Over the years I have documented the sewage leaks in Lehigh Parkway, both into the creek and onto the adjoining banks. The EPA was on Allentown's case for over a decade. Allentown ran down the clock with different proposals, until they leased the water systems to Lehigh County Authority. The different municipalities, then on the hook, came up with bandaid solutions. For instance, South Whitehall, rather than improve their pipes, decided to bang the homeowners. Each house would be inspected, and any condensation from central air conditioning would have to pumped out of the house, rather than dripping into a basement drain. The floor drains, which were installed to protect the house from leaks, would have to be closed off.
According to a Morning Call article, this past summer saw more sewage than ever flow into the Little Lehigh. Despite this worsening reality, the EPA has withdrawn their mandates, and will settle for a drop in the bucket...the banging the homeowner plan.
While the rate payers of LCA might, I say might, enjoy a reprieve, clean water advocates should be outraged.
photocredit:molovinsky
And you are surprised that the appointment of industry executives to the EPA, with the mandate to change the "P" from "Protection" to "Pollution" issues mandates reversing prior standards? Frankly, the sewage run offs are small potatoes to our health compared to the reduction & elimination of coal, tar, and mineral and chemical uranium deposits now being permitted. The reason federal standards are needed is that on the local level, industry influence is even greater than on the national level, and local agencies as MM describes thus find it easier to scoff off, pass the buck, and in effect do nothing.
ReplyDeleteBlah, blah, blah.
ReplyDeleteI simply don't trust Government at any level to regulate anything, period, point blank and simple.
I'll take my own chances because I'll always trust my own human survival instincts far more than those of bought off and paid for Government hacks, thank you very much.
PS - Sergeant Major Integrity Mueller got any evidence that will actually stand up in any real court of law yet, or what?