LOGAN TOWN CENTRE

In our last PU, we presented testimony our Project Biologist Mark Hersh gave at the Logantown Power Center Mall hearing in Altoona, PA on February 6.   Over 60 people spoke at the DEP sponsored hearing, with only 12 in favor of the Mall, and most of these were paid by the applicant to be there.

 The applicant, Mr. Gregory Morris, proposes to construct a Mall at the 17^th Street interchange, upslope from I 99, on the forested flank of Brush Mountain.  Brush Mountain is a part of Bald Eagle Ridge that Pennsylvania Audubon has designated as an Important Bird Area.  The Mall would directly destroy about 120 acres of forest, 11 headwaters streams totaling about 4,000 feet, and about 3 acres of wetlands.  The Mall would be constructed by cutting 60-foot deep cuts into the hillside, and then pushing the fill downslope for a building pad.  Eventually, the applicant plans to develop the entire 315-acre parcel, with a campus style business park located upslope from the Mall.  Since these slopes are much greater, cuts for the buildings, and road system to service the business park may dwarf cuts planned for the Mall.  This project is a continuation of the assault on Bald Eagle Ridge by PennDOT (I 99) and other developers who are eying the undeveloped, forested slopes of Bald Eagle Mountain as prime development territory.  The City of Altoona has developed brochures touting the I 99 corridor as the next great development area.  Therefore, whatever the Corps and DEP do here, will have major ramifications for future development for this part of the Appalachian ridge system.

 There are substantial adverse impacts associated with this project:

1)      Groundwater fed streams and wetlands delivering water of the highest quality to valley bottom streams will be destroyed.

2)      The project would directly destroy about 120 acres of forest.

3)      The effects of habitat fragmentation would extend a conservative 100 yards into the adjacent forest, thereby greatly extending the impact of this project.

4)      The project would fragment a largely unbroken forest.

5)      The Corps and DEP are not conducting an adequate cumulative impact analysis.  I 99 has already destroyed 9,000 acres of forest, with another 3,000 acres of forest (along with 2.6 miles of streams and 17 acres of spring-seep wetlands) scheduled for obliteration between the town of Bald Eagle and Port Matilda.  Since there are numerous developments planned for Bald Eagle Ridge in the Altoona area, it is crucial that the regulatory agencies consider cumulative effects.

6)      Groundwater fed spring-seep wetlands and streams cannot be recreated; therefore, the applicant’s mitigation plan is likely to fail.

7)      The applicant’s mitigation does not replace the wetlands lost functions and values.

8)      There will be substantial off-site thermal pollution, as well as increased amounts of sediment, oil, grease, fertilizer, pesticides, and other pollutants added to Brush Run.  This stream is designated Warm Water Fishes, but is dominated by a fish community that requires cool water to support all life stages (egg, fry, fingerling and adult).  The project will add a significant amount of heated water to this already stressed urban stream and would likely alter the fish community.  This is “pollution” under the Clean Streams Law and a violation of the water quality standards.    

9)      The applicant has admitted that massive cuts for building pads would dewater streams and wetlands adjacent to the cuts.  This dewatering would eliminate existing uses in those streams and wetlands, in violation of the DEP’s water quality standards that requires that existing uses in the stream (the animals that live there) must be protected.

 The DEP and Corps of Engineers have received considerable pressure from politicians.  U.S. Senator Santorum (no surprise here) and Spector, State Senator Jubelirer, and State Representatives Geist and Shuster, have written or called State and federal regulators pressuring them to issue permits for this project.  Senator Santorum and Spector have written the Fish and Wildlife Service asking them not to hold-up this project.

 Isn’t it odd that not one has written asking that the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of our Nation’s waters be protected? 

 The Corps and DEP still have considerable work to do on this project; therefore, there is still time to submit comments to them.  However, it is even more important to question those legislators who are supporting such an environmentally destructive project, and why they are only sympathetic to developer’s concerns, while ignoring a larger constituency.

Your letter to DEP should state that this project would have substantial, and unacceptable adverse impacts on streams and wetlands; that dewatering streams and wetlands violates the DEP’s’ water quality standards; that altering the fish community in Brush Run constitutes pollution and therefore violates State water quality standards; that there are alternative configurations that would reduce the adverse impacts; that the Corps’ and DEP’s regulations require that only the least environmentally damaging alternative be permitted; that the DEP regulations require them to consider cumulative impacts; and that the functions and values of the aquatic system that is being destroyed cannot be replaced.

District Engineer, Baltimore District
Corps of Engineers
PO Box 1715
Baltimore, MD  21203

Mr. Michael Steiner, Regional Director
PA Department of Environmental Protection
909 Elmerton Avenue 
Harrisburg, PA  17110

 Senator Arlen Specter
711 Hart Bldg 
Washington DC 20510

Hon. Richard Allen Geist
Main Capitol Building, Room 144
Harrisburg, PA 17120-2020

 Senator Robert Jubelirer
Senate Box 203030
Harrisburg, PA 17120-3030

 Congressman William Shuster
2188 Rayburn Building
Washington DC  20510