BP's Lesson for the Delaware River and Region

The BP oil spill should teach all of our legislators, regulators, friends and neighbors a huge lesson – the health of our Rivers, oceans, wetlands, streams, matter – they matter for every level of life.  In addition to clean waterways for drinking water, recreation, and our health, we need the clean water and healthy habitats to sustain the jobs that sustain lives, families and whole economies.   This is as true here along the Delaware River as it is in the Gulf.  The Delaware Riverkeeper Network’s recently released River Values report proves that. (found at www.delawareriverkeeper.org)

And yet, now that the spill has been weeks in happening, once again we hear conservative anti-environmentalists attacking any and all who are seeking strong laws and regulations and actions to protect our rivers, oceans and environments from the never-ending search for fossil fuels – whether it is oil drilling in the ocean, natural gas drilling in the Upper Delaware, or drastic deepening projects and LNG facilities to make transportation of that fuel cheaper for the oil companies and their profits.  This reality despite that seeking cleaner energy strategies are better long term job creating and community protecting investments.

(Please notice I said “conservative anti-environmentalists” not republicans.  This is not a political party issue.  Protecting our environment should be the highest priority for all political parties and at many points in history has been.)

We can no longer allow extremist groups rob us of the environmental protection we deserve and need – they do it by capturing the message and capturing the press.  But if we were to rise together in a common voice for the River, for the environment, for the health and future of our selves, our families, our children, and the critters that enrich our lives the extremists could not rob us of the message and in so doing rob us of strong action by our political representatives. 

 

When the extremist anti-enviros steal the message our politicians seem to cower.  Instead they need to stand strong and proud and take back the message, stressing that we best protect ourselves when we best protect our River and environments.  If the politicians on either side of the aisle don’t have the backbone to take back the message and take the action on their own to protect our River and environment, it is our job as the public to give them the strength and spine they need to help them -- to force them -- to do it.

New Report Documents Failure of New Jersey Towns to Protect from Runoff and Enforce Law -- Now the Governor Needs to Listen

A new report was released today, Monday May 24, 2010, (New Jersey Stormwater Management Implementation – A Case Study of Hamilton Township) which documents:

• improper implementation of New Jersey’s stormwater program at the municipal level; and
• a failure by the State to oversee the program and to protect against local abuses, and damaged application of the law to development projects.

The report contradicts the findings of Governor Christie's Red Tape Review Group regarding the state stormwater program.  In Appendix H the Red Tape Review Group said there was a duplication of responsibility and effort by the DEP and the municipalities in the implementation of the stormwater program and that perhaps the DEP should be pulled out of the review process. 

This new report demonstrates that DEP absolutely must not be taken out of the review and implementation process of new Jersey's stormwater regulations.  The law, as currently written, is only flawed because it isn’t being fully or properly implemented and enforced, both at the municipal and state level.

Responding to concerns about the stormwater program the Delaware Riverkeeper Network hired 4 consulting firms to review a series of projects in Hamilton twp -- they looked for completeness, accuracy and compliance with the stormwater law.

• Of the 12 projects we present in the review, projects complied with the law a pidly average of 42% of the time. 
• When it came to using the nonstructural strategies so important to the NJ regs, compliance averaged an even worse 13%.
• Likewise the report found troubling results in the state’s efforts to identify and respond to these dramatic shortcomings.

 The result of the failures of local municipalities and the DEP to ensure full and fair compliance with the state stormwater program is:

• increasing flooding for communities like Hamilton Twp and downstream communities like Trenton;
• increasing costs for communities in the form of emergency flood response, including police services and public works departments;
• polluting and eroding streams in a way that undermines infrastructure, infects drinking water, damages businesses and jobs, damages recreation and associated ecotourism, reduces property values, and threatens health and safety of communities.

If the NJ Stormwater regulations were implemented as they are written, with both the state and municipalities participating, NJ communities would save and make money. 

For example, vegetated buffers, an important strategy that results from implementation of the NJ stormwater regulations,

• Reduces the volume of runoff, filters pollution and prevents erosion. 
• At the same time buffers can increase the value of nearby homes by 6 to 15%. 
• "Pennypack Park in Philadelphia is credited with a 38% increase in the value of a nearby property." Forested buffers generate tax revenues for host communities – in fact, in the United States trees planted on private properties have generated over $1.5 billion in tax revenue.

 Protecting and restoring tree cover -- has saved some New Jersey communities billions of dollars in infrastructure that would otherwise be needed to manage stormwater runoff:

• Protecting existing tree cover was found to have prevented 65 million cubic feet of stormwater runoff in the Big Timber Creek watershed here in New Jersey saving communities $3.3 billion in stormwater infrastructure.
• In the Mill Creek watershed also in New Jersey, protecting existing tree cover prevented 6.7 million cubic feet of stormwater runoff saving the community $350 million in stormwater infrastructure.

Just  3 weeks ago the Delaware Riverkeeper Network issued another report – “River Values, the Value of a Clean and Healthy Delaware River” in which the organization documented that protecting our streams and rivers, with a particular focus on runoff issues, brings to our States and region irreplaceable jobs, economic revenue, tax benefits, and increased safety from illness, physical harm and from economic harm.

The Red Tape Review Group has it wrong – we need a strong stormwater program to protect the jobs and economies of New Jersey.  The way to get that in New Jersey is for the state to provide complimentary reviews and needed oversight so as to ensure full enforcement of the regulations we already have on the books. 

When we leave the program in the hands of municipalities alone, the results can be abysmal failure, as is illustrated by the problems documented in the Hamilton Township report. 

State participation in NJ’s stormwater program is not redundant, it is necessary!

Very Cool Article about Deepening and Delaware Riverkeeper Network

The linked article gives a spectacular picture of the deepening battle and what we are facing.
I have to say I think the cartoon is really cool too.
Dont' think there's much more to say but check it out.

http://citypaper.net/articles/2010/05/20/delaware-riverkeeper-maya-van-rossum

How much is a healthy Delaware River worth? More than anyone could ever conceive or pay!

When local, state and federal governments are being pressured to create jobs, jobs, jobs, the River and environment are often undervalued and their value as a job creator and economic engine vital for the region gets downplayed and forgotten as the special interests fight for their pet projects.  At the Delaware Riverkeeper Network we have written a report that demonstrates that protecting and restoring the Delaware River is fundamental to healthy jobs, economies and communities in our region and if sacrificed to achieve short term political or industrial ends will result in the undermining of the health, enjoyment and economic vitality of our region’s children, families and communities.

 So often we hear about the need to deepen the Delaware to support big oil or industry, or that the state and local regulations that protect our waterways are too great a burden and must be relaxed or eliminated, or that the River is needed to support power plants regardless of the number of fish they slaughter, or that we have to continue to allow industries and communities to dump sewage, toxins, and other pollution into the River.  What gets lost in all of these conversations is the reality that a clean, healthy and free flowing river is essential for the jobs of others, to protect us from illness, to prevent us from suffering unnecessary flood damages.  Big business, politicians and bureaucrats are so busy worrying about whether Dupont will sue them or the ports will oppose them in an election that they forget the River can benefit many more when we protect it for the benefit of all.

Our report titled River Values, includes case studies documenting individuals  and businesses that benefit economically from a clean and healthy Delaware River.  But it also shows the many ways a healthy Delaware River and tributary streams protect us, benefit us, nurture us, enrich us, care for us as individuals and communities.  

If you are fighting to protect the Delaware or any of its tributary streams or habitats from harm this report, River Values, is a must read.  It's going to be a great tool for many of us.

To learn how to get a copy contact the Delaware Riverkeeper Network -- 215 369 1188 or at drn@delawareriverkeeper.org

Some of the Important Facts in the Report:

ü  In 1986 the Upper Delaware attracted 232,000 whitewater paddlers who spent $13.3 million, adding $6.2 million to local economy and supporting 291 local jobs.

ü  In just one year the Upper Delaware and Delaware Water Gap brought to our local communities 367,400 whitewater paddlers, who spent over $20 million (20,229,000), contributed almost $10 million (9,895,000) to our local economies, and supported 447 jobs. 

ü  Trout fishing in the Upper Delaware River resulted in one year in $17.69 million in local business revenue.  This revenue supporting 348 jobs, providing $3.65 million in wages and $719,350 in local taxes.  This investment translates into an ongoing $29.98 million in local economic activities.

ü  River festivals generate as many as 75,000 visitors to small riverside towns, giving an important boost to local businesses.

ü  Over 2.1 million bushels of clam and oyster shells have been harvested in the Delaware Bay from 2005 thru 2009.  For the region, oyster harvest resulting from this federal investment is projected to generate up to and over $80 million of annual economic benefit, much of this in some of New Jersey’s poorest communities who could not tolerate the loss of associated jobs, revenue and benefit.

ü  The annual economic value of migratory bird and horseshoe crab phenomenon in the Bayshore area provides $25 million in benefits to the Delaware Bayshore area and $34 million regionally.  Because most of these expenditures occur in the “off-season,” they are particularly valuable to local economies.

ü  Protecting, restoring and valuing the ecosystems of the Delaware River is not just of economic import, but is also important to the health and safety of our region.

ü  The biomedical industry dependent on the horseshoe crabs found in the Delaware Bay is said to provide $150 million of value in addition to the life saving tests they provide for medical devices, intravenous drugs and to detect life threatening illness such as spinal meningitis.  The LAL needed for these tests is irreplaceable, found only in the blood of the horseshoe crab, cannot be created synthetically.

ü  In the United States trees planted on private properties have generated over $1.5 billion in tax revenue and can increase the value of nearby homes by 6 to 15%.

ü  Trees in just four of our local watersheds saved a combined $6 ½ billion in otherwise needed infrastructure. (Big Timber, Cobbs, Mill, & Frankford-Tacony)

Earth Day -- Then & Now

I had the good fortune at the invitation of WHYY to see the new film Earth Day.

Earth Day told the story of why and how the first Earth Day in 1970 came to be.

It was interesting and scary to see the course of events played out over the course of an hour (or so) that led to the first Earth Day.  It was inspiring to see the tremendous energy and action and commitment that went into creating Earth Day, launching the environmental movement of the United States, and making change for the benefit of us all.

So much I didn't remember and/or didn't know.  So much I did remember and was reminded of.

And it was sad to see how much of the past that inspired all of this environmental protection is still happening today in new and increasing ways.

The Earth Day of 1970 was the start of a movement -- an environmental movement, a movement to pursue and achieve change.  Passage of the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Coastal Zone Management Act; creation of the Environmental Protection Agency; solar panels on the roof of the White House.

Today Earth Day is starkly different -- today it is a single day of education and perhaps a little bit of action -- mainly with our kids -- and then it ends with the day.

Because Earth Day has lost its power and inspiration the solar panels at the White House (put there by President Carter) were removed (by President Reagan); and the laws passed continue to be methodically eroded by industry and politicians with little opposition from the public at large.  Deepening and offshore oil drilling to benefit big oil and undermine alternative energy despite of the environmental harms is very much alive in the Delaware River watershed.  PCBs, a toxin so dangerous its use was banned in the 1980s but it is still discharged legally from over 100 sources into the Delaware River.  Natural Gas extraction is being pursued in a way that will turn our beautiful upper Delaware into an industrial landscape, pollute our waterways and threaten drinking water supplies, and sap our streams and aquifers dry of water and health.  And development runs rampant - including so aggressively that folks like Governor Rendell think it is perfectly acceptable to fill in 33 acres of the Delaware River to accommodate development.

This has to stop!

Earth Day's next 40 years need to be about a movement for change, for strengthened environmental laws, and expanding environmental restoration.

In fact, with this blog post, I challenge each one of you to begin this year by:
(1) getting involved at the community level -- get active and vocal on one environmental issue threatening a water or ecosystem you care about (to help identify some issues and how you can get involved go to the Delaware Riverkeeper website www.delawareriverkeeper.org and check out the action page) and by
(2) making a change in your personal life -- make one relatively dramatic life change that reduces your impact on the earth such as revegetating your lawnscape with native trees or shrubs (for more info on how to accomplish this go to the Delaware Riverkeeper Network website at www.delawareriverkeeper.org) or perhaps installing solar panels on your roof.

And please, email me at keeper@delawareriverkeeper.org to tell me about the step or steps you took this year to help defend the Delaware River, its tributaries or any of the habitats and ecosystems in its watershed.  Send me text and pictures as you see fit to help share your story.  I'd love to see the change we can accomplish when we all commit to take action over the course of the year together and to turn Earth Day 2010 into the beginning of a new movement for our River, our environment and our Earth.

How Deepening the Delaware Hurts Millions in River Jobs and Local Economies

Deepening the Delaware River is not going to bring more goods up the River resulting in more jobs (even the Army Corps doesn't try to make that claim) but it is going to hurt jobs, lots of jobs, and hundreds of millions in economic revenue to our region and communities.  Watching this video to start to learn how - this short doesn't tell you all of the jobs and values that will be hurt, not by a long shot, but it does start to spread the word that

DEEPENING HURTS JOBS and the COMMUNITIES DEPENDENT UPON THEM!

Natural Gas Drilling Threatens Clean Streams

Natural gas drilling as it is being proposed for the Upper Delaware River region threatens devastation.
It threatens to devastate the streams and communities that live in the Upper Delaware and it threatens harm to all those who live down stream and rely upon the Delaware River for drinking water as well as those that rely upon the economic revenue generated by the beauty of the Upper Delaware region.

There are great debates regarding gas drilling taking place today.  The Delaware Riverkeeper Network is at the heart of that debate -- along with so many of the citizens and communities that are put at risk by the proposed drilling practices.

I will be posting more on this issue in the coming weeks - there is so much to learn and to tell.  But here is a video clip that talks about some of the harms threatening the still clean streams we have left in our watershed and region.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px5OfCvKnUQ