Local News
Camuso Receives UDC Award for PennDOT Exposé.
By TSN
May 1, 2008, 19:38 PST

...contributed photo

HANCOCK, NY- On Sunday, April 27 Tri State News reporter Pat Camuso received a “community service award” from the Upper Delaware Council (UDC) for his work on the Shohola PennDOT stockpile yard exposé.

Camuso told the gathering that he was proud of being an Upper Delaware River region outdoor writer and that he has been working hard at it for nearly 20 years. He explained that last spring he learned that the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) was burying toxic materials and dumping waste of all types imaginable on a portion of State Gameland 180; a nine acre parcel where PennDOT operated a “stockpile yard” for 40-years under a lease with the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

Camuso said this to the crowd at the La Salette Restaurant in Hancock, New York, “That stockpile yard is relatively clean now. Some of the nasty stuff that was taken out of there we know about but I firmly believe that some of the nastiest stuff was spirited out last summer without our knowledge when the fox was guarding the hen house. But at least it’s all gone now and that portion of game lands is as clean as we’re going to get it.

“You may think that I am happy about that fact but I’m not. You see, the past 10-months have been a learning process for me and I’m not at all happy with what I’ve learned. I once read somewhere that the government is the biggest polluter in the land. I took that with a grain of salt back then but now I am beginning to believe it. I have already received what I deem to be credible information concerning possible dumping at another PennDOT stockpile yard in Pike County – on game lands. I have learned that the PennDOT crews that respond to HAZMAT type spills on our highways are untrained and ill-prepared to deal with such matters appropriately. And then there’s the matter of PennDOT’s Adopt a Highway Program.

“Literally tons of trash picked up by well-meaning folks registered in the program was carted off by PennDOT to the Shohola yard and, when the lease was up, it was put through a giant mulching machine and spread across several acres of game land – public land – as well as a portion of wet land. No, I am not happy at all with what I have learned.

“This travesty at the Shohola yard happened while PennDOT had an entire environmental division in place complete with their so-called Strategic Environmental Management Program or SEMP. As far as I’m concerned, the results of this program have been witnessed over the past ten-months at PennDOT’s Shohola stockpile yard. What a joke and a waste of more tax payer money. Lord knows what SEMP has cost tax payers.”

Camuso continued, “The question now is who is going to continue the good fight? Will it be a small-town outdoor columnist with zero resources? Will it be politicians, individuals or perhaps the DEP? Or will governmental agencies like PennDOT suddenly begin to police themselves? I don’t think so.

“The problem is too large and widespread and the agency too big and powerful. We have only one hope as I see it. We are all fortunate that there is one group out there willing and charged with fighting the good fight – the Delaware Riverkeeper Network. They’re all we have friends. But even they can’t continue without your help. Please support our Riverkeeper by visiting delawareriverkeeper.org.”

The event’s keynote address was given by New York State Assemblyman Clifford Crouch who touched on the flood plain issue. Camuso ended his comments by addressing him. “Let me add that I'm glad Mr. Crouch addressed the flood plain issue and is aware of the problem; we must stop building within the flood plain - especially waste treatment facilities like the one in Deposit which was responsible for releasing tons of untreated waste into the Delaware for many months following our last flood. Perhaps now he can help us find the courage and funding to move such facilities out of the flood plain.

“Remember friends, what is good for our river at the Delaware Bay is good for our Upper Delaware and what’s good for our upper river is good for the bay because this river runs in two directions; water flows one way and migratory fish species the other. Please support the Delaware Riverkeeper.”

Seated, from left to right, are: Paul Palladino, member of the Twin & Walker Creeks Watershed Conservancy (TWCWC), Shohola, PA, Volunteer Award; journalist Pat Camuso, Community Service Award; Town of Highland Supervisor Tina Palecek and Highland Renaissance President Carol Roig, Partnership Award for the Eagle Observation Shelter in Minisink Ford, NY; Patricia Messineo of TWCWC; Sullivan County Director of Parks, Recreation and Beautification Kristin Porter, Cultural Achievement Award for the Fort Delaware Museum of Colonial History; National Park Service Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River Assistant Superintendent Sandra S. Schultz, Distinguished Service Award; Dry Stone Conservancy Restoration Manager Jane M. Wooley, Special Recognition Award for the Dry Stone Conservancy, Lexington, KY; and Callicoon Canoe Regatta coordinator Tom Freda, Recreation Achievement Award. Standing, from the left, are: Shohola-Barryville Bridge Construction Crew members Jim Linaberry of South Montrose, PA, Anthony Struss of Wappingers Falls, NY, Gerald Rambus of Deposit, NY, Bill Knape of Newburgh, NY, and Tom Shirkey of Deposit, NY, recipients of a Robin M. Daniels Memorial Lifesaving Award for a July 10, 2007 rescue; New York State Council of Trout Unlimited President Ron Urban, Special Recognition Award for Trout Unlimited; Dry Stone Conservancy Master Craftsman Neil Rippingale; 2007 UDC Chairperson F. Gerald Mackin, formerly of Hancock, Oaken Gavel Award; Tom Ziser of Narrowsburg, NY, Robin M. Daniels Memorial Lifesaving Award for a May 28, 2007 rescue; and the banquet’s keynote speaker, New York State Assemblyman Clifford W. Crouch, 107th District. Unable to attend the ceremony were fellow Lifesaving Award honorees from the Shohola-Barryville Bridge Construction Crew, Charles Siracuse and James Morrison, both of Montrose, PA, and Kim Donohue of White Lake, NY; and co-recipient of the Partnership Award, The Eagle Institute.