The standard for PA DEP - Attempt to remediate environmental damage after it happens.
The standard for FOL - Prevent environmental damage before it happens.
PA DEP, what are the results of the sediment testing? The public has a right to know what is polluting our water.
From the STT:
Pennsylvania American Water failed to inform the state Department of Environmental Protection about a release of large amounts of silt from a dam rehabilitation project at the No. 7 Reservoir in Dunmore into Roaring Brook and the Lackawanna River, according to a DEP notice of violation released Friday.
The failure to immediately alert the DEP about the sediment pollution of the waterways was among violations of the state’s Clean Streams Law and regulations on sediment control, according to the DEP notice to PAW dated Thursday, March 7, and provided Friday, March 8, to media outlets.
The violations “subject Pennsylvania American Water to appropriate enforcement action including, but not limited to, civil penalties,” according to the notice. It does not specify amounts of possible fines.
The discharge of sediment polluted approximately 2 miles of Roaring Brook from the No. 7 Reservoir to the confluence with the Lackawanna River, as well as an unspecified stretch of the Lackawanna River, the notice says.
Other violations included:
Pollution of a magnitude to harm human, animal, plant or aquatic life.
Activities and facilities on the reservoir dam construction site were not conducted and operated in a manner that avoided the unpermitted discharge of the silt.
Construction was not done in a manner to minimize disturbance of the regimen of the stream and its bed and banks.