RPF has been active in many environmental issues. Most of these issues have been publicized through our electronic news bulletin, Pollution Update. See separate articles in this STOPPER regarding two issues, stormwater and longwall coal mining. Here are some of the other things that RPF has worked on over the past year.

We commented on a proposal to destroy wetlands, small streams and seeps on a hillside outside of Altoona. DEP has recently issued a permit for this activity and we will be keeping in touch with the groups on the forefront of that fight. We also commented on the political shenanigans surrounding the Interstate 99 project. Both of these projects would result in massive degradation in the waters and habitat of Bald Eagle Ridge.

The US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Army Corps of Engineers are considering relaxing protection for certain wetlands and other bodies of water, under the guise of clarifying a US Supreme Court ruling. We worked with other groups in analyzing the proposal and helped get the word out to people during the public comment period.

We continue to track flood control efforts in the Neshaminy Creek watershed. RPF was a key player in promoting a "non-structural" alternative to flood control. In 2000, we demonstrated that this alternative was more cost effective than building Dark Hollow Dam. Since the Bucks County Commissioners voted to accept the non-structural alternative, buy-outs and flood-proofing of homes has begun, resulting in near-instant flood protection. Bad ideas die hard, however, and every rain storm brings more grumbling about the dam that wasn’t built.

We worked with groups trying to make positive changes to water resources management (water quantity) legislation late in 2002, as the bill that was proposed ignored water quality. While the bill passed, we and the other groups raised enough concern that a provision was placed in the bill saying that nothing in the new law prevents the Clean Streams Law from being enforced. RPF’s Counsel, John Wilmer, has been asked to sit on one of the Regional Water Plan Committees that the new law has set up.

Many of our Pollution Updates touch on current environmental events. As you probably know, we have a new Department of Environmental Protection Secretary, Kathleen McGinty. When a member of the Pennsylvania Senate, Mary Jo White, voiced some concerns about whether Ms. McGinty shared opinions with "mainstream" Pennsylvanians, we pointed out some publicly-accessible survey results, and posed rhetorical questions based on those opinions to both women. RPF members know that we don’t tolerate non-enforcement of our environmental laws, and that our intolerance has nothing to do with political affiliation. We will be watching the DEP of Kathleen McGinty as carefully as we have watched past DEPs and will report on what we find.

And we continue to be a resource for folks interested in enforcement of environmental laws, whether they are an RPF member or just a citizen looking for answers. We can’t do this work without your support, so we thank you for your continued membership with the Raymond Proffitt Foundation!

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