Good Spring residents receive additional notification letters

GOOD SPRING - Several Good Spring residents say they're planning to contact the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) in response to the most recent letters they received about Rausch Creek's proposed water withdrawal project.

As of January 5, about a half dozen people had called the SRBC, according to Andrew Dehoff, P.E., Manager, Project Review for SRBC. Dehoff reported no formal comments, however, have been sent to the commission in response to the December 19 notice residents received.

"We have so many trucks coming and going up here now that these roads aren't going to take much more," said Tammy Saltzman, of 2014 E. Center St., who got one of the informational letters.

She plans on sending a comment to the SRBC, especially after reading the correspondence.

"People around here are so used to just letting things go, but I'm definitely going to do that. I loved that line (in the letter) where it said 'There is no action necessary on your part,'" Saltzman said.

The letters are from Skelly and Loy, Engineering Environmental Consultants, Harrisburg, and include a list of about 50 parcel owners and a boundary map of the proposed groundwater withdrawal area. As part of SRBC regulations, it's required that notice be sent to the owners of parcels that are within a one-half mile radius of the proposed water withdrawal project, the letter explains.

Back on December 20, 2010, Rausch Creek, L.P., filed an application for approval with the SRBC for water withdrawal of up to 100,000 gallons per day from an abandoned strip mine pit known as Pit No. 21 on Rausch Creek property in Porter Township, Schuylkill County. The water will be used for wells which are proposed to be drilled in the future for the development of natural gas resources.

The letters notify residents of the address where they may comment to the SRBC about Rausch Creek's pending application. Comments can be directed to: Mr. Andrew D. Dehoff, Manager, Project Review, Susquehanna River Basin Commission; 1721 North Front St., Harrisburg, PA 17102-2391; telephone: 717-238-0423, ext. 221; fax: 717-909-0468; email: adehoff@srbc.net.

Meanwhile, several other citizens expressed that they had questions for the company, but did not want to speak publicly to the media. Calls and an e-mail from The Citizen-Standard to Rausch Creek Field Superintendent Matt Postupak also went unanswered at the Valley View office. Calls left on an answering machine at the Porter Township municipal building also were not returned.

Saltzman intended to contact local legislators and municipal officials.

"Representative Mike Tobash did call me and he was very nice and he said he was going to be looking into this," she said.

Rep. Mike Tobash, R-125, said he planned to meet with representatives of Rausch Creek, possibly by this Thursday, Jan. 19, or the following week.

"I'm interested in seeing what their plans are and down the road how it might impact our citizens," Tobash said.

"To my knowledge, no permits for Marcellus Shale drilling have been granted in Schuylkill County," he said, noting the legislative session for 2011 ended before action addressing the industry was taken.

"I'm disappointed we ended 2011 without some impact fee on the (Marcellus Shale) industry. I supported a House bill that put impact fees on the wells and made sure local impacts are addressed," Tobash said.

Some residents who received letters when Rausch Creek filed its initial application, may have also received the most recent mailing, according to Dehoff.

Letters were sent when Rausch Creek filed the application in December 2010. However, those letters indicated the withdrawal was from a surface water source. While Pit #21 is a surface water body, it is strongly connected to groundwater to the point where the withdrawal can be considered a groundwater withdrawal, according to Dehoff. When the SRBC learned that, the commission required Rausch Creek to send out a second batch of letters, Dehoff said. Because the notice requirements for a surface water application and groundwater application are different, it could be that different residents received a letter last month than received the letter in 2010. The commission also received a handful of comments in response to the original mailing, he said.

SRBC regulations require project sponsors (applicants) to notify nearby landowners so that they are aware of water resource development projects occurring in their area. The commission regulates withdrawals from surface and groundwater sources for the purpose of ensuring that new withdrawals do not cause adverse impacts to existing users or to other water resources, such as streams and wetlands. By requiring notice to nearby landowners, the SRBC may learn of domestic or industrial wells that could potentially be impacted by the proposed withdrawal, and the public is afforded an opportunity to express to the commission any concerns they may have regarding potential impacts of the proposed withdrawal.

Comments are accepted up until about a month prior to the commission taking action on the application. Notice of commission action is made approximately two months prior to the date of action. In this case, commission action is likely 9 to 12 months away, Dehoff explained.

Every comment is reviewed, logged into the application file, and eventually shared with the SRBC commissioners before they take action on the application. If the comment includes contact information, such as a name and address, the commenter will be added to the notification list and receive notice of any hearings or actions scheduled in relation to the application.

The public notices are an early part of the process, considered to be an administrative aspect of the application. When the SRBC is satisfied that all the appropriate paperwork is complete, it will begin the technical review.

"Groundwater reviews are complex and take some time to conduct, and the commission has a backlog of applications we are working through," said Dehoff.

The commission meets on a quarterly basis, in March, June, September and December of every year.

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