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Statewide
Environmental News Briefs
A lot of things are happening all around Delaware
that affect our environmental quality. Here is a summary
of some of the activities we would like to share with you. Please
click on any headline to learn more.
Proposed Changes to the Delaware Sediment and Stormwater Regulations
DNREC's Division
of Soil and Water Conservation (DSWC) are proposing changes
to the Delaware
Sediment and Stormwater Regulations. They
held a public review of the changes November 4-6, 2003 to receive
comments from the public and other interested parties. The
proposed changes are needed to take new technologies in
stormwater quality management into account. Changes will
also reflect an effort to deal more directly with stormwater
runoff pollutants in Delaware 's watersheds. They are primarily
designed to promote practices in combination with low impact
development and conservation design, or "Green Technologies" as
defined in the regulations. Such practices encourage the
use of swales and biofilters and the use of open space for stormwater
management rather than the use of detention basins. DNREC
wishes to use the proposed changes to encourage more diversity
and flexibility in stormwater treatment practices.
The proposed changes are available
for your review as a PDF document at the DSWC web site.
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Proposed Amendments to State Surface Water Standards
The Division
of Water Quality is in the process of completing
a Triennial Review of Water Quality Standards. The review
is being completed to comply with Federal Clean
Water Act requirements
to do a review of the Standards every three years. During
this review cycle, Delaware's
proposed standards were updated to
reflect the most current scientific information and EPA guidance. The
document was also reorganized
to make the standards easier to read and understand. More
than twenty new chemicals were added to the human health criteria
table in this review. New criteria
have been proposed for ammonia levels to better protect aquatic
life. DNREC held a workshop in August of this year
and a hearing on proposed Standards in November, and
hopes to promulgate the Amended Standards early next spring. You
can learn more by visiting
the hearing information page on the
Division's site.
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DNREC Secretary John Hughes Prohibits
the Construction and Operation of a Biodiesel Production Facility
in Delaware 's Coastal Zone
DNREC Secretary John Hughes ruled
that a biodiesel production facility would not be permitted to be constructed and operated
in Delaware's Coastal Zone because it is deemed to be a new heavy
industry. Delaware 's Coastal
Zone Act prohibits siting of such industrial activities along
the state's shores.
The construction of a biodiesel production
facility was proposed for a location within the zone in Delaware
City, which resulted in the Secretary's ruling. The plant
would have used soybean or other vegetable oils, cooking oils,
methyl alcohol, and other chemicals in the biodiesel production
process. Emissions would have been relatively low compared
to surrounding facilities. Secretary Hughes made it clear
that the state is not adverse to the concept of making
biodiesel available as an alternative fuel source in Delaware.
The Delaware Coastal Zone Act was signed into law in 1971 and
is designed to protect Delaware's coastal areas from the destructive
impacts of heavy industrialization and offshore bulk project
transfer facilities. The Act is intended to protect the natural
environment of the coastal areas and safeguard their use for recreation
and tourism.
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Junction and Breakwater Trail Opened
at Cape Henlopen State Park
On December 4th, a
new hiking and biking trail opened at Cape Henlopen
State Park. The trailhead for the 3.6 mile Junction
and Breakwater Trail is just off Wolfe Neck Road. The
wheelchair accessible crushed stone trail is 12 feet wide and narrows to 8 feet
to cross a restored railroad bridge at Holland Glade. Restrooms
and a parking lot with spaces for 52 cars and 4 buses are available
at the trailhead. Motorized vehicles and horses are not
allowed.
The Junction and Breakwater Trail gets its name from
the rail line that ran between Lewes and Rehoboth in the mid-1800's.
A portion of the trail follows the rail bed. he
state hopes to eventually extend the trail north to Lewes and
south to Rehoboth, making a hiking/biking corridor between the
two attractions.
The vision to link Lewes and Rehoboth with
a trail is not a new one. Discussion and studies have
been taking place for the last three decades, with plans to
use the old rail bed. However, much of the old railway
is now private property. In the last several years,
the Division of Parks has been acquiring land around Cape
Henlopen State Park, creating a new option for the biking/hiking
corridor. The new trail skirts along wooded areas
and across two recognized natural areas, Holland Glade and
Wolf Glade. The Division hopes to make the link within
the next couple of years, and continues to work with highway
engineers and property owners to identify those corridors
to the north and south.
The Junction and Breakwater Trail cost $1 million
to build, with $500,000 contributed by the Delaware
Department of Transportation,
and took 7 months to complete.
For more information on biking
and hiking trails in Delaware, please visit:
Delaware Greenway and Trail Program
Delaware Bicycle Council
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DNREC Receives a $1 Million Grant From
EPA to Enhance the State's Brownfield Development Program
Governor Minner announced December 1, 2003 that DNREC has received
a $1 million grant from the Environmental
Protection Agency to
enhance the state's Brownfield
Development Program. President Bush
signed the Small
Business Liability Relief and Brownfield Revitalization Act in
January 2002, which was the source of the grant. The Act
establishes and enhances state response programs that address the
assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment of brownfield sites. Brownfields
are properties that were generally used for industrial, manufacturing
or commercial activities and may have low levels of contamination
that can be cleaned up as properties are redeveloped. The
state is encouraging the reuse of these sites rather than the development
of open space.
DNREC will use the funding in coordination with the Delaware
Economic Development Office to aggressively revitalize Delaware's
Brownfield Program. Governor Minner has said the redevelopment
and revitalization of Brownfield sites is a key component of
the Livable
Delaware Initiative. The funds will allow Delaware
to continue to develop the statewide Brownfield Inventory and
establishes the capability to respond to numerous requests from
the public, local governments, and various planning agencies
for environmental oversight and guidance associated with the
development, redevelopment, or improvement of brownfield sites.
Specifically, DNREC plans to add up to six additional positions
dedicated to brownfields oversight, survey, inventory, and marketing.
The staff will enhance and develop mechanisms and resources that
provide meaningful opportunities for public participation, and
improve the process for approval of cleanup plans, oversight,
verification, and certification that cleanups are complete.
Please visit the Delaware
Brownfields web site for more information.
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New Castle County Receives
EPA Award for Protection of Drinking Water Sources
The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) presented New
Castle County an award for taking special initiatives to
protect drinking water sources for residents in the County. EPA
selected New Castle County as the Delaware recipient of the source
water protection award because of the county's ongoing water
protection efforts which include its unified
development code.
The code requires planners and developers to consider potential
environmental impacts when planning new projects. It especially
helps protect environmentally sensitive areas such as floodplains,
floodways, wetlands, riparian buffers, and vulnerable groundwater
locations.
EPA's source water protection awards encourage
communities with public drinking water systems to take steps
to protect drinking water sources. The award is open
to individuals, and public and private organizations throughout
EPA's mid-Atlantic region.
In 1996, the federal Safe
Drinking Water Act was amended to give
greater protection to millions of Americans who rely on public
drinking water systems. By law, states must identify
areas supplying drinking water to public systems, and develop programs
to protect drinking water sources from contamination. Most states,
including Delaware, have established wellhead
protection programs to protect groundwater supplied drinking water. Through
the Safe Drinking Water Act state revolving fund, Delaware has
received more than $4 million from the EPA to help Delaware meet
this challenge.
According to Donald Welsh, regional administrator for EPA's
mid-Atlantic region, "...protecting the sources of out drinking
water safeguards both public health and our environment...protecting
source water makes public health sense, environmental sense,
and common sense."
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Delaware Selected by EPA as One of Three
States to Participate in a Pilot Project to Evaluate Public Drinking
Water Supply Protection
DNREC's Source
Water Protection Program was selected as one of
three in the nation to participate in a U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pilot project to develop
and evaluate the progress and effectiveness of public drinking
water supply protection programs throughout the country. Delaware
was selected because of steps taken over the last several years
to improve environmental database resources for all its natural
resources programs.
According to John Barndt, Source Water Protection
Program Manager, Delaware 's advances in data management are
allowing DNREC to complete all of its approximately 540 source
water assessments by the December 2003 deadline. Data
from a wide variety of environmental programs, including point
sources of contamination, land use, drinking water quality, and
well and surface intake locations are combined into individual
water system assessment reports. These reports provide the
public and water system owners with information concerning the
vulnerability of their water to any potential contamination, and
provide the basic information needed for local and statewide efforts
to assure long-term protection of the public's drinking water.
For more information on the pilot project and source water protection
programs, please
visit the program's web site.
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