Low Impact Development In Lebanon County. The Village at Springbrook Farms is a good example of what is possible when a township that takes a long term view works with a developer willing to innovate.
More than 100 storage/infiltration BMPs have been distributed throughout the site. Each was located and sized according to its drainage area, and accounts for both storage volume and the amount of surface area required to "spread out the water" to avoid over-concentrating infiltration. (Click here to watch this Stormwater PA video.)

DEP Farm Show Exhibit. Julie Stone from the Department of Environmental Protection talks about the "Feel the Power of Energy Conservation" exhibit at the just completed Pennsylvania Farm Show with a reporter from the York Dispatch. (Click here to see article.)

Audubon Christmas Bird Count In Philadelphia. Keith Russell, Audubon PA Ornithologist, talks about the just completed 109th Christmas Bird Count in Philadelphia.

Somerset Summit Highlights Water Quality Improvements. In the newest installment of the Western PA Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation Video Diaries, we visit the Somerset Watershed Summit and go on a tour of the Casselman River Watershed in southern Somerset County to learn about water quality projects going on there.
Somerset County has a long history of coal mining and numerous environmental problems stemming from the unregulated mining practices of the past. Visit the Casselman River Watershed Association website for more information.
Produced and written by Andy McAllister, WPCAMR Watershed Coordinator

Lawsuit To Keep Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Commitment. After 25 years of watching promises broken and commitments unfulfilled, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation this week filed a lawsuit in federal court to require the federal Environmental Protection Agency to enforce the law and reduce pollution sufficiently to remove the Chesapeake Bay from the federal ‘impaired waters’ list. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia following a legal requirement for a 60-day notice of intent to sue period (CBF filed the notice on October 29). (Click here for full announcement.)