In the Pittsburgh region, whenever it rains — even just a little bit — the sewer system is overwhelmed with stormwater. When this happens, ALCOSAN, the region’s sewer authority, shuts the doors to its processing plant and millions of gallons of raw untreated sewage pour into Pittsburgh’s rivers. ALCOSAN has been told by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to fix this problem, soon.

The money to solve this sewage overflow problem, the biggest public works project ever in this region, will come from ALCOSAN rate payers. Rate payers need to be involved in the process so they can get the most value for the money they will be spending.

The beautiful and powerful Susquehanna River stretches 400 miles, provides drinking water to millions of people, supports wildlife and unique environments, and is the largest river feeding the Chesapeake Bay. Natural gas development is expanding throughout the watershed at a rapid rate. Governments responsible for protecting the watershed do not yet have much understanding of how fracking affects the watershed, let alone how to protect human or aquatic life from the negative impacts of fracking.

Clean Water Action’s “Greener Communities” report, released in January, evaluates green stormwater management by 25 municipalities in Chester County’s Brandywine Creek watershed. The report’s focus is “low-impact development” (LID), an approach that uses less pavement and more natural systems and green spaces to reduce environmental impacts.

Clean Water Action continued the highly successful campaign to stop the dumping of toxic gas drilling wastewater into rivers and streams.  Clean Water Action reached a legal settlement with the McKeesport municipal sewage plant (south of Pittsburgh), getting an agreement to stop accepting all oil and gas wastewater at the plant. This is the third agreement reached with sewage plants in southwest Pennsylvania. At this point, sewage plants in Pennsylvania have stopped taking drilling wastewater. However, there are several industrial plants that appear to still be discharging wastewater from oil and gas operations. Clean Water Action will continue organizing in 2013 to stop all oil and gas wastewater from being dumped into Pennsylvania’s rivers.

By Myron Arnowitt

In many ways, 2012 was a difficult year for the environment in Pennsylvania. Last year, our state legislature passed the industry friendly gas drilling law, Act 13, which gave gas companies the right to drill wells or build pipelines right next to our homes and schools. It also exempted gas companies from common-sense local zoning ordinances. As violations and contamination problems from gas drilling mounted, we knew that giving industry a freer hand was not the direction state policy should be taking.

pennsylvania currents

One the biggest fears for people living near gas drilling is the possibility of their drinking water being polluted. People expect the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to look out for them and to provide alerts when drinking water is threatened. Unfortunately, that trust has been shaken by a recently uncovered and controversial DEP policy.

Last fall, it was revealed that DEP is not reporting all the contaminants discovered when it tests drinking water suspected to have been contaminated by fracking (hydraulic fracturing at natural gas wells). Instead, DEP’s coded reporting system only provides residents with findings for 8 of 24 contaminants included in DEP tests. Many of the contaminants not reported are carcinogenic and known to pose health hazards.

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One the biggest fears for people living near gas drilling is the possibility of their drinking water being polluted. People expect the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to look out for them and to provide alerts when drinking water is threatened. Unfortunately, that trust has been shaken by a recently uncovered and controversial DEP policy.

Denver, CO & Pittsburgh, PA: Today Clean Water Action applauded the introduction in the US House of Representatives of the BREATHE and FRESHER Acts intended to close Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act loopholes for hydraulic fracturing operations. “The BREATHE and FRESHER Acts simply make sure oil and gas companies comply with our landmark health and environmental laws,” said Clean Water Action President Robert Wendelgass.

DEP abruptly cancels meeting with environmental groups leaving concerned public still demanding answers on their water testing policies - take action today!

Mystery, questions and concerns continue to surround Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) policies for testing water that has been suspected of being impacted by Marcellus Shale natural gas operations. These issues were originally brought to light when it was revealed that DEP doesn’t report full test results to residents, depriving them of critical health and safety information. People have a right to know ALL the results whether good or bad. Let the state know that you want them to release all water testing results from gas drilling investigations!

The Allegheny County Health Department has a plan to improve the air quality in and around the Liberty Clairton area. This is part of the Federal Clean Air Act, a landmark law that has made major improvements in air quality of the air we breathe and has improved the health of Americans across the country. On February 19th, the Health Department is coming to the Liberty Clairton area to hear what you think of the plan.