Courtesy morguefile
We need your help over the coming weeks to flood Governor Rendell with letters and faxes urging him to support a mandatory buffer rule.
Over the past six months, Pennsylvania Campaign for Clean Water have been working with staff at DEP to incorporate our Buffers 100 proposal into its regulations on stormwater and erosion and sediment control. However, we recently learned from Acting Secretary Hanger that the Departmenthas changed its mind and no longer plans to move forward with regulations requiring buffers on all streams. Instead, DEP is pushing a voluntary program that would encourage developers to include buffers on their sites by eliminating state review of stormwater plans for sites that include buffers.
The Campaign for Clean Water believes that a voluntary program is not good enough. It will have a very limited impact on water quality in our state and is not an adequate substitute for a statewide requirement. DEP already has a voluntary program in place – its Stormwater BMP Handbook includes an incentive program that provides credits to developers who include buffers in their site design. However, this sort of voluntary program will only end up generating buffers on a small number of streams in the state, leaving the vast majority of our streams still at risk of pollution, erosion and flooding due to stormwater runoff.
In addition, DEP's proposal to eliminate its review of stormwater plans for developers who include buffers is illegal and a bad idea that could lead to even further degradation of our streams. Under DEP's proposal, a stormwater plan submitted under the seal of a professional engineer would be automatically approved with no technical review by DEP staff and no opportunity for public review and comment.
This would force DEP to approve a stormwater plan even if it is clear the plan won't work and would lead to flooding or stream pollution. While DEP could take enforcement action after the development is constructed, by then, it's often impossible to fix the problem. At minimum, it's much more expensive to fix the problem once the development is built than it is to change a plan before construction is started.
In addition, DEP wants to use this permit-by-rule scheme even in High Quality and Exceptional Value waters, leaving it to the developer's engineer to make sure that water quality in the stream won't be degraded! That kind of self-regulation hasn't worked before...there's no reason to think that it will protect our streams now.
We need your help!
By Tom Au
One of the best ways to prevent flooding and protect our state’s water quality is to preserve the ecosystem surrounding our streams. Given that Pennsylvania is one of the most flood-prone states in the nation, this is a critical issue.
In the last four years alone, 16 lives have been lost and more than 1,350 homes destroyed. Since 1993, nearly $700 million in federal and state dollars has been spent on flood disasters in our state, but most of that money has been spent on disaster relief rather than prevention. Money spent on prevention would provide a cost-effective, long-term, life-saving solution to predictable natural disasters.
Scientific research shows that wooded property on either side of a stream serves as a buffer that:
In addition, stream buffers increase property values by providing privacy and enhancing natural vistas.
In contrast, when we construct buildings and pave over land close to our streams, runoff from development sends pollutants, fertilizers, and precious topsoil into the streams. This runoff also causes flooding downstream, kills fish and other aquatic life, and contaminates our drinking water.
Fortunately, a number of our state lawmakers now recognize that protecting existing buffers and restoring lost buffers would have a profound impact on the health and integrity of our land and water. On June 17th, fifteen state legislators assembled in the Capitol Media Room to announce their support for The Pennsylvania Campaign for Clean Water’s “Buffers 100” initiative. These lawmakers called on the state Department of Environmental Protection to adopt a regulation that would implement a 100 foot buffer zone along each stream in the commonwealth.
The Sierra Club now urges our state’s other 238 lawmakers to support The Pennsylvania Campaign for Clean Water’s “Buffers 100” initiative.
As Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper, explained at a press conference, "If we are to protect our communities from flooding, drought, and pollution, if we are to provide our communities with high quality drinking water, recreation, and growing businesses, it is critical we protect our streams and rivers with forested buffers that are a minimum of 100 feet wide, and greater where we have more sensitive streams."
“Buffers 100” will improve our quality of life by “streamlining” Pennsylvania.
Thomas Au is the chair of the Chapter's conservation committee as well as a co-chair of the water committee.
Published October 2008