To Protect Special Protection Watershed, PennFuture Challenges Stormwater Permit for Distribution Center in Monroe County
PennFuture’s challenge seeks to ensure that the water quality of Pocono Creek and Exceptional Value (EV) wetlands is protected from the massive distribution center project.
On Monday, March 3, 2025, PennFuture filed a challenge to the final National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) stormwater permit for the Core 5 distribution center in Pocono Township, Monroe County. The 702,000 square foot warehouse/distribution center threatens the water quality of the watershed of Pocono Creek, a High Quality and Class A trout stream, including EV wetlands.
The proposed changes in drainage areas, the reduction in the amount of infiltration in the watershed, and the changes to the locations where infiltration will occur from the Core 5 distribution center will alter the amount and nature of groundwater recharge supporting the baseflow to EV wetlands and the unnamed tributary to the HQ Pocono Creek and therefore adversely impact the water quality. DEP also failed to adequately evaluate and include nondischarge alternatives in its erosion and sediment control plan and post construction stormwater management plan or to demonstrate that nondischarge alternatives do not exist for the project as required by law. The full list of permit errors can be found in PennFuture’s Notice of Appeal.
“It is unfortunate that DEP continues to issue permits that fail to protect our key streams and wetlands in the Poconos. The final Core 5 permit will result in a degradation of water quality of the historic Pocono Creek, a well-loved fishing stream and one of the key tributaries in the Brodhead Watershed,” says Emma Bast, Staff Attorney for PennFuture. “Protecting the High Quality and Exceptional Value headwaters of the Poconos is a core focus of PennFuture’s mission, and we will fight threats to these critical watersheds.”
PennFuture Staff Attorney Brigitte Meyer adds: “We’ve been fighting back against the threat of harmful distribution centers in special protection watersheds for several years. We’ve had success in getting municipalities to understand that they can help protect these critical waters and wetlands through zoning ordinances and land use decision-making, but DEP must also do its part as a trustee under the Environmental Rights Amendment to ensure that High Quality and Exceptional Value waters are not forever degraded.”
The Core 5 project is just one of a dozen currently proposed distribution centers in the Poconos which would add over 7.6 million square feet of impervious surfaces, increasing the threat of stormwater pollution like sediment, heat, and chlorides into the region’s special protection headwaters.