SCRANTON TIMES-TRIBUNE Editorial: The Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission don’t know exactly what is causing the disfigurement of smallmouth bass throughout the southern stretches of the Susquehanna River. But they do know this: the lower Susquehanna formally should be declared “impaired” so that the source of the problem can be identified and attacked.
According to the state Department of Environmental Protection, however, no such designation is necessary. In a circular argument, a spokesman contended that disfigurement of fish in the lower Susquehanna doesn’t necessarily mean much because the DEP also has found fish dying in streams with no known pollution problems, making it difficult to determine which, if any, pollutants are at play in the Susquehanna case.
But the objective is to find out. An impairment designation would require the DEP to identify the source affecting the fish and develop a long-term remediation plan… (more)
