Press

Nov 14

Organizations Demand PADEP Reveal all Data from Water Tests

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Tags: pennsylvania drilling pollution, pennsylvania fracking water contamination, water pollution policy

25 organizations, including Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper, sent a letter to Governor Tom Corbett today criticizing the PA Department of Environmental Protection’s well water testing and notification policies as outdated, lacking transparency, and inadequate to protect residents and drinking water from pollution caused by gas drilling. The groups called on the Governor to take immediate action to reform PADEP’s procedures and disclose all data collected through DEP water tests but only partially reported to households where the testing occurred.

The letter and requests for action were prompted by information revealed through depositions in the case of Kiskadden vs. PADEP and DEP Secretary Michael Krancer’s recent announcement of changes to how suspected water pollution from shale gas operations is investigated.

Read a press release here, and the technical letter here.

Nov 07

We’ve Moved!

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Riverkeeper Updates

It’s official – we’ve moved from downtown York to scenic Wrightsville, Pennsylvania!

Our new address is 2098 Long Level Rd., Wrightsville PA 17368. Our new telephone hardline is 717.252.6777.

You can find precise directions by clicking here.

We are now located on the second floor of the historic Susquehanna House, sharing space with Shanks Mare Outfitters. Not only are we glad to be overlooking our namesake waterbody…

but we’re also excited to have a phenomenal space in which to hold events and introduce more people to the value of clean water!

Keep tuned for upcoming events and, if you’re near Wrightsville, stop in to visit!

Tags: Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper office, Stewards of the Lower Susquehanna, Susquehanna House

Nov 07

Give A Gift That Gives Hope This Holiday Season

Categories:

Riverkeeper Updates

Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper has again teamed up with Gifts that Give Hope York for the Holiday Season! Gifts that Give Hope is an alternative Gift Fair that provides a way to redirect some of your holiday spending to charitable organizations. When you make a purchase from Gifts That Give Hope, you not only offer a truly unique gift, but also give back to your community.

This year Gifts That Give Hope/York is hosting the third annual alternative Gift Fair on Saturday, November 17 from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm at the Pavilion, Brown’s Orchard and Farm Market, Susquehanna Trail, Loganville, PA. This is a unique opportunity for members of the community to select meaningful and heart-warming gifts for family and friends while providing help and hope to those less fortunate.

At a Gifts That Give Hope fair, shoppers meet and learn about area nonprofit organizations and make a donation to a cause of their choice in honor of a friend or family member. In return, they receive an attractive card with a description of their gift that can be presented to the friend or family member. If you cannot make it out on the 17th, donations can also be made online from November 17 through – December 31 at www.giftsthatgivehope.org/york by selecting “Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper” from the list of sponsor organizations.

Please consider making a Gift this holiday that helps us keep your waters fishable, swimmable and drinkable!

Tags: alternative Gift Fair, donate Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper, Gifts That GIve Hope York

Oct 24

Petition to Add Oil & Gas Industry to Toxics Release Inventory

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Read the Press Release here.

On October 24, 2012 Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper joined the Environmental Integrity Project and 15 other environmental advocacy organizations in petitioning EPA to require the oil and gas extractive industry – including fracking operations – to report to the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). The oil and gas industry has long used and released large amounts of toxic chemicals, and this has dramatically increased in recent years with the advent of high-volume hydrofracturing in shale gas.

Guy Alsentzer, Staff Attorney for Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper: ”The TRI petition is a logical and important step toward better, safer regulation of a polluting industry. Inclusion of the oil and gas industry within the TRI will increase public knowledge and create a meaningful mechanism for better tracking and reducing the use and release of toxic chemicals in our air, waterways and lands, tasks especially important as natural gas hydrofracking operations continue apace.”

Read the Fact Sheet here.

Read the Petition here.

Tags: epa, fracking pollution, oil and gas industry, toxics release inventory, TRI petition