Environmentalists worry Delaware River chemical spill threatens fish and plant life

The Delaware River chemical spill threatens animal, fish and plant life in an already compromised area of Bucks County waterfront, and there's no sign that government agencies are monitoring the damage, a local environmentalist group said Wednesday.

The Delaware Riverkeeper Network said it would conduct its own monitoring of the Otter and Mill creeks and a unique marshland located near the Trinseo chemical plant in Bristol Township.

The riverkeeper network called upon the government agencies to also study the impacts on the environment after some 8,100 gallons of latex emulsion chemicals, including butyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate and methyle methacrylate were released into the stream on March 24, officials said.

In the days that followed, much of the attention went to monitoring the impacts on drinking water. Yet there's been little to no indication of testing on the environmental impacts, said Maya van Rossum, longtime director of the nonprofit.

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Delaware River chemical spill could impact Bucks County ecosystem

"Statements that there have been no reports of wildlife or aquatic life effects does not displace the need for proactive environmental monitoring and sharing of that information with the public," van Rossum wrote in a letter to the U.S. Coast Guard, EPA, and the New Jersey and Pennsylvania departments of environmental protection.

"We are neither seeing nor receiving information about monitoring the natural ecosystems that are potentially affected," van Rossum wrote.

In particular, the riverkeeper network noted concern for a Bristol marsh, one of the last remaining freshwater marshes on the river that serves as aquatic nursery, pollution filter and water purifier on the waterfront, the group said.

The Pennsylvania DEP has said that no fish or wildlife were injured in the Delaware River chemical spill. Trinseo has not responded to requests for interviews on the chemical spill. Lewis Environmental, one of the organizations hired to help with the cleanup, declined comment.

Meanwhile, Aqua Pennsylvania, one of the largest suppliers of water in Bucks County, announced Wednesday it will resume normal operations at its Bristol Water Treatment Plant. The utility has been testing drinking water since the spill and had never detected any chemicals.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Delaware River chemical spill threatens environment, activists say