DNREC UPDATE
Thursday, February 28th, 2008Recently at a public hearing we learned that the Delaware Department of Natural Resources hands out permits that are, shall we say, “lax.”
Click HERE for the official transcript of the Indian River Power Plant’s water discharge hearing released by DNREC so you can read the word for word account of the meeting. I would really suggest reading it, it doesn’t take long at all.

I’m nominating this fish to be the mascot of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources
Now, we have less than 30 days to contact DNREC and voice our opinions about the permit they let expire 16 years ago and their new permit that allows a daily average of “1,803 pounds” of oil and grease and a daily maximum of 3,605 pounds of oil and grease out of one outfall. On top of that it allows for things like “60 pounds of copper” a day to be discharged, which DNREC admits is “toxic” to marine life…really, read the transcript.
We can also tell DNREC that since many of us enjoy fishing and crabbing in our local waters, we’d like the department in charge of protecting our state’s natural resources to be a little more concerned about the estimated 600,000 blue crab, 3.2 million bay anchovies, 543,733 croaker and 834,775 winter flounder the plant killed over a two year period.
Those are fish that people could be cursing at as they break their lines or if they’re lucky, they could be eating them if the plant would just get with the 21st Century, or even the last decades of the 20th Century….
The technology is available to lessen the impact of the plant on its surroundings, and if DNREC and/or NRG Energy would like to argue that they are too cost prohibitive, then they should tell us exactly how much the stuff costs and what the cost breakdown would be for the everyone on the grid who gets power from the plant, cause it ain’t just Delawareans (though Delawareans carry the full burden of the plant’s pollution).
And seriously, our county, state and federal governments need to hear from you, too. That’s why I’m posting some contact information. Just click on a name or copy an e-mail address and you’ll be on your way to venting at our dysfunctional government:
The Governor:
Delaware Department of Natural Resources:
DNREC Secretary John Hughes John.Hughes@state.de.us
Director, Division of Water Resources Katherine Bunting-Howarth Katherine.Howarth@state.de.us
This is the guy who is officially taking public comment about the water discharge permit at the Indian River Power Plant, so you can’t leave him out:
Hearing Officer:
Robert Haynes
89 King’s Highway
Dover, DE 19901
(302) 739-9039
Robert.Haynes@state.de.us
Delaware House of Representatives:
14th District Representative Pete Schwartzkopf Rehoboth Beach: Peter.Schwartzkopf@state.de.us
35th District Representative Benjamin Ewing Bridgeville
36th District Representative George Carey Milford
37th District Representative Joseph Booth Georgetown: Joseph.Booth@state.de.us
38th District Representative Gerald Hocker Ocean View: Gerald.Hocker@state.de.us
39th District Representative Daniel Short Seaford
40th District Representative “Biff” Lee Laurel: biff.lee@state.de.us
41st District Representative Greg Hastings Millsboro: greg.hastings@state.de.us
Delaware Senate:
18th District Senator Gary Simpson Milford: gsimpson@udel.edu
19th District Senator Thurman Adams, Jr. Bridgeville: Thurman.Adams@state.de.us
20th District Senator George Bunting, Jr. Bethany Beach: George.Bunting@state.de.us
21st District Senator Robert Venables, Sr. Laurel: Robert.Venables@state.de.us
Our Congressman:
Our Senators:
Senator Tom Carper
Senator Joe Biden
So,I tried to get a meeting with John Hughes the Director of DNREC…

“It’s our job to ensure these plants have the permits they need.”
Tuesday morning I called DNREC to talk to John Hughes, the Director, and I was sent to the Director of Water Resources, Katherine Bunting-Howarth. I asked her straight forward questions about the amount of…stuff…their permit allowed the Indian River Power Plant to spew from its water discharge outfalls.
“Its our job to ensure these plants have the permits they need.” - Katherine Bunting-Howarth, Director of Water Resources, Delaware Department of Natural Resources
(Again, the permit I was asking about was the replacement for a permit that expired 16 years ago, not, of course, that I’m implying that DNREC isn’t doing its “job”…).
I asked Bunting-Howarth to let me come up to Dover to interview her, and she indicated that she wanted Peder Hansen there, and we could possibly do it Wednesday at around 8:30 a.m. and that she would call to confirm the interview.
The confirmation call came from Joanne Wilson, a public information officer, who wanted to know what questions I was going to ask, and basically how the station was going to use the interview.
The last call I received was from Joanne canceling the meeting, with no idea when they could reschedule, or when they could get back to me.
Hopefully I’ll hear from them since many of our listeners and readers are the Indian River Power Plant’s neighbors. And really, just because DNREC didn’t post the information about the public hearing on their website or the State’s website, and just because the information that they DID send out had the meeting place listed at a Senior Center that doesn’t exist, that doesn’t mean DNREC is trying to keep information from the public.
Maybe they’d just rather give the interview to someone who doesn’t live near the plant and isn’t walking around in shock and disbelief after attending the public hearing…or maybe DNREC is just too darn busy making sure everything Delaware’s worst polluters want to do is perfectly legal….
More to come including some political reaction…



