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By PAMELA C. TURFA pamt@leader.net
Tuesday, March 04, 2003 Page: 1A
Conservationists have sued to halt construction of a sewer line they fear
could lead to the development and destruction of thousands of environmentally
sensitive acres along the Moosic Mountain ridge line.
Citizens Alert Regarding the Environment is seeking an injunction to stop
construction of the sewer line to serve a portion of Jefferson Township,
Lackawanna County, pending environmental studies.
CARE filed the lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
The area that is the focus of the group’s lawsuit is known as the Moosic
Mountain Barrens – the largest high-altitude pine barrens in Pennsylvania and
one of the largest on the East Coast.
The barrens have been identified as “the regional area most worthy of
preservation in its natural state,” CARE said.
The sewer line is interfering with conservation efforts.
Until the sewer-line project received state approval in September, property
owners, including the Theta Corp., were negotiating to sell thousands of acres
of the barrens to The Nature Conservancy, a land preservation trust.
The conservancy already owns 1,200 acres of the barrens purchased in the
mid-1990s using $2 million of public and private money. Environmentalists had
hoped to put another 5,000 acres under the conservancy’s control.
But, the construction of a sewer line changed the potential uses of the
property, ending those negotiations, said David Kurtz, a CARE member and a
plaintiff to the lawsuit.
“Property owners that were willing to accept a certain amount per acre for
valueless acres … all of a sudden had land that would be served by sewers,”
he said.
About half of the barrens was rezoned for industrial and commercial use in
the 1990s when the federal government planned to construct a prison on the
mountain. The prison would have been the primary tenant in the Jessup Business
Park.
In the mid-1990s, CARE successfully sued to stop construction of those
projects.
The prison project was moved to Wayne County, and the business park
location was moved closer to the Casey Highway.
But, the zoning remained commercial and industrial, Kurtz said. His group
believes the sewer project would encourage manufacturing, commercial and
high-density residential development.
“When the land in question is special, then the government’s duty to
conduct an environmental review is heightened. In this case, the land is very
special,” CARE wrote in a summary of its lawsuit.
“The Moosic Mountain Barrens, through which the proposed sewer line would
be constructed, is a unique and valuable place. As a high-altitude pine
barrens, it is an uncommon place and, therefore, contains uncommon habitat and
unusual biological communities. It harbors rare plants and rare animals.”
The barrens also protect the drinking-water supply for area municipalities,
including the City of Scranton.
CARE’s lawsuit also points to numerous public documents, including the 1991
“Plan for the Lackawanna Heritage Valley,” that suggest the barrens could be
endangered by development.
Named as defendants are the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the
Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority, which are providing funding;
the state Department of Environmental Protection, whose Wilkes-Barre office
approved the project; Jefferson Township and its sewer authority; and the
Lackawanna River Basin Sewer Authority.
A DEP spokesman said the agency attorney has not seen the lawsuit and has
no comment.
The 7-mile sewer line, which would empty into the Lackawanna River, would
serve fewer than 1,000 rural residential properties, said Kurtz, whose home is
one of those that would be connected.
Because more than $10 million of the project’s $15 million cost is provided
by the federal government – directly from the EPA and indirectly through a
PennVest loan – CARE argues the project falls under the requirements of the
National Environmental Policy Act.
The act requires studies to assess the direct, secondary and cumulative
impacts of federally funded projects on the environment.
A significant portion of the land is owned by Theta, the Pennsylvania
Enterprises division sold in January 2000 by parent Southern Union to an
unnamed buyer. The Moosic Lakes Development Co. also is a major landowner.
Pamela C. Turfa, a staff writer, may be reached at 829-7177.