Every day, P.H. Glatfelter Company dumps almost 13 million gallons of dark brown industrial sewage into York County's Codorus Creek. Glatfelter's wastewater stains the Codorus for miles, spoiling the aesthetic, recreational, economic, and historical value of the river for downstream users, including the City of York. The City of York has repeatedly informed DEP that, "Quality of life for residents and visitors, and the value of our tax base and historical and recreational assets, are damaged by the current [Creek] conditions."

Glatfelter is being sued by citizen groups for violating the color limits in its "current" Clean Water Act permit (called a "NPDES permit"), which was issued in 1984. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recently complained to DEP that, "The company has been in violation of its NPDES permit limits since at least 1984." DEP has never enforced those color limits against Glatfelter. Instead, DEP and Glatfelter have entered into a series of "side deals" allowing the Company to discharge an excessive amount of color.

Meanwhile, downstream of Glatfelter's mill, the Codorus has never met the state water quality standard for color in the Codorus (except during maintenance shut-downs). This water quality standard -- which is the level of color that the state has determined must be achieved in order to protect water quality in the Codorus -- was established in the late 1960s. Furthermore, the Clean Water Act required compliance with water quality standards by July 1, 1977. Over twenty-five years after the passage of this deadline, downstream users are still waiting for DEP to require compliance.

Unfortunately, under a proposed draft permit and new side agreement recently issued by DEP, the delay will continue at least 4 to 7 more years. That's because while the draft permit requires immediate compliance with final color limits designed to meet the state water quality standard, the side agreement explicitly changes the permit to allow Glatfelter to continue discharging at its present color levels. EPA has warned DEP that this violates the Clean Water Act, which forbids the issuance of a new permit with more lenient limits than the comparable limits in an earlier permit. DEP's proposal is illegal "backsliding."

Under the proposed side agreement, Glatfelter is not required to reduce the color of its wastewater at all for 4 years, and Glatfelter is not required to achieve compliance with the water quality standard for color in the Codorus for over 7 years. Even that date is not guaranteed since the side agreement explicitly allows Glatfelter to get an extension. Tellingly, DEP has never refused any of Glatfelter's numerous prior requests for extensions on color limits. The proposed schedule is particularly generous since (1) the technology it proposes to install to reduce the color of its wastewater has been widely available for at least ten years, and (2) Glatfelter has admitted that physical construction of the changes to the mill will take less than one year.

The proposed side agreement also fails to require Glatfelter to pay any penalty for violating its permit, thus allowing the Company to reap millions of dollars in economic benefit from failing to comply with its permit and ignoring the serious harm that the color of the Company's wastewater has caused to the environment and to downstream users.

To make matters worse, DEP has also proposed to relax the state water quality standard for color in the Codorus. Instead of relaxing the standard, DEP needs to enforce it.

DEP is now accepting written comments on the draft permit and side agreement, and a public hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, April 5, 2000 at 7 p.m. at the North Codorus Township Community Building, R.D. 1, Spring Grove, PA. Written comments must be received by DEP by April 5, 2000, and should be sent to Ms. Sandra J. Roderick, DEP Community Relations Coordinator, 909 Elmerton Avenue, Harrisburg, PA 17110-8200, or by e-mail at roderick.sandra@dep.state.pa.us. If you wish to testify at the public hearing, please register by April 5, 2000 by calling Mrs. Charlotte Bonafair at (717) 705-4703. Take this opportunity to let DEP know that the citizens of Pennsylvania will not stand for DEP's refusal to enforce Clean Water Act standards against a major polluter like Glatfelter. For more information, contact David Masur at the Pennsylvania Public Interest Research Group at (215) 732-3747.

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