Politics & Government
Dam Study Smells Fishy to Easton Area Officials
Study calls for removing Easton and Chain dams to bring more shad to the Lehigh River.
It's called the "Lehigh River Fish Passage Improvement Feasbility Study."
That's kind of a mouthful of a title, but the idea behind it is simple: How do we get more fish into the river?
One solution, as suggested by the study:Â remove two dams along the Lehigh --Â the Lehigh Dam, where the river meets the Delaware in Easton, and the Chain Dam, at Island Park in Palmer Township.
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Doing so would help bring migratory shad back into the waterway, according to the Wildlands Conservancy.
In the past few weeks, officials in Easton and Palmer Township have publicly criticized the idea for financial, scientific and aesthetic reasons.
Find out what's happening in Eastonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
At an Easton City Council meeting earlier this month, Councilman Roger Ruggles—an engineering professor at Lafayette College—called the study's findings "totally wrong," according to the Morning Call.
And Mayor Sal Panto, quoted by WFMZ, said the dams were an iconic part of the city, and called for an alternative to removing the dams.However, the criticism isn't just coming from within the city.Â
"There are a lot of consequences to the area," Palmer Township Supervisor Robert Lammi said at a recent meeting. "Taking down the dams will change the culture of what the river, canals and banks look like."
And Palmer supervisors are worried about having to cover some of the cost of the removal, estimated $12-18 million.
"It's a study to get fish up the Delaware River to the Lehigh River that will cost $12 to $18 million?" Supervisors Chairman Dave Colver asked.
"Those are gonna be some expensive fish," Lammi joked.
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