The Lower Tow Supervisors will be meeting on March 10, 7pm, at the municipal building.  The address is 595  Hahns’ Dairy Road, Palmerton. A vote on a resolution against the PennEast pipeline is on the agenda. Please come out and give your support!

The pipeline will cut across Exceptional Value Wetlands and potential Bog Turtle habitat. It will also cause additional forest fragmentation and be a corridor for invasive species to become established.

The need for this pipeline is murky- most, if not all of the gas looks to be for export. And, why the need for a new Right of Way (ROW)? Transco/Williams already has a major ROW that goes in the same direction.

PennEast estimates 12,000 jobs- nearly all temporary (and minimum wage), such as motel rooms, food services, etc. Construction will be done by workers from Texas, Oklahoma- pipeline specialists.

Pipelines have been leaking and exploding more frequently-you have probably seen this on the news. It is cheaper and easier for the gas companies to make short-cuts and then pay the fines.  They are unwanted, temporary neighbors to most of us. Groups who want to take the benefits and then leave. And they leave a forever changed landscape in their wake.

Carbon County Commissioners put forth a Resolution to oppose the Penneast Pipeline.

RESOLUTION 15-003

RESOLUTION CONCERNING THE PROPOSED PENNEAST NATURAL GAS PIPELINE AND AUTHORIZING THE COUNTY TO ACT AS INTERVENER AND TAKE SUCH ADDITIONAL ACTION IN THE COURSE OF THE REGULATORY PROCESS TO PROTECT THE INTERESTS OF THE COUNTY AND ITS RESIDENTS.

APWC applauds this action!

Our next meeting will be on March 17, 2015, 7pm at Polk Municipal Building.

Due to the rain, our exhibit at Ross Township Day was a wash out. We had a good display of invasive plant species, and a buzzboard for kids to match larval macroinvertebrate species with the adult forms. The rain squashed our efforts. There were far more exhibitors than people interested in the exhibits.

However, at our last meeting, a motion was made and passed to purchase a waterproof canopy so we need not worry about bad weather for our community outreach events.

The Friends of Cherry Valley hosted a Spring Festival at the Moreton Homestead on May 17th. This was the first such event held on Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge grounds. Attendance was estimated at 300 people. The event went well, in spite of very muddy conditions due to a 4″ rain storm the preceding day.
There were 25 exhibitors representing many local environmental groups, recycling information, and wildlife rehabilitation. A representative from the Lenape Nation demonstrated games for children and tribal objects.
An archery range was set up for the kids, as well as fishing, seed planting, bird house building, nature walks and bird feeder making.
We hope the next festival will attract even more people!

APWC Newsletter Spring 2014
Here is our latest newsletter. If you would like to write something for our next publication, please send it to apwc.nepa@gmail.com.

Our Spring cleanup took place on Saturday, April 12th. We had six volunteers, picked up ten bags of trash, some rolls of carpet, some tires and another television along our assigned section of Lower Smith Gap Road. We were assisted by several members of the Living Hope Lighthouse Church- thanks so much!

We attended the December 21,2010 Environmental Quality Board hearing in Harrisburg. One of the items on the agenda was to continue the Petition process for redesignation of the Aquashicola to Exceptional Value (click on Petition on this page). DEP made a short and well done presentation, and the matter was put to a vote. The result was nearly unanimous in favor of further research. One step further along!

DEP has received our Petition to redesignate the Aquashicola Creek (from source to confluence with Buckwha Creek) to Exceptional Value.

In the November 1, 2010 Pa Environment Digest, a section gave notice that the Aquashicola will be evaluated by DEP. The link is: http://www.paenvironmentdigest.com/newsletter/default.asp?NewsletterArticleID=17184.

Please comment if you have anything to add via contact number on our site.