Press Conference at Three O'Clock Springs

Tomorrow I'm the featured speaker at a press conference called to discuss issues with the PennEast/UGI pipeline.  I won't be upset if you don't read the whole thing, since it is about eight minutes long, but I manage to quote both Alfred E. Newman and the poet Gary Snyder near the end.  Here's what I'm planning to say:

Welcome to Three O’Clock Springs, which is part of the Wild Creek Watershed, which is part of the Pohopoco Watershed, which is part of the Lehigh River Watershed, which is part of the Delaware River Watershed.  It has been suggested that a reasonable way to organize municipal boundaries would be by watershed, an idea that I believe has merit.

I have a slight personal connection to Three O’Clock Springs.  My great-grandfather Hiram once lived at the corner of 903 and Hatchery Road, and one dry summer was forced to make the trip down here to fetch water.  Soon after that he moved to what is now Pohopoco Drive on land with its own reliable spring.

The PennEast/UGI fracking gas pipeline will run between where we are standing and the Turnpike, heading south across Wild Creek Cove and Beltzville Lake.  Where we are standing is the headwaters of Wild Creek, the main tributary for the Penn Forest and Wild Creek reservoirs, the source of drinking water for over 3000 businesses and 115,000 people in Bethlehem and the surrounding area.

The construction corridor of the Pipeline will be 100 feet across except on steeper slopes, where it will be 125 feet across.  The permanent open corridor will be 50 feet across, leading to further fragmentation of the forest and providing a pathway for invasive plants.  The yellow rope you see stretched out shows you just how wide the corridors will be.  [At this point two guys will stretch out a 125 foot rope.]

The next speaker will discuss the problems created for streams and wetlands, but I would like to focus specifically on problems created for the Water Authority.  The Authority has been an excellent steward of the land.  It has worked extensively with the Nature Conservancy to ensure that its polices are environmentally sound. 

One deleterious effect of the Pipeline for the Authority will be a lessening of the amount of carbon credits the Authority will be able to sell.  Fewer trees mean fewer credits available.  

Potential damage to the Wild Creek Reservoir because of blasting during the construction phase and afterward with a possible Pipeline explosion are also concerns that the Authority has raised.  From what I have seen of thePennEast/UGI published material, these concerns have never been adequately addressed.

Another worrisome issue is that the Pipeline crosses the water main that carries the water from Wild Creek to Bethlehem.  The first crossing is near Route 209; the second time is near the Appalachian Trail.  There is only one main with no redundancy.  Were a pipeline explosion to occur, 115,000 people could be without water for months.

These issues were not addressed adequately by PennEast/UGI, which seems to take the attitude of Alfred E. Newman, “What, me worry?”

Finally, I would like to read you a sentence from the poet Gary Snyder’s essay Coming into the Watershed,  “...we who live in terms of centuries rather than millions of years must hold the watershed and its communities together, so our children might enjoy the clear water and fresh life of this landscape we have chosen.”