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In an important step, federal legislation to help protect the Delaware River Basin has passed its Senate committee
The Delaware River Basin Conservation Act of 2011 passed the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works last Thursday.
A companion bill in the House of Representatives is under consideration by the House Natural Resources Committee’s subcommittee on fisheries, wildlife, oceans and insular Affairs.
“We have a long way to go, but this is the first time that the legislation made it out of committee,” said Dan Plummer, board chairman of Friends of the Upper Delaware River. “We want to thank the legislators who saw the value in this proposal, in spite of the difficult economic times we are in.”
The Senate co-sponsors of the legislation are Democratic Sens. Tom Carper and Chris Coons of Delaware, Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and Robert Casey of Pennsylvania.
The House bill is sponsored by U.S. Rep. John Carney, a Delaware Democrat. It has bipartisan co-sponsorship, including U.S. Reps. Robert Andrews and Rush Holt, New Jersey Democrats; Frank LoBiondo and John Runyan, New Jersey Republicans; Charles Dent, Michael Fitzpatrick, Jim Gerlach and Patrick Meehan, Pennsylvania Republicans; Allyson Schwartz, a Pennsylvania Democrat, and Maurice Hinchey, a New York Democrat.
The advancement of the bill was lauded by a number of conservation organizations that support it, including Friends of the Upper Delaware River, Delaware Riverkeeper, Delaware Highlands Conservancy, the American Littoral Society, the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, New Jersey Audubon, American Rivers, the Land Trust Alliance, Ducks Unlimited, Trout Unlimited, the Pinchot Institute and Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future.
“We applaud the bi-partisan leadership and the forward momentum of this much-needed legislation,” said Kelly Mooij, of New Jersey Audubon Society. “The River Basin provides the water, habitat for wildlife and livelihood for many millions in our four states. We congratulate this committee for its recognition of what we in the region have known for quite some time; we must act now to protect this valuable resource for our children and grandchildren.”
“The Delaware River provides the life-blood water to 15 million people in and around its basin,” said John Randolph, editor emeritus of Fly Fisherman magazine. “It has never faced more threatening environmental challenges. This bill is an important step in creating the means of the river's long-term protection and restoration.”
“We applaud this much-needed bill to help protect this incredibly valuable resource," said Glenn Erikson, Ph.D., of Wild Trout Flyrodders and the Federation of Fly Fishers. “The river is the crown jewel of eastern fisheries yet has immense challenges before it, even beyond the threat unregulated hydrofracking poses: invasive species, declining and/or turbid releases from its New York reservoirs, increasing gravel loads scouring the riverbeds, riverbed flattening in key reaches, and many more.”
"In the wake of both man made and natural environmental impacts to the Delaware Watershed, it's great to see bi-partisan support for financial aid to this resource so many depend upon,” said Richard Thomas of New Jersey Trout Unlimited. “We can only hope the support will continue to grow for this legislation which would help protect and restore the watershed for years to come."
The act would implement a voluntary, coordinated approach to sustaining and enhancing the basin’s habitat, water quality and flooding controls to benefit fish, wildlife and people.
It would provide $5 million for each of the next five fiscal years. The federal Interior Secretary would coordinate a program that would involve all four states in the basin, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. The program would include a competitive grants component to provide support for local, on-the-ground projects by non-profits, universities, state and local governments, community organizations and others.
The grants could be used to support such things as wetlands restoration and protection, flood mitigation and waterfront revitalization.
In many ways, the Delaware River Basin has lacked a coordinated federal/state/local oversight effort, even though it is home to more than 8 million people and provides drinking water to 15 million. Other major American watersheds, including the Great Lakes and the Chesapeake Bay, get tens of millions of dollars in federal funding used for such things as conservation coordination.
The Delaware Basin gets relatively little funding, and the lack of coordination leaves it vulnerable to environmental exploitation.
Conservation groups point out that the Delaware River, the longest undammed river east of the Mississippi, is a critical component of the National Wild and Scenic River System in the Northeast. Management of the river and water volume in the Basin is critical to flood control and habitat for fish and wildlife.
Plummer said it is vital for individuals, municipalities and organizations within the Delaware Basin to contact their federal representatives to voice support for the legislation.
He urged those seeking more information, including a list of Basin congressmen, to visit the Northeast-Midwest Institute website at www.nemw.org/delaware.
“This is a great opportunity for us to draw long overdue funding and attention to our vital and precious natural resource,” Plummer said.
