Changing stream structure to build manmade dams or rock cairns can im - pact vital hellbender habitat. Learn more about this in a blog post by Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Northern Tier Regional Director Emily Shosh by clicking here . Photo by David Herasimtschuk. Pollution minef ield Hellbenders breathe directly through their skin – pollutants and all. Overview storymap of the Susquehanna and some of the main threats
2006 rail car spill a devastating lesson of our ripple effect On June 30, 2006, approximately 30 cars of a Norfolk Southern train derailed in McKean County, dumping more than 40,000 gallons of liquid sodium hydroxide – a substance used for making soaps and detergents – into wetlands and Big Fill Run, Sinnemahoning-Portage Creek and the Driftwood Branch of Sinnemahoning Creek. At least 30 miles of stream were impacted. Fish loss was estimated at half a million over the course of the next half-decade of cleanup, including the watershed’s entire population of hellbenders. While a case like this is extreme, it illustrates how quickly one incident can cause mass destruction. They are still recovering in parts of the area from this event. Read more here 18
PA DEP Brownfields & Hazardous sites cleanup searchable site
This is an issue in a state like Pennsylvania where a record number of waterways are impaired by abandoned mine drainage, agricultural runoff and a long list of other issues including things we are more recently aware of like micro - plastics and PFAs. But that doesn’t even include the numerous investigations of industrial spills and contamina - tions that find their ways into our watershed. The state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has a searchable online listing
US EPA Superfund pollution site searchable database
of their environmental cleanup and brownfield hazardous sites. However, more extreme situa - tions become elevated to Environ - mental Protection Agency Super - fund sites. And neither of these factor in the countless spills and other immedi - ate impacts of numerous industry within our greater watershed. Some of those wind up at the state’s DEP Continued on next page
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