Pollution UpDate
27 November 1997
"Pollution UpDate" is a publication dedicated to the reporting of timely environmental news.
Turkeys Strike Back!
An Alternate Thanksgiving Menu, Courtesy of the Commonwealth
by Joe
Turner
Co-Chair, Water Resources Committee, Pa. Sierra Club
Our elected and appointed officials have worked hard this fall to bring you a few dishes that you usually don't associate with Thanksgiving. First on the menu is a bowl of Bog Turtle Stew, or perhaps a Bog Turtle Pancake if you live near a PennDOT highway.
If you remember, last spring PennDOT tried to get lobbyists and other state agencies to present a united front against the Federal listing of the bog turtle as US-threatened, by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. They did this by saying that Federal listing would not provide any additional protection, and that the listing would just delay PennDOT in building highways. PennDOT fixed it so other state agencies were prevented from saying what they thought, although the PA Fish and Boat Commission, who administers the PA endangered species act for reptiles, supported the Federal listing.
The public hearing that was held did not reflect PennDOT's view, as most of the folks at the meeting were in support of the listing. PennDOT didn't stop, however. They continued to badmouth the proposed listing in the press. (What does PennDOT know about turtles, anyway? Have you ever seen the PA Fish and Boat Commission or the US Fish and Wildlife Service out there patching potholes? Maybe given PennDOT's success in that, we should reassign their duties to other agencies. What's yellow, has four doors, and sleeps six? Never mind...).
In September, another meeting was called by a Harrisburg lobbyist. There was little support for PennDOT's position. DEP Secretary Jim Seif was at that meeting, and to believe some folks, he emerged as the Best Friend Bog Turtles Ever Had because he wants to "get ahead of the curve" on the listing, and show how good old PA can protect the turtle. Never mind that the thing has been PA-endangered for around 15 years and that Seif's own agency has plenty of tools to protect the turtle and its habitat (habitat loss is one of the greatest threats), and that they were not using those tools and all their other ones to protect rare species (see PU of 09/13/97).
Well, the bog turtle got its Federal status by a notice in the November 4, 1997 Federal Register, and it seems like the agency run by Mr. James Seif, Best Friend of Bog Turtles, failed to even notice the final listing of the bog turtle as a threatened species. DEP's Update mentions all the Federal Register notices that DEP thinks is important, but no mention of the bog turtle in any DEP Update. Could this failure of anyone at DEP to see that notice and fail to realize its importance be the true indication of DEP's intentions regarding protection of the bog turtle? Instead of being ahead of the curve, Seif and DEP show they are stalled in the slow lane--along with PennDOT.
Concerned Pennsylvanians should send Secretary Seif a message --get your head out of your shell and start protecting the turtle. PennDOT is probably hopeless. A turtle has a better chance to get from one side of a four-lane road to the other than PennDOT has of getting the message that important wildlife habitat is more than just a convenient place to put a new pork-barrel highway.
Speaking of pork... After your appetizer, we have the main course--pork! All you can eat! And more! Plus all the hog manure you don't want! Coming to Pennsylvania, courtesy of State Senator Robert Jubilier!
Sen. Robert Jubilier was notified by citizens of his district about some proposed factory hog farms moving in to Bedford County. Four of them in one small area where the groundwater was already polluted. Sen. Jubilier got right on it. What we needed, he said, was a Task Force to study the situation!
Not that studying the issue is bad. Other states have done the same. But some of them have also said they were not going to allow for new facilities while they did the studies--a moratorium. Environmental groups pointed out the need for this to the Senator, and the need for the Task Force to be balanced. Draft copies of the resolution showed that the composition was overwhelmingly in favor of agricultural interests.
Well, Jubilier's resolution has been introduced, and as might be expected, it's like Thanksgiving dinner with no pumpkin pie. Or main course, for that matter. The Task Force has been renamed the "Agriculture Development Advisory Board." Good name. It's still heavily loaded with ag-friendly policy wonks and there is no public review or comment on any product of the board. Worst of all, there's no moratorium. Never mind that because other states are cracking down, there might be a stampede of hog farm operators, looking for a friend in Pennsylvania. We may end up with many more of these manure producing farms (one farm can produce manure equivalent to a city of 10,000) while the ag-friendly board comes up with weak rules that won't interfere with doing business.
Senator Jubilier's stall-for-time, put-off-the-citizens resolution, while siting of factory farms can continue, might as well be called "Porky's Passport to Pennsylvania." Contact your Senator and tell him/her that Jubilier's resolution needs: 1) a moratorium, 2) better balance, and 3) public review of its products. Tell your Senator that you don't have to live next to a factory farm to know manure--the Senate is considering a big pile of it right now as they consider Jubilier's resolution.
Pass the pumpkin pie. Happy Thanksgiving!
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