News

May 2, 2008

State AG raps DEP over problem dams

Meadow Run dam in Bear Creek is one of the structures whose failure could be fatal.

State Auditor General Jack Wagner chastised the state Department of Environmental Protection in a statement on Thursday, saying that people are being put in jeopardy because DEP hasn’t required adequate emergency plans at about 600 dams.

DEP Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty responded that Wagner’s report was based on old data and that the agency has been addressing those issues for the past four years.

One Luzerne County site is on Wagner’s list of dams whose failure could have fatal results. The Meadow Run dam in Bear Creek Township is owned by the Mountain Lake Park Association, according to DEP spokesman Neil Weaver. According to Wagner’s report, the dam was built in 1909 and was listed as unsafe in 1980, putting 70 people at risk.

A design to fix the dam was approved in 2001, the report indicates. Weaver said state Rep. Michael Carroll, D-Avoca, is helping the owners secure funding and begin work this year.

Weaver was unsure whether the site has an approved emergency plan on file.

The report studied inspections and enforcement from 2002 to 2006.

“Our audit found that, on average, 5 percent of the state’s high-hazard dams failed to receive their mandated annual inspections, either from their owner or from DEP, during our audit period,” Wagner said in the statement.

“While we appreciate the auditor general’s findings, this report reflects the programs of the past, not the programs as they are today,” McGinty said in a statement.

“…(O)n average, 5 percent of the state’s high-hazard dams failed to receive their mandated annual inspections. ...”

Jack Wagner

Pa. Auditor General

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