SRBC: 1970-2070 - RIFP ( F = Final)

The pics above are from the site on Bowmans Creek where Cabot Oil & Gas, one of the most heavily fined gas drillers in PA history, is still allowed by the SRBC to withdraw water.

Let's start off with an article from today's news.

To follow that, here's a press release from the Susquehanna River Basin Commission yesterday.

Finally, a drought map from the USGS website. Note the areas in northeastern PA. 

So, the SRBC is watching things closely, the USGS has some pretty stressed out areas fitting neatly within the Marcellus Shale Zone...and Cabot Oil & Gas can still withdraw water from Bowmans Creek.

Okay...follow me for a few minutes. Here's a snippet from the SRBC press release:

At any water withdrawal point approved by SRBC, a certain pre-determined amount of water must flow by that withdrawal point to protect aquatic habitat and downstream water users. That pre-determined level is commonly known as the critical low flow, which is measured by stream gages installed and maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey. When project sponsors apply to SRBC to withdraw water, SRBC determines if that requested amount will or will not impact the stream at the withdrawal point when the stream drops to the critical low flow levels.

Having established the fact that the SRBC uses data from the USGS to set withdrawal limits, I asked the USGS:

This station (01534000) on Tunkhannock Creek ( Wyoming County, PA ) is used by the SRBC to make withdrawal decisions on another local waterway; Bowmans Creek. They are two separate and distinct streams that empty into the Susquehanna River near Tunkhannock.
To your knowledge, is there any person or organization that collects and records streamflow data for Bowmans Creek? Thank you. Don

Here was their response:

Mr. Williams, I do not know of anyone that collects/records streamflow data for Bowmans Creek. You could try the Bowman's Creek Watershed Association. There contact information is as follows: Bowman's Creek Watershed Association, P.O. Box 236, Noxen, PA, 18636. e-mail: parklane@epix.net

I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help. If you have additional questions, let me know. Linda

I sent an e-mail to parklane@epix.net, and got a reply that the e-mail address was no longer active.

Soooo...the USGS has no water gage on Bowmans Creek, they are not aware of anyone who collects streamflow data for that stream, and the one possible source cannot be reached. ( I am sending a snail mail letter today ).

The SRBC is not G*d. They have made a mistake, and the continued withdrawals of water from Bowmans Creek, which is a public natural resource held in trust for all Pennsylvanians, is a crime against all of us and all of nature. 

Think about what the folks in Flower Mound TX did. Why can't we start a similar sequence of events here and now?

Write to the SRBC @ srbc@srbc.net and tell them to stop all withdrawals on Bowmans Creek in Wyoming County, PA. Then write to your PA Rep's and Senators...even the clueless ones.

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 For the record, on my word and honor, I am setting aside my share of some trust funds, if and when they become available to me, to be used - if so blessed - by my grandchildren or great grandchildren to ensure that the SRBC is in for the legal battle of the century when their compact comes up for renewal in 2070. And trust me, my descendants and/or their legal team will have plenty of evidence to support their claims that the SRBC's haphazard approval of water withdrawals for natural gas drilling was responsible, in whole in part, for the catastrophic degradation of our precious and life-sustaining waters that we WILL be left to deal with in the generations to follow. 7/17/2010 - Donald J. Williams

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Amen.