2008 News

January 16, 2008

Planning Commission Executive Director Lynn T. Bush Presents County Concerns to Delaware River Basin Commission

During today’s meeting of the Delaware River Basin Commission in West Trenton, Bucks County Planning Commission Executive Director Lynn T. Bush detailed many of the concerns of the Bucks County Commissioners’ Delaware River Flood Task Force. These concerns also were expressed in a letter addressed to U.S. Senators Arlen Specter and Bob Casey, U.S. Representative Patrick Murphy, the 17 Bucks County municipalities bordering the Delaware River, neighboring Pennsylvania counties Northampton, Monroe, Pike and Wayne and neighboring New Jersey counties Hunterdon, Mercer and Warren.

The task force letter outlined issues related to reservoir control and management. It highlighted input from the 17-member panel appointed by the County Commissioners of Bucks County and representing the 17 riverfront municipalities of the County.

“We are writing to ask you to expedite the study now underway by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the causes and potential remedies for flooding on the lower Delaware River,” the letter requested. “We have heard from many organizations and experts to gain an understanding on the history of flooding, causes, and steps that could be taken to reduce flood damage. All resource people interviewed agreed that the voids in the New York reservoirs would have reduced flood levels along the Bucks County riverfront in the last three floods (2004, 2005 & 2006).”

On Dec. 1, 2007, representatives of the task force joined with Commissioners Charles H. Martin and James F. Cawley, Esq. to meet with Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell and his senior staff from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources. That discussion included the topic of a new Delaware River Basin Flood Analysis model, designed to “evaluate selected alternative reservoir release rules and alternative reservoir operating plans to mitigate downstream flooding.”

The letter also asks all 17 Bucks riverfront municipalities to send their own letters, imploring them to help “hasten the completion of the Army Corps study so that the right policy direction can be set by the Commonwealth and by the Delaware River Basin Commission to protect the people and property along the Delaware.”