by Evan Belser –
The people of Philadelphia must claim what should rightfully be in their control: our riverfronts. Consider the following two excerpts:
“By the laws of nature, the following are common to all mankind- the air, running water, the sea, and consequently the shores of the sea. No one, threrefore, is forbidden to approach the seashore.” – Institutes of Justinian, Ancient Rome, mid 6th Century
“The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and 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. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.” – Article I, section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, April 14, 1970
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These statements exemplify one of the world’s ancient doctrines, the Public Trust Doctrine. It says that water is the basis of life and every person has a fundamental right to clean and affordable water. More fundamentally, it says the water and it’s shores belong to the people
Inextricably linked to this doctrine is that water resources must be maintained by the community and protected from degradation. Today we are witnessing the steady erosion of this doctrine. This is happening not only in courtrooms and planning hearings but in the minds of everyday people.
Decisions are often made about what will go on the Delaware River’s banks without public input. Our elected officials are no substitute for our direct involvement. We, the people of Philadelphia, must seize our stake in the current planning process. We are a riparian community, which means that we rely on the river for our needs, and access to the waterfront is part of this.
Today, many groups and municipalities are utilizing The Public Trust Doctrine as a legal foothold to claim a spot at the planning table. As citizens we must act in the spirit of this law even if we never enter a courtroom.
One very recent example where the public was robbed of their right is found in Philadelphia Gas Work’s plan to import liquefied natural gas on the Delaware to it’s Port Richmond facility. Throughout 2005 and early 2006 PGW spent over $3 million of public funds to explore this idea. All this money and effort was spent without once asking the public if they care to have an inherently dangerous and burdensome facility on our river’s bank.
The first public hearing on the matter was called not by PGW but by local groups and State legislators. This August 2005 event was well attended by furious residents. There we all learned that if the plans for an LNG import facility came to fruition, we’d see a 1,000 foot, heavily guarded tanker lumber up the Delaware every 10 days, closing bridges, the airport, probably Interstate 95 and stopping all other river traffic. We would be denied access to our River.
Due to overwhelming public opposition in the river districts, City Council eventually passed a resolution stating it’s intent to not approve of such an unwanted use of public land. The public’s stake in the decision was asserted and was respected.
That PGW is a public utility is the only reson the LNG import facility was halted. Private acquisition and development of our riparian areas, however, are not subject to City Council authority in the same manner. There are numerious examples of controversies in which the public would be more successful if the public trust doctrine was more prominent in the minds of residents and in our court records. Take the raging debate over casinos. Groups like Neighbors Allied for the Best Riverfront (NABR) and Casino Free Philadelphia are in a daunting fight. Consider the proposed dredging of the Delaware which would have dire implications for the health of the River and would arguably offer no benefit to the people of the city.
Just recently groups successfully stopped the Federal Government’s plan to ship VX nerve gas from Indiana to the DuPont facility in New Jersey for treatment and subsequent dumping in the Delaware. This came down to the legality of transporting hazards across state borders- certainly not the heart of the matter.
Disjointed approvals for development along the river, and indeed throughout all the area’s watersheds, are the main reason for the poor environmental health of the Delaware. Stormwater runoff, illegal discharges, legal discharges, and the cumulative effect of heavy development has degraded the quality of the Delaware terribly.
The River is ours. It is our source of drinking water. Our densely urban city offers little natural beauty beside the rivers. There is so little public access to the Delaware’s shore and the water is so badly polluted that swimming in and playing near the river are out of the question. With vehement public demand for greater community control, however, the people of Philadelphia can turn this around.
The importance of this fight is monumental and long lasting. There has been and will continue to be proposals for controversial riverfront development and unsafe industrial uses. By declaring that the water and its shores are a common asset with untold values for this and future generations, we’ll define our authority.
2007-01-30 08:55:26
