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Residents protest Coolbaugh Twp. wetland sewer project; Poconos lawsuit continues

State Rep. Maureen Madden (D-Tobyhanna) criticizes the spread of warehouses and truck terminals across the Poconos at a hearing about a warehouse that would run a sewer line underneath wetlands in Coolbaugh Township, Monroe County on Dec. 17.
Isabela Weiss | WVIA News | Report for America
State Rep. Maureen Madden (D-Tobyhanna) criticizes the spread of warehouses and truck terminals across the Poconos at a hearing about a warehouse that would run a sewer line underneath wetlands in Coolbaugh Township, Monroe County on Dec. 17.

A warehouse and wetland sewer project is at the center of a lawsuit that could impact the entire Poconos region.

That lawsuit could alter municipalities’ power to revise ordinances.

Orchard BJK Co. and Pocono Mountain Industries (PMI) want to build a 309,000-square-foot warehouse with a sewer that will run under wetlands near State Route 611 in Coolbaugh Township. They sued Coolbaugh’s Board of Supervisors over an ordinance that strengthens protections for wetlands and nearby waterways on May 3 in Monroe County Court.

The case is still in progress. The plaintiffs argue that the supervisors acted arbitrarily to restrict development.

PMI, the county’s economic development organization, contends the move violated Pennsylvania’s Constitution by discriminating against developers, and caused a multi-million dollar loss in value to properties that the parties seek to develop in the township.

County residents and environmentalists tussled with developers on Tuesday at a hearing at Tobyhanna Elementary Center to determine whether the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) should permit the proposed wetland sewer line.

Lisa Buchholz, president of Pocono Regional Citizens Group, who have fought several warehouses around the region, said DEP has a duty to protect the environment.

“The DEP now has an opportunity to uphold its mission by rejecting this proposal. This is not an argument against economic development, but a call for responsible and sustainable practices,” Buchholz said.

PMI’s land, which it plans to sell to Orchard for the warehouse, is zoned industrial.

Charles Leonard, Pocono Mountain Industries' (PMI) executive director, argued that his organization has taken all precautions to protect the environment and is asking the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for a permit to build a sewer line under wetlands in Coolbaugh Township, Monroe County. Photo is from Dec. 17 hearing.
Isabela Weiss | WVIA News | Report for America
Charles Leonard, Pocono Mountain Industries' (PMI) executive director, argued that his organization has taken all precautions to protect the environment and is asking the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for a permit to build a sewer line under wetlands in Coolbaugh Township, Monroe County. Photo is from Dec. 17 hearing.

Charles Leonard, PMI’s executive director, said Orchard may not purchase PMI’s land if the township maintains its restrictive wetland regulations. That sale is vital to the success of PMI and its parent company, Pocono Mountains Economic Development Corporation (PMEDC) said Leonard, who also is PMEDC’s president.

“We didn't choose the site in a vacuum,” Leonard said. “... We presumed that the township zoned it industrial, and so they wanted to see it be developed as industrial and that's what we've done, because that's our job.”

Buchholz argued that the property was originally zoned for woodland conservation. Supervisors, she said, made a mistake in the late 1990s when they rezoned the land and “set a troubling precedent [by] prioritizing development at the expense of environmental preservation.”

She’s not alone in her view.

Several environmental organizations sent representatives to protest the sewer proposal.

Todd Burns, a board member from the Brodhead Chapter of Trout Unlimited, warned the project will have an impact on the Poconos’ ecosystem. He said the chapter believes drilling fluid and mining subsidies from the sewer’s construction and operation will leech into Duck Puddle Run’s wetlands and spread into the Lehigh River’s tributaries before reaching the ocean.

Duck Puddle Run and nearby Hawkey Run are both DEP-designated High Quality streams, which are entitled to additional protections by the department.

The Tobyhanna Conservation Association and Aquashicola Pohopoco Watershed Conservancy presented similar arguments.

Coolbaugh Township Supervisor Lynn Kelly asks the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to deny a permit for a developer to build a sewer line under township wetlands on Dec. 17.
Isabela Weiss | WVIA News | Report for America
Coolbaugh Township Supervisor Lynn Kelly asks the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to deny a permit for a developer to build a sewer line under township wetlands on Dec. 17.

Lynn Kelly, a Coolbaugh supervisor, fears the township — and its taxpayers — will be left to foot the bill for a pipe failure. She said she was speaking as a township resident, not a supervisor.

“Who will be responsible for a catastrophic event in which the sewer line fails and pollutes our special protection waters,” asked Kelly.

She argued that PMI will be off the hook once it sells the land to Orchard, and because Orchard will sell its constructed warehouse, there will be no definitive company to take care of any damages.

The sewer will be Coolbaugh’s responsibility, she said.

“The sewer lines are located in Coolbaugh Township. This means it will be part of our municipalities Act 537 plan and DEP will expect Coolbaugh to correct any failures that occur,” explained Kelly. “DEP will not go after the above-mentioned parties. Coolbaugh Township will have to. [And] forcing legal and financial responsibility will be a lengthy, costly process involving insurance claims about who is to blame and multiple lawsuits, which our taxpayers will have to pay.”

Act 537, the Pennsylvania Sewage Facilities Act, requires municipalities to manage sewer facilities in compliance with the DEP.

Leonard said PMI has “never had a [sewer line] break, as it's been described. You know, never, ever in our career.” He added that PMI has funded sewer lines under wetlands in the past and said, a pipe breaking is like asking, “what if the meteor hits?...I don't want to say it's remote, but there is very little chance of those things malfunctioning.”

If a pipe were to break, Leonard said the township would not be on the line for repairs.

“That liability will be very detailed and very open to the public. And not, well, it would depend on who owns the line. And ultimately in the end, y’know, the line will be constructed, of course, by the company, or when I say that, they will engage the company that builds the line, and so [it] will be whoever owns the line at the time,” said Leonard.

Leonard said PMI and Orchard’s lawsuit against Coolbaugh’s supervisors is progressing. Coolbaugh’s restrictions on wetland development “has a negative impact on our fiscal standing … It could create long term survivability issues for us.”

PMI’s total net assets as of 2022, its most recent tax form, is negative $3,054,334.

Kelly declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Monroe County Court’s decision on the suit could decide which party holds more power in industrial and commercial developments: a county’s economic development organization or individual townships.

DEP spokesperson Colleen Connolly said the department will release a comment and answer document to residents’ questions during the hearing in a few weeks.

Isabela Weiss is a storyteller turned reporter from Athens, GA. She is WVIA News's Rural Government Reporter and a Report for America corps member. Weiss lives in Wilkes-Barre with her fabulous cats, Boo and Lorelai.

You can email Isabella at isabelaweiss@wvia.org
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