A non-profit environmental group based in Huntingdon County has collected more than 1,000 petitions asking Governor Ed Rendell to further investigate its concerns over illegal sewage dumping in Warriors Mark Township.
Save Our Streams Inc. representative Dorothy Gurney displayed the petitions during a press conference on Tuesday morning at the Warriors Mark-Franklin Fire Hall.
The petition asks the governor to investigate the group’s claim that the Department of Environmental Protection has been negligent in allowing illegal sewage dumping in what it describes as “the watershed of Spruce Creek.”
The group is also asking the governor to, in its words, “ prevent DEP from settling the case ‘quickly and amicably’ without adequate investigation and without adequate sanctions.”
The press conference was attended by several members of the group including Clark Cunningham, a Spruce Creek resident and the secretary of the Colerain Fishing Club. Earlier this month, the club sent a letter to DEP Secretary, Kathleen A. McGinty, to voice its concerns.
The letter notes Warriors Mark Creek flows into Spruce Creek and eventually into the Little Juniata River.
“We want to get the word out that we are concerned,” said Cunningham. “I live on Spruce Creek; my water comes from the stream into my well.”
Save Our Streams’ concern grew after it obtained a March 2 DEP order regarding land owned by Warriors Mark farmer turned developer, John Gilliland.
The group’s petition notes several highlights of the order which outlines activity on Gilliland property by waste hauler Richard Barefoot, which date back to 1991.
The most recent problems were discovered last year and led to the DEP’s order which involves only some of the Gilliand’s properties.
“I used to work for the Gillilands,” explained Cunningham. “So, I feel somewhat concerned to be involved in this, if all these things are factual and we believe they are, then that’s wrong.
“We are still gathering information to have the site fully characterized,” said DEP spokesperson, John Repetz, yesterday. “We have had investigators on the site and something was found.”
“We have a sworn affidavit from Richard Barefoot regarding the location of where the dumping occurred,” explained Repetz. “If anyone has any other report (of other illegal dumping locations) please feel free to get in touch with us. “Right now, there is no reasonable cause to look elsewhere.
“In general, when you have a report, when evidence has been uncovered, there would be testing to see what is there, what is in it and to what degree,” Repetz told The Daily Herald.
Save Our Streams had previously asked the DEP to expand the scope of its search to include more than just the Gilliland properties noted in the March 2 order which includes land in the Dry Hollow Road area, i.e, the general area where sewage was found last year.
Repetz hadpreviously indicated the DEP has no current plans to expand its search. He also could not comment on when further action would be taken regarding the issue other than to indicate the investigation is ongoing.
After the May 4 Warriors Mark Township Supervisors meeting Gilliland’s attorney, Tom Scott said his opinion was the DEP order made a lot of statements in which there was no factual support. Scott further stated “the landowners were working directly with DEP through counsel to do appropriate studies any place there may have been improper dumping, to clean up anything that’s been found and to test all the water in the area that needs to be tested to make sure there hasn’t been any pollution.”
Gurney had explained her concerns during comment at the May 4 Warriors Mark meeting. The group later issued a press release further detailing its claims and indicated it had sent a letter to DEP counsel, Dukes Pepper regarding its concerns.
“We have had no direct or indirect response from DEP to any of our letters,” said Gurney yesterday. “My latest letter asks the (DEP) attorney to provide the citation to state law to support his position that he doesn’t have reasonable grounds to persue this further.”
