This is not an April Fools’ joke.
If you fish Valley Creek or Little Valley Creek in Pennsylvania, or if you care about clean water in the Delaware River watershed, I need a few minutes of your time. Sound good?
Here’s the sorta short version… Bishop Tube, a former industrial site in Chester County, has been contaminating Little Valley Creek with toxic pollutants for roughly 50 years. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has been officially aware of it since 1999. Let that sink in. A quarter century of hand-wringing, and a beloved trout stream has been paying the price.
On March 6th of this year, PA DEP finally entered into a proposed negotiated remediation plan with the responsible corporations and a developer. On paper, that sounds like progress. And maybe it is. But here’s the problem.
While the agency, the polluters, and the developer have had years to discuss, assess, and negotiate this plan behind closed doors, the public, the anglers, the neighbors, the people who actually live and fish alongside this creek have been handed 60 days to review it all. The clock started ticking on March 14th. The comment deadline is May 14th.
Sixty days to dig through the data, understand the legal framework, evaluate the remediation plan, and submit meaningful public comment. For a site that’s been polluted for half a century. That’s not transparency, that’s a formality.
In a recent email blast, Valley Forge Trout Unlimited called it what it is: unconscionable.
The Delaware Riverkeeper Network and Green Amendments for the Generations have already drafted a letter to the Governor and PA DEP demanding an extended, more equitable, and more accessible public comment process. All they need is your name on it.
I don’t usually get on a soapbox here, but clean water isn’t a political issue. No clean water, no trout. No trout, no us. And this one hits “home” for me.
If you’ve got 60 seconds, sign the letter. That’s all this takes. Thank you in advance.
Sign the letter here → Delaware Riverkeeper Network
The fish don’t get a voice in this. We do.
