Susquehanna Tops 'Most Endangered Rivers' List

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
17 May  2011
By Laura Olson, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau

HARRISBURG -- A Pennsylvania river again tops an annual list of "most endangered rivers," with a national advocacy group saying natural gas drilling and the resulting wastewater have put the Susquehanna River at risk.

While two state waterways listed by American Rivers last year no longer are on the list, the group says the Monongahela and the Delaware rivers both continue to face threats from the state's rapid growth in drilling activity.

Some controversial regulations are under consideration by the Delaware River Basin Commission to manage drilling in the state's northeast corner, but some activists are urging stronger oversight by state and federal regulators as well.

The Susquehanna, which flows through the state's drilling-heavy northern tier, is one of two rivers on the list near gas drilling. The Hoback River in Wyoming, another area where hydraulic fracturing is used to release shale gas, came in at No. 7.

But it's Marcellus Shale drilling that again was a top concern for the advocacy group.

"We could have a top-10 list where all 10 were in the Marcellus Shale," said Jessie Thomas-Blate, who coordinates the most endangered rivers program.

The report is the latest push from environmental groups seeking to update the state's Oil and Gas Act. Changes, such as mandating wider buffers around gas wells and requiring companies to share pipelines, were suggested last week by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council.

Some legislation has been introduced to beef up protections, but changes are not likely until after the governor's Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission completes its report in July.

That's not fast enough for some state environmental groups, which have rallied in the state Capitol and outside the advisory commission's meetings. They say the current law is outdated. "It didn't contemplate the kind of drilling that's going on now," said Jeff Schmidt, director of the state Sierra Club chapter. "It isn't your grandmother's gas drilling."

Regulators with the state Department of Environmental Protection have made some changes to address wastewater issues. The agency asked drillers to stop transporting briny, chemically tainted wastewater to municipal treatment facilities, saying it was contributing to unsafe bromide levels.

Test results released Monday by Pennsylvania American Water Co. showed that the private utility's water quality complies with federal and state standards. Similar tests on river water, including samples from the Mon, were within safe limits for radioactivity and other pollutants.

But Ms. Thomas-Blate of American Rivers said officials need to take a harder look at the long-term impact. While the Susquehanna River Basin Commission has increased its oversight of water withdrawals, it needs to do more on water-quality issues and on analysis of the cumulative impact of wells in the region, she said. Her group and the state Sierra Club are calling for a moratorium on fracking along the Susquehanna "until better protections are in place."

The report noted that since the Delaware's inclusion on last year's list, its river basin commission has drafted regulations that are "comparatively stronger than others in the region." The commission is reviewing the thousands of comments on the rules that it received last month.

Laura Olson: lolson@post-gazette.com or 1-717-787-4254. The Associated Press contributed to this report.