The Lehigh River watershed had more toxic pollution than almost anywhere else in the country, report finds

The Lehigh River watershed was one of the most polluted in the country with toxic chemicals in 2020, according to a new report from environmental groups.

The Lehigh watershed ranked 13th in toxicity-weighted releases — a tool intended to allow comparisons despite differences in toxicity levels of various chemicals — and 30th in total cancer-causing chemicals released.

It received 9,600 pounds of toxic chemicals that could affect the ability to have children in 2020, second among major national watersheds, according to the report, “Wasting our Waterways,” released Wednesday by the nonprofit PennEnvironment Research and Policy Center.

The report is based on the most recent data the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency collected from industrial facilities. Overall, at least 193.6 million pounds of toxic substances facilities were released into U.S. waterways in 2020, the report found.

“These high volumes stand in stark contrast to the Clean Water Act’s stated objective of eliminating direct discharges of pollution by 1985,” the report stated. “To end this toxic threat to America’s waterways, our nation should systematically reduce the use of toxic chemicals, and the EPA should update pollution control standards to effectively eliminate their direct release into our waterways wherever possible. More broadly, the federal government should ensure that rules and enforcement pursuant to the Clean Water Act are commensurate with its goals.”

The Clean Water Act of 1972 established the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into U.S. waters and regulating quality standards for surface waters.

“As someone who has personally tubed in the Lehigh River in the summer, I am personally disturbed,” PennEnvironment Field Director Flora Cardoni said. “Pennsylvania’s waterways shouldn’t be polluters’ dumping grounds.”

Cardoni also highlighted how important the data was in relation to the Supreme Court case Sackett v. EPA, which she said could “drastically” reduce water protections.

According to the report, the cement-manufacturing Holcim Whitehall Plant ranked first in the state for toxicity-weighted releases and 15th nationally. The plant also ranked fourth in the country’s facilities for toxic releases to water based on the EPA’s toxic weight indicator, the report stated.

Holcim said the numbers it gave the EPA may not be accurate.

“We are in the process of reviewing the data as it appears we have provided incorrect, inflated numbers due to mathematical miscalculation,” said Jocelyn Gerst, vice president of marketing and communications for Holcim in the U.S. “ ... We are committed to environmental stewardship that goes back to our founding more than 120 years ago.”

Pennsylvania ranked third, behind Texas and Indiana, in the amount of chemicals affecting reproductive health released in 2020: more than 22,000 pounds. The report said the industries that released the most reproductive toxics in 2020 were fossil fuel power generation and iron and steel mills.

Based on toxic weight, Pennsylvania had the ninth largest releases of toxic substances in 2020.

Standing next to the Lehigh River on Wednesday, Cardoni spoke about the report alongside Northampton County Council member Tara Zrinksi and Matt MacConnell, chair of the Sierra Club Lehigh Valley Group.

Zrinski said the Lehigh River has always been important to her as someone who grew up near it, and criticized corporate entities for prioritizing the “convenience” of polluting over the health of people and ecosystems. She also called for better pollution control standards; better means of holding polluters accountable, such as keeping the EPA funded; and banning the use of certain toxic chemicals for safer alternatives.

“Water is life,” she said. “Our waterways have a purpose and a value that’s not tied to the usefulness of any one industry or to profit.”

MacConnell, who said he’s been monitoring water quality in the Lehigh River for the last 20 years, said coal sites are still contaminating streams and killing aquatic life, along with more recent chemical releases.

“We’re still trying to get that under control, and there’s a lot of work to do there,” he said.

Industrial and government facilities released toxic substances into 844 local watersheds nationwide, according to the report, representing about 1 in every 3 local watersheds in the country. The Brandywine-Christina watershed in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware received the third most toxic chemical discharges by weight in 2020, nearly 6.2 million pounds.

Nitrate compounds made up over 90% of all toxic releases by weight, with animal processing plants and petroleum refiners representing the largest sources of nitrates, the report stated.

“Nitrates are not only dangerous to human health, but they also contribute to the formation of oxygen-depleted ‘dead zones’ in waterways such as the Gulf of Mexico that harm wildlife,” the report stated.

A Department of Environmental Protection draft report previously found the majority of Lehigh County’s stream water to be unsafe for swimming or aquatic life.

Members of the environmental groups Environment America Research and Policy Center, Frontier Group and the U.S. PIRG Education Fund wrote the PennEnvironment report.

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