UPPER DELAWARE RIVER VALLEY — What do plastic pollution, the Skinners Falls bridge and the National Park Service (NPS) have in common? They were all discussed at a Thursday, April 6 meeting of the Upper Delaware Council (UDC), along with other pieces of Upper Delaware news. 

Camp FIMFO

The Camp FIMFO project, the $40 million-plus development of the former Kittatinny Canoes in Barryville, NY, currently has an application pending before the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), a partnership of states and the federal government that has oversight over water and wastewater projects in the Delaware River valley. 

The DRBC has two meetings coming up at which the Camp FIMFO project might be heard, though the agendas for those meetings have yet to be released. Beth Brown, speaking on behalf of the DRBC, highlighted those upcoming meetings for the UDC. 

The DRBC will hold a virtual public hearing Wednesday, May 10, seeking input on projects that will be considered at a hybrid business meeting on Wednesday, June 7, said Brown. The latter meeting will be in-person, and will be livestreamed; public comment for that meeting will only be in-person, but only comments made at the virtual public hearing will become part of the record. 

The NPS also has oversight over Camp FIMFO, and Lindsey Kurnath, superintendent for the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River, gave the UDC an update on the park service’s review. 

Kurnath hadn’t heard from the project’s representatives since a February 17 meeting, she said, and she was still waiting on a submission from them before the NPS could continue with its review. 

The local unit of the NPS has a shallow bench of administrative staff at present, impacting the timing of the review of projects, Kurnath added. She is trying to get people in positions to shore up that bench. 

Skinner’s Falls Bridge

News about a project to repair the Skinners Falls Bridge, a bridge connecting Cochecton, NY and Damascus, PA, received a brief update at the meeting. 

The consultants working on the bridge had prepared a historic bridge rehabilitation study that was ready to be released, said Laurie Ramie, executive director of the UDC. The project’s advisory council will meet virtually on May 24 to hear about the study; Ramie told the council she would report back from that meeting. 

The council’s position is in support of rehabilitation, Ramie said—putting a 40-ton concrete bridge in that location seems “ridiculous.”

Plastics pollution

“The sad truth is, recycling—plastics recycling—has been an abysmal failure,” said local environmental advocate Rebekah Creshkoff, presenting to the UDC on behalf of the nonprofit Beyond Plastics. 

Fossil fuel companies have engaged in a decades-long battle to convince people that plastic recycling works, Creshkoff said. In reality, only two types of plastic—#1 and #2, sometimes with the addition of #5—have a realistic chance of being recycled; other types just aren’t cost effective. 

Over eight gigatons of plastic—twice the weight of all animals on Earth—have been made since 1950, and only nine percent has been recycled, according to Creshkoff. Even setting that figure aside, plastic has an outsized impact on the environment, she said; it emits greenhouse gases at every stage of production, and it props up a fossil fuel industry faltering as the world moves toward renewable energy.

Creshkoff encouraged legislation to get companies to be responsible for the plastic they produce, and for a pause on plastic-production facilities. 

Unfunded mandates

The UDC only has about $24,000 left in its bank account for the month’s expenses, and it may have to dip into its reserve funds to tide it over until receipt of its bi-annual funding from the NPS, Ramie informed the council. 

This incident highlights the UDC’s ongoing financial issues. The organization has not received the constant state funding promised at its inception. At its current level of federal funding, delivered through the NPS, the organization’s current business plan is unsustainable, according to a review conducted by consultant Michael Crane in 2021. 

Ramie told the council that the office of U.S. Sen. John Fetterman expressed interest in helping the council, and offered advice and avenues to explore. 

New York State Sen. Peter Oberacker has an interest in supporting the UDC as well, and was interested in meeting sometime in May, said Ramie. 

Oberacker was happy to come and meet with the council, Camile O’Brien, community outreach specialist with his office, confirmed to the council. Oberacker has played with the idea of filing a lawsuit against New York State’s unfunded mandates, she said, and the UDC’s plight falls into that category.