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.” 

Putin in the Middle East

In the international arena, the Rolling Stones were right.  You can’t always get what you want.  President Assad of Syria was a bad leader.  His regime jailed and tortured opponents.  When a revolt against his government broke out, he had no compunction about using cluster bombs and poison gas.

On the other hand, he stopped using poison gas after international pressure, and his opponents morphed into ISIS.

The U.S. is backing some rather ineffectual rebels.  We don’t coordinate with Iranian opponent of ISIS, because Republican Congress members see Iran as an implacable enemy.  We don’t want to support Putin’s efforts on behalf of Assad because we worry about Russian influence in the Middle East.

My take on this is that Assad is better than ISIS in the same way that Stalin was better than Hitler.  Churchill, when asked about the alliance with Stalin, said he would make an alliance with the Devil to defeat Hitler.  Assad and Putin may be devils, but they are better than ISIS.

Progress on global warming?

In December international representatives will meet in Paris to try to strike a new global climate agreement to reduce global warming.  According to an an analysis by a group called Climate Interactive, if all the pledges by all the countries so far are carried out, by the end of this century the planet’s climate will increase by about 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit instead of 8.1 degrees if countries continue on their present course.  (See “Progress Seen on Warming, With a Caveat” by Justin Gillis and Somini Sengupta in today’s Times.)

The good news is that the Pope has called for action, our President realizes how serious this problem is, and even China is moving aggressively to reduce greenhouse gasses.  

The bad news is that certain groups (Republicans in Congress, members of ISIS, religious fundamentalists) deny global warming even exists, in spite of clear scientific evidence to the contrary.

The really bad news is that even if countries carry out their pledges, we will have drought, famine, species extinction, wars over water and crops, sea level rise, and a world in just 85 years that none of us would recognize.  I shudder when I think what today’s kids, including my own grandson, will inherit.

The Tannersville Cranberry Bog

Earlier this week Linda and I and five other participants were part of a guided tour through the Tannersville Cranberry Bog.  The bog is a remnant of the last ice age, when glaciers carved out a basin and dropped seeds from northern latitudes, giving the bog the appearance of a Canadian landscape, right down to the Canadian warbler, which nests in the bog.

The bog was the third purchase by the Nature Conservancy way back in the Fifties.  When the Conservancy sees an important ecological tract, the organization simply buys it.  I am pleased to be a member.

We saw an amazing variety of plants, including pitcher plants and sundews, both of which eat insects.  I finally saw what poison sumac looks like, and we saw two kinds of cranberries.  The creek that flows by the side of the bog contains river otters, and the bog itself is home to bears, coyotes, and bobcats.  Our guide, who spends quite a bit of time in the bog, has never seen a bobcat, but they are there, since they have been photographed by trail cameras on the boardwalk.

A number of trails on the property are open to the public, but you must be accompanied by a guide to go into the actual bog.

Adios, John Boehner

He should have quit a long time ago.  He couldn’t keep the crazies in the House in line, he permitted useless activities like the 42 attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and I can’t think of a single positive thing he did for the country in his years as Speaker except quit.

It will be interesting to see who the Republicans pick now.  Whomever it is will be in charge of a group of men and women who see government as a negative force.  It makes you wonder why they ran for office.

They will probably vote to shut down the federal government as a protest against Planned Parenthood, even though no federal money can be used to pay for abortions.  Let me repeat that: no federal money can be used to pay for abortions.  They be willing to deny reproductive health services to millions of low income women to make some mistaken point.  

No wonder Boehner quit.  

The Pennsylvania Turnpike

To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the turnpike, Pennsylvania Heritage, a magazine of the Historical and Museum Commission, featured an article on the turnpike by Curtis Miner.  The first phase of the turnpike, a 160 mile stretch between Irwin and Carlisle, was completed in 1940.

The turnpike was authorized in 1937.  The Roosevelt administration agreed to fund most of the costs with the stipulation that the road be built quickly.  It took 23 months from field surveys to final paving to complete the first 160 mile segment.

Two thoughts occur.  First, the turnpike bridge at the Mahoning Interchange across Pohopoco Creek and Route 209 will probably take longer than 23 months to complete.

Secondly, the current Pennsylvania legislature, with representatives like Doyle Heffley and Jerry Knowles, would never have approved the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  It would be too much money, and involve too much federal interference.  Also, it had never been done before.

Pope Francis

You’ve heard the expression when someone wishes to draw attention to the obvious, “Is the Pope Catholic?”  

In the past I’ve sometimes wondered.  The message of Christianity seemed to get lost in doctrinaire pronouncements and a lack of humility in the Papacy.

Not Pope Francis.  He is a pope with whom atheists, Hindus, Muslims, and Southern Baptists can feel comfortable.  His support for action on global warming, his call to help the poor, his critique of unbridled capitalism, his plea that the refugees be helped–all are what this planet needs.

I do have my criticisms.  Some might considered trivial (Father Serra should not be a saint), but some are major (the failure to change the doctrine on contraception when overpopulation is one of the causes of both refugees and global warming).  

On the other hand, I believe the Catholic Church is like a very large oil tanker.  It takes a while to change course.  I hope Pope Francis has a long life.