Open Letter to Pike County Commissioners About Water Source Protection
Dear Ron, Anthony, and Matt,
As you may recall, after you verbally said that you were against the MEGA Warehouse Project on top of Milford's Drinking Water Aquifer - I subsequently publicly asked for you to put that IN WRITING.
As you know, the election on May 16th is just 2 weeks away. Your May 3rd meeting is the last official Commissioners meeting before this important vote.
Because Drinking Water Protection is such a key issue in this election with voters from every political persuasion interested and advocating for it, I was hoping you would give Pike County voters a clear and concise statement of how you will protect Pike County's Drinking Water Resources now and in the future.
You can do this many ways:
1) By expanding on the purpose of your Imagine Pike 2035 Comprehensive Plan Initiative that can be accessed at this link - https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/fdd7cd5caf364cdc8d884abd73c9b566.
2) By emphasizing your Community Input Survey that accompanies this Comprehensive Plan that can be accessed at this link - https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WVJCM3V
This Comprehensive Plan Community Input Survey ends on May 30, 2023 - so take this survey ASAP.
3) By underscoring continuity of commitment for county water resource protection, by building a bridge from the 2006 County Comprehensive Plan - Link: https://cms7files.revize.com/pikecountypa/Document%20Center/Living%20&%20Working/Community%20Planning/Downloadable%20Documents/Pike_GrowingNaturally_Mapchure_lowres.pdf - to the New Imagine Pike 2035 Comprehensive Plan.
4) By linking Water Resource Protection to the other County Initiatives such as the Pike County Conservation District's Strategic Plan 2020, and the Pike County Hazard Mitigation Plan.
5) The Pike County Commissioners can also recognize, in a motion, that environmental issues like clean air and clean water are vital Human Rights . They can formally recognize the importance of Article 27 of the PA Constitution to inform their future county plans. PA. Article 27 states: "The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania's public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come."
I hope tomorrow at your May 3, 2023 Monthly Meeting, you will use these points as a guideline to make some sort of written statement on this topic that would give the voters of this county a clear indicator on how you will take Pike County with an eye to the future. How do we get to 2035 in Pike County by 1) protecting our critical water and natural resources, 2) ensuring the County's Health and Safety, 3) Developing smartly and sustainably, and 4) with an understanding that Climate Change is knocking on our door?
Sincerely, Vito DiBiasi
Friends of The Milford Aquifer
PS: I will post this on our Friends of the Milford Aquifer Facebook Page and distribute this widely. I will attend the May 3, 2023 meeting asking about this written statement.
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