Groups Sue Delaware And New Jersey Over The killing Of Our Fishery Resource

Amy Roe writes ~ "With some of my favorite people at the State House in New Jersey to protect fish in the Delaware River."  — with Maya K. van Rossum, Mark Martell and David Carter.

And Dave Carter notes ~ "Delightful to be working together with friends on both side of the river and bay to stop this unconscionable killing of our fishery resource."

 (At the Delaware City Day Parade in July)

(News Journal) Jeff Montgomery reports ~ Environmental groups sue Del., NJ over fish kills

A coalition of regional and state environmental groups sued Delaware and New Jersey today over what they termed “unconscionable” government failure to curb massive fish kills and habitat damage caused by industrial water withdrawals at two sites along the Delaware River.

The lawsuits target operations at the Delaware City Refinery and at PSEG’s Salem nuclear reactor complex along the waterway in New Jersey. Both demand the preparation and release of draft new permits to replace long-expired versions for outdated intakes at both facilities, arguing in Delaware’s case that regulator inaction has held public participation rights “hostage” for 11 years. Current state approvals allow the facilities to pump more than 3 billion gallons of water daily combined from the river, using it for once-through cooling processes that effectively detour a portion of the waterway through the plants, at a high cost to the environment. Past studies have concluded that cooling demands of Salem’s twin reactors alone kill the equivalent of more than 800 million fish and billions of other organisms yearly at the plant’s intakes or in its plumbing – dwarfing commercial and recreational catches and jeopardizing some endangered species.

“They are the largest predators in the Delaware Estuary and Bay, and yet our environmental agencies have turned a blind eye to their operations and allowed them an unscrupulous right to continue their fish kills,” said Maya van Rossum, who directs the regional Delaware Riverkeeper organization. Other participants in the suit include Delaware Audubon, the Sierra Club Delaware chapter, New Jersey Sierra Club, the Eastern Environmental Law Center, New Jersey Environmental Federation and the Coalition for Peace and Justice. All of the groups sent letters to regulators in May calling on them to require construction of cooling towers at both locations.

Also read ~ Environmental groups take legal action to address Delaware River fish kills
www.wdde.org

"The states of New Jersey and Delaware seem to be the #fish out of #water today, after coming under fire for their inability to prevent colossal environmental damage along the #Delaware River." Read more at http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/state/del-and-nj-sued-after-colossal-fish-kills

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