Pennsylvania Phase 3 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan Public Comment Response Document Format June 17, 2019 DRAFT
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Pennsylvania Phase 3 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan Public Comment Response Document Format June 17, 2019 DRAFT TABLE OF COMMENTATORS Commentator Name and Address Affiliation ID # 1 Maryanne Tobin 1952 5880 Henry Ave Philadelphia, PA 19128 2 R John Dawes Foundation for PA Watersheds 9697 Loop Rd. Alexandria, PA 16611 3 Scott Rebert Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture 2301 North Cameron Street Harrisburg, PA 17110-9408 4 Ronald Furlan 1903 Limestone Drive Hummelstown, PA 17036 5 David Lamereaux 135 Ash Street Archbald, PA 18403 6 Jessica Trimble PA DCED Center for Local Government 400 North Street Services Harrisburg, PA 17120 7 Jamie Yiengst South Lebanon Township 1800 S 5th Ave Lebanon, PA 17042 8 Keith Henn Tetra Tech, Inc. Suite 200 661 Andersen Drive Pittsburgh, PA 15220 9 Keith Salador Citizens Advisory Council PO Box 8459 Harrisburg, PA 17105 Commentator Name and Address Affiliation ID # 10 Kristopher Troup North Londonderry Township 655 E. Ridge Road Palmyra, PA 17078 11 Cheri Grumbine North Lebanon Township 725 Kimmerlings Road Lebanon, PA 17046 12 Eric Rosenbaum PA4R Nutrient Stewardship Alliance 20 Glenbrook Drive Shillington, PA 19607 13 Jeremy Rowland Coalition for Affordable Bay Solutions 1080 Camp Hill Road (CABS) Fort Washington, PA 19034 14 Joe Pizarchik former director, OSMRE, Dept of the 3000 Berry Lane Interior Harrisburg, PA 17112 15 Mary Gattis Mary Gattis LLC 27 South Cedar Street Lititz, PA 17543 16 Robin Getz Director of Public Works-City of Lebanon Room 220 400 S 8th Street Lebanon, PA 17042 17 Jennifer Reed-Harry PennAg Industries Association 2215 Forest Hills Drive, Suite 39 Harrisburg, PA 17112 18 Kevin Sunday Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and 417 Walnut St Industry Harrisburg, PA 17055 19 Brian Gallagher Western Pennsylvania Conservancy 800 Waterfront Dr. Pittsburgh, PA 15222 20 Sarah Diebel DoD Chesapeake Bay Program 1510 Gilbert Street Coordinator NorfolkVA 23511 2 Commentator Name and Address Affiliation ID # 21 Lisa Schaefer County Commissioners Association of PO Box 60769 Pennsylvania Harrisburg, PA 17106 22 Charles Hegberg reGENESIS Consulting Services & 256 Frederick Street Infinite Solutions Hanover, PA 17331 23 Alice Baker PennFuture 1429 Walnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19102 24 Felicia Dell York County Planning Commission 28 East Market St., Suite 301 York, PA 17401 25 Julie Cheyney Lebanon County Clean Water Alliance 400 S. Eighth Street (LCCWA) Lebanon, PA 17042 26 Davitt Woodwell Pennsylvania Environmental Council Suite 201 810 River Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15212 27 Rick Meinke 267 Buckwheat Rd Fawn Grove, PA 17321 28 Joshua Billings Lycoming County Planning & Community 48 West Third Street Development Williamsport, PA 17701 29 Taylor Nezat Pennsylvania Choose Clean Water 610 N. Third St. Coalition [part of PennFuture] Harrisburg, PA 17101 30 Ronald Ramsey The Nature Conservancy, Pennsylvania Building #1, Suite 200 Chapter 2101 North Front Street Harrisburg, PA 17110 31 Grant Gulibon Pennsylvania Farm Bureau P.O. Box 8736 510 S. 31st St. Camp Hill, PA 17001-8736 3 Commentator Name and Address Affiliation ID # 32 HL Campbell PA Chesapeake Bay Foundation Ste 220 1426 North Third Street Harrisburg, PA 17102 33 Michael Sachs Resource Environmental Solutions, LLC 33 Terminal Way, Suite (RES) W445A Pittsburgh, PA 15219 34 Jessica Blackburn Chesapeake Executive Council, CAC Suite 101 C 612 Hull Street Richmond, VA 23224 35 Allyson Gibson Lancaster Clean Water Partners 1383 Arcadia Rd Lancaster, PA 17601 36 Renee Reber American Rivers [for Pennsylvania 309 3rd Street Stormwater Workgroup for Clean Water] New Cumberland, PA 17070 37 James Wheeler Pa. State Assoc. of Township 4855 Woodland Drive Supervisors Enola, PA 17025 38 Katlyn Schmitt Waterkeepers Chesapeake Suite #820 6930 Carroll Ave. Takoma Park, MD 20912 39 Jenna Mitchell Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay Suite 302 37 E. Orange Street Lancaster, PA 17602 40 Patrick Thompson EnergyWorks Group 71 Old Mill Bottom Road North Annapolis, MD 21409 4 Outline General Comments • Shortfall in Meeting PA’s nutrient targets • Funding gap to meet targets • Overall Content Program Commitments (Section 2) • Legislative • Regulatory • Program Enhancement Numeric Commitments (Section 2) • Agriculture • Forestry • Stormwater • Wastewater Countywide Action Planning (Section 4) • Plans • Process Communication and Engagement Strategy (Section 4) Existing and Needed Resources (Section 5) Federal Role (Section 6) Data Reporting, Tracking, Verifying (Section 7) Climate Change (Section 8) Sector Growth (Section 9) 5 General Comments • Shortfall in Meeting PA’s nutrient targets 1. COMMENT 10. Kristopher Troup, North Londonderry Township - The draft plan states, “Pennsylvania commits to have practices and controls in place by 2025 necessary to achieve the final Phase 3 WIP phosphorus and nitrogen targets,” however, the actions outlined in the plan only account for two-thirds of the nitrogen reduction needed by 2025. The plan’s accounting for the additional required nitrogen reductions is nebulous at best. (10) Response: 2. COMMENT 21. Lisa Schaefer, County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania - … That said, we recognize that the pilot county plans, which were developed with intensive effort, do not appear to have met the goals that were laid out, and as of right now, the overall draft WIP gives the impression that Pennsylvania will not meet its targets. We are concerned that if EPA reacts by taking enforcement measures, that could translate into a corresponding effort by the state to enforce the countywide goals against counties. We would strongly oppose such an effort, and especially without funding or other resources. Not only would this undermine the relationships and efforts that have already been undertaken, any sense that this is another mandate on counties will chill any ability to move forward with the implementation of the pilot county plans and the creation of the remaining county plans going forward. County government and the commonwealth must develop and maintain the close working relationship necessary to cooperatively meet these challenges. (21) Response: 3. COMMENT 23. Alice Baker, PennFuture - 2. The Draft WIP3 Fails to Provide Reasonable Assurance That Expected Load Reductions Will Be Achieved. As articulated above, EPA must evaluate whether a TMDL provides reasonable assurance that controls will achieve expected load reductions. EPA has laid out its approach to ensuring that the reductions set forth in the Bay TMDL will be met. This includes each Bay jurisdiction’s development of phased WIPs and 2-year milestones for implementing practices to achieve load reductions, and EPA’s commitment to track and assess the jurisdictions’ progress and take appropriate federal actions if the jurisdictions fail to develop sufficient WIPs, effectively implement their WIPs, or fulfill their 2-year milestones.1 1 TMDL Section 7, at 7-5. 6 In June 2018, EPA provided the Bay jurisdictions with expectations to maintain accountability.2 EPA communicated its heightened expectations for reasonable assurance and included state specific expectations for Pennsylvania “given that three of PA’s source sectors are under enhanced or back-stopped levels of federal oversight, PA is significantly off track in meeting its programmatic and numeric WIP and two-year milestone commitments, and PA is not on trajectory to meet its Phase III WIP planning targets by 2025.”3 It is clear that EPA expects Pennsylvania to provide a convincing, detailed, and realizable plan in its Phase 3 WIP. Although the Department’s draft WIP3 seeks to address many of the expectations EPA outlines, significant gaps remain in Pennsylvania’s proposed path forward. Pennsylvania must address these gaps in its final WIP3 since without these elements the WIP fails to provide reasonable assurance that expected load reductions will be achieved. a. The Draft WIP3 Does Not Set Forth a Plan to Achieve the Required Nitrogen Reductions. Pennsylvania’s draft WIP3 fails to actually plan for the necessary nitrogen reductions. In order to successfully meet the 2025 target reductions Pennsylvania will need to reduce 34.13 million pounds of nitrogen and 0.756 million pounds of phosphorus annually.4 Despite the various initiatives described and the length of the Department’s proposal, the draft WIP3 only professes to address about 66% of the necessary nitrogen reduction.5 Despite the draft WIP3’s assertion that “Pennsylvania commits to have practices and controls in place by 2025 necessary to achieve the final Phase 3 WIP phosphorus and nitrogen targets,”6 a document that does not even set forth a plan to address the required reductions provides no assurance that expected load reductions will be achieved.7 Pennsylvania’s final WIP3 must address this significant shortcoming. (23) Response: 4. COMMENT 2 EPA, Expectations for the Phase III Watershed Implementation Plans, available at https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-06/documents/epa-phase-iii-wip-expectations-6- 19- 18.pdf [hereinafter EPA Expectations]. 3 Id. at 10. 4 WIP3, at 22. 5 WIP3, at 41, Table 2.2 (totaling nitrogen reduction to the Bay at 22,371,000 million pounds), and see 60, Table 2.4 (totaling edge of tide nitrogen reduction to 22,566,820 million pounds, approximately 66% of 34.1 million pounds). 6 WIP3, at 11, 26, 88, and 142. 7 It should be noted that the WIP3 does articulate an approach to achieve the required phosphorus reductions by 2025 and notes, without further description, that “[w]hen the phosphorus goal is exceeded, the excess phosphorus can be converted into nitrogen reductions.” WIP3, at 78. PennFuture questions the ability to convert excess phosphorus to nitrogen reductions. We assume the Department is referring to some sort of exchange of phosphorous reduction for nitrogen reduction based on the EPA’s provided conversion factors, as referred to on page 11 of the draft WIP3 and not discussed thereafter. However, this proposed exchange of through which Pennsylvania would achieve an additional 155,664 pounds reduction of nitrogen will still not reach the necessary nitrogen reductions. 7 24. Felicia Dell, York County Planning Commission - SECTION 10. CONCLUSION 56.