This page was last updated on June 9, 2014.
Raccoon Creek needs EPA protection; Joshua Sonntag; Beaver County Times; June 9, 2014. An editor’s note asserts, “Sonntag is a summer intern with PennEnvironment, a statewide citizen-based advocacy organization that focuses on clean air, clean water, and protecting open spaces.”
It’s not clear where Mr. Sonntag lives. This letter indicates Philadelphia, but a posting on “Pittsburgh News” indicates Squirrel Hill and a letter on philly.com says Elkins Park, a northern suburb of Philadelphia.
You won’t be surprised to learn PennEnvironment believes in manmade global warming. Other letters from PennEnvironment activists/employees include “Protect parks,” “Protect clean air standards,” “Altmire’s vote does not tell whole tale,” “Wind power beats drilling any day,” “Address mass transit needs,” and “Fund mass transit adequately.”
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“Raccoon Creek is a large part of the Beaver County community. As a special place in the region, Raccoon Creek provides a place we all love to visit, while supporting activities like swimming, fishing, kayaking and canoeing. These are just some of the many features that define life in Beaver County. The creek supplies life to the wildlife, vegetation and ecosystem.”
[RWC] Substitute “Mahantango” for “Raccoon” and “Northumberland County” for “Beaver County” and you’ll find Mr. Sonntag sent exactly the same letter to The News Item of Shamokin. I wonder how many more of these form letters will surface. Is the form-letter boilerplate Mr. Sonntag’s, or PennEnvironment’s?
“But sadly, holes in the Clean Water Act threaten to intervene with this beauty and cause nothing but harm. The Environmental Protection Agency has a made great strides to bring the Raccoon under the CWA. They plan to close those loopholes to supply a clean, healthy and more vibrant environment for the county. This will make it safer for the children, animals and plant life to thrive and have a more bountiful future.
“This is an important step for the EPA, but they need your support. To protect the Raccoon Creek, I urge the EPA to finalize its rule to restore the Clean Water Act protections to all Pennsylvania’s waterways.”
[RWC] In case you missed it, Mr. Sonntag provided absolutely no specifics. That is, how do alleged, unidentified “holes in the Clean Water Act threaten to intervene with this beauty and cause nothing but harm” and what is the EPA’s “plan to close those loopholes?” If there is indeed some new problem, why shouldn’t the PA DEP handle it instead of the EPA?
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