Howdy River Folks and Happy Thanksgiving,

Hope all is well, things are great here! We've had a very active and successful couple of months. We've established a new "Get The Dirt Out" program to train volunteers on evaluating and reporting runoff from construction sites. We continue to work on reducing the impacts of the power plants on the Susquehanna (more about that below). AND, Thanks to you we also just fulfilled our Keith Campbell Foundation Challenge and were approved for a $40,000 grant!!! This is a big chunk of our budget and again we have YOU to thank for our continued success.

Our work on the power plants really heated up the last month. We met with PA DEP to discuss the Holtwood Hydro Dam project impacts and potential solutions. We met with Exelon regarding the relicensing of Conowingo and Muddy Run. We didn't get any real info from Exelon, but their pre-application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) will be out by March and our requests for studies of their impacts are due in June 2009. There will be meetings held by Exelon in June that all interested parties can attend. We also submitted a proposal for a large grant that would help us study the potential beneficial uses of the sediment building up behind the lower Susquehanna River dams. On the north end of our area, we have recently learned of studies that show that the Shamokin Dam Coal-Burning Power Plant is having a negative impact to the Susquehanna in that area, so we will begin studying these problems to determine what the current owners (Corona, LLC ?) need to do to reduce their impacts on the fish populations in the area. Please let us know if you know anything about Corona, LLC. Finally, soon we will see some of our work on Brunner Island Coal Plant pay off as they begin installation of new cooling equipment to reduce the thermal pollution that has been harming that section of the Susquehanna for over 40 years.

We've also been doing more work on the declining fish populations in the Susquehanna. Mostly we've been alerting the public to all of the citizen concerns that we have been receiving. We recently had articles in local papers and on local TV newscasts that pointed out that work to clean up our farms and wastewater treatment plants isn't about fixing the Chesapeake but also about fixing what's right in our back yards. We'll have more for you on this soon, but for now, feel free to send us your observations. We will let you know when and where the upcoming PA Fish & Boat Bass Meeting will be.

Finally to something a little less like work... Stewards of the Lower Susquehanna has been working and progressing on many different issues this year and it is time we all got together to have some snacks, drink a beverage, and discuss our organization and what direction you, as members, would like to see us go in the upcoming year. It is also important that our members meet other folks working in our area on similar problems. We, the staff of SOLS, would like to see more communication among the members. We know that some of you are working on similar issues, and in these battles it's nice to know we are not alone.

In this spirit of friendship and camaraderie, we invite you and interested friends to our annual Stewards of the Lower Susquehanna Membership Meeting and Party. This event will be held at our office in York, PA on the evening of December 10th at 7 pm. The Board of Directors of SOLS will be bringing snacks and beverages for all, but feel free to bring your favorite snacks or drinks to add to the table. The Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper will give an overview of our past year's work and our goals for the coming year, and there will be plenty of time to discuss these issues and any others that folks would like to bring up. Look forward to seeing you there, and give us a call if you have any questions, 717-779-7915. Click here for Directions to the office.

As always, there is much more to talk about, so we hope you can make it to the Annual Membership meeting on December 10th. Have a wonderful holiday season.

SOLS and Lower Susquehanna RIVERKEEPER®

 

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