WAREHOUSE ALERT
ATTENDANCE NEEDED!!! 🚨🚨🚨
CCRG is urgently asking you to attend an upcoming DEP hearing on the sewer line for the proposed warehouse on Rt 611 by the RR tracks. This is the Pocono Mountains Corporate Center North Warehouse on Lot 1. The project site is next to Lexington Woods residents and across 611 from Laurel Drive and Pocono Farms residents. Traffic, noise, air and water pollution will impact everyone and harm our environment.
🚨DEP Hearing on Tuesday, December 17, 2024 from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm.
Tobyhanna Elementary Center
398 Old Route 940
Pocono Pines PA 18350🚨
The hearing pertains to the Chapter 105 permit application of the developer, Orchard BJK. This permit if approved by DEP will allow the developer to run a sewer main force line through the Exceptional Value wetlands. The process they will use is called a directional bore. Which means they will drill the line underground and during the process there is a high probability that a drilling failure can happen. It is not uncommon with a directional bore for the area to collapse during the drilling, if that happens it will send debris into the EV wetlands.
A sewer line is usually installed using a standard trench dig method so that the line is securely surrounded by fill to protect it from being punctured. In the winter when the ground freezes and heaves it causes all those wonderful glacial rock formations underground to move, which will pound against the unprotected sewer line. Over time this will damage the pipe and a main force sewer line with holes is never a good thing. We need to make DEP understand this is a poor plan and will cause future harm to our EV wetlands and Duck Puddle Run.
When the Walmart DC was built, they ran a directional bore sewer line across the front lawn of the Township complex to hook up to Coolbaugh Township's Waste Water Treatment Plant. In less than 10 years that line failed and it took 3-4 years to locate the portion of the line with problems and replace it with new pipe using a trench method. This line was not in wetlands, it was easy to get to and Walmart took responsibility and worked with the Township to fix it.
Orchard BJK will build their logistics building, and just like the other 2 they have built in Coolbaugh, they will sell it. The sewer line they want a permit for, will be hooked up to the EDC's plant, which is currently a privately owned Waste Water Treatment Plant. But soon it will be sold to the Mount Pocono Municipal Authority to run. Who will be responsible when the sewer line fails and pollutes our EV wetlands? The Mount Pocono Municipal Authority because they will own the asset, the EDC because they will own the land and gave permission for the line to be installed, the developer who put the line in or the new owners of the warehouse where the sewage is coming from? Clean up will be lengthy and expensive. And one important piece of information is - the sewer lines are located in Coolbaugh Township. This means it will be a part of our Municipality's Act 537 Plan and DEP will expect Coolbaugh to fix the issue. DEP will not go after the above mentioned parties, Coolbaugh Township will have to. Forcing legal and financial responsibility onto the County EDC, Mount Pocono Authority and/or the property owner will be a lengthy, costly process which our taxpayers will have to pay for. This is a disaster in the making.
A few years ago, Pocono Township ran new sewer lines down Rt 611. These lines were installed along the shoulder of the highway, where utility lines belong. Where they can be trenched in and are easy to get to. Why was this not even a consideration for this project? Why is the EDC helping to destroy our community's natural resources to benefit an industrial developer? Why are the costs of this project being externalized onto the taxpayers? Good development benefits the local community, poor development harms it.
Please attend this hearing. It is the last chance we will have to ask DEP to do their job and protect our EV and HQ waters, which are entitled to Special Protection under the law. There will be multiple environmental groups speaking on behalf of the our Exceptional Value wetlands and we are so grateful to them for the expertise they bring. If you are not comfortable speaking at the hearing, your attendance is still very important to show DEP we all care about our clean water.
Your Action is Needed - Please Attend This Hearing.
Thank you all for your sincere Grassroots effort to preserve our clean waters.
Sincerely,
Coolbaugh Citizens for Responsible Growth
P.S. Additional information from the Brodhead Watershed on this DEP permit is shown below