Lower Allen Web Log

If you read The Patriot-News you'll see that 54 municipalities...

"...have filed a Commonwealth Court lawsuit against the state Department of Environmental Protection seeking to overturn its costly strategy for reducing the amounts of nutrients that flow downstream to Chesapeake Bay.

The lawsuit argues that nearly all the mandated costs--estimated at over a billion dollars--are being assessed on ratepayers of sewage treatment plants, which are responsible for a fraction of nutrient discharges...."

Lower Allen Township and the Lower Allen Township Authority chose to not participate in this lawsuit. At the urging of Authority staff and its board, the LAT BOC decided at a meeting earlier this year to not use your tax revenues to fight the implementation of the Chesapeake 2000 Bay cleanup strategy.

Part of the rationale for that decision was based on the fact that the Authority had already petitioned for and received a DEP extension allowing it to take until 2015 to meet discharge limits. Also, officials felt strongly that tax dollars should be used to help pay for the approximately $9 to $11 million dollars in required plant upgrades instead of becoming embroiled in legal action with an initial cost of $2,000 and no finite upper limit.

Personally, I believe it's ridiculous that Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) hasn't formulated some type of meaningful assistance plan for affected municipalities. If there are no state dollars available, DEP may have at least been able to work with local officials to lend considerable weight to securing attractive loan rates, or other creative funding mechanisms.

Until recently, though, the DEP has taken a hands off approach to funding plant upgrades, while municipalities in Maryland and Virginia are being helped by state flush taxes and other assistance. Not until municipalities threatened to sue did PA state officials begin talking about helping to shoulder the burden.

That said, I did vote to follow our Authority's lead on this lawsuit. My strong feelings aside, I've been impressed from day one with our Authority's management and fiscal practices. Everything I've seen, read and learned tells me they're doing it right, and I can't help but respect that.