200 Pottstown-Area Families Will Have Thanksgiving Dinner Thanks to Exelon, YWCA

Exelon donated funds for turkeys, green beans, stuffing, corn, potatoes, pies  and cranberry sauce.

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by the YWCA Tri-County Area.

Two hundred Pottstown-area families will have a full Thanksgiving meal this year, thanks to YWCA Tri-County Area and Exelon’s Limerick Generating Station.

Exelon donated funds to purchase a Thanksgiving meal for families whose children attend YW’s Early Education Center. Exelon employees volunteered to deliver the food on Friday. 

Each family receives a turkey, fresh green beans and potatoes, canned corn and cranberry sauce, a box of stuffing mix, and a pie.

Exelon also contributed to Operation Warm, which provides warm winter coats to the 160 children enrolled in pre-school and after-school programs at the Pottstown Early Education Center.

YWCA Tri-County Area is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all. YWCA Tri-County Area is a leader in advocacy for women and girls, works to eliminate racism, and empowers women through quality affordable childcare, adult literacy, and a host of programs to support the health and vitality of women, girls, and families.

A Merrier Christmas for YWCA Families

The holiday party at the YWCA in full swing.

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by YWCA Tri-County Area.

This holiday season, the students at YWCA Tri-County Area (YW3CA) have had a guardian angel. 

Since Thanksgiving, the families have been lucky to receive multiple generous donations, making this the best holiday season at YW3CA yet. 

The good cheer started the week of Thanksgiving, with over 130 Thanksgiving dinners being delivered by Exelon Limerick Generating Station. 

Santa's visit was the highlight of the party.

The employees at Exelon purchased a whole turkey, green beans, potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, vegetables, and more for each family at YW3CA’s early education center and Education and Training Center. 

YW3CA staff spent Tuesday the 22nd sorting the food for families, which was distributed as they arrived to pick up their children from the Pottstown center. 

Shortly following Thanksgiving, Exelon once again delivered its annual “Operation Warmth,” which provided 150 coats to children in need. These coats were supplemented by hats and gloves from community member Melissa Caballero, to make sure that the children were covered head to toe in the cold winter months to come. 

With full bellies, warm fingers, the children are eagerly awaited the arrival of

And when the children woke up this morning, they had 

gifts under their trees, thanks to Exelon and Toys for Tots.

Santa at YW3CA on Wednesday. 

Little did they know that thanks to Exelon, Toys for Tots, and Pine Forge Academy, each one of them woke up this morning to a wonderful pile of gifts under the Christmas tree. 

Exelon “adopted” 100 families to purchase gifts for this holiday, with Toys for Tots supplementing additional gifts. 

The families who participate in YW3CA’s Early Head Start rooms were lucky to be sponsored by Pine Forge Academy, who also delivered a holiday meal to the families’ homes. 

Thank you to the generous Pottstown community, and especially the warm-hearted employees of Exelon, for helping fill this holiday season with little miracles for the families YW3CA serves. 

YWCA Tri-County Area has been serving women, children, and families in Montgomery, Berks, and Chester counties since 1908. 

To learn more visit www.ywcatricountyarea.org, or call 610-323-1888.

Grants Will Help Protect Schuylkill Water Quality

Silas Chamberlin, executive director of the Schuylkill River

Heritage Area, announces this year's grant recipients.

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by the Schuylkill River Heritage Area.

The Schuylkill River Heritage Area distributed grants totaling $274,623 Thursday to nine projects aimed at improving water quality in the Schuylkill River and its tributaries.

The Schuylkill River Restoration Fund grants were awarded to six projects that will focus on stormwater runoff, abandoned mine drainage and agricultural pollution. Also awarded were three land transaction grants that will assist with protection of a priority watershed parcel.

Locally, those projects include: 

• Montgomery County Conservation District, Perkiomen Township Basin: $30,000
  This project will retrofit an existing stormwater basin in Collegeville, Perkiomen Township. The project will implement stormwater Best Management Practices totaling 12,000 sq/ft and utilizing more than 3,000 native plants. Additionally, hundreds of residents will be educated directly through volunteer workdays and a resident workshop.
• Berks County Conservancy, Gehris Property: $4,000
  The Berks County Conservancy, in partnership with the Pine Creek Valley Watershed Association, will complete the fee simple purchase of the Gehris property in the Oley Hills of Berks County. This 51.18 acre parcel will go under conservation easement.
• Natural Lands Trust, Yoder Tract: $4,000
  Natural Lands Trust will purchase a 35 acre riparian easement of the Yoder tract located in Warwick Township, Chester County. This property is located on the headwaters of French Creek which is a designated Exceptional Value Stream and is connected to an additional 114 acre agricultural easement property receiving permanent protection.

The grant fund is administered by the Schuylkill River Heritage Area. This year, funds were provided by Exelon Generation’s Limerick Generating Station, the Philadelphia Water Department, The Coca Cola Company, Aqua PA and MOM’s Organic Market. 

About 35 people attended the award announcement, which took place at the Rice Farm in Kempton, the site of a recently completed agricultural improvement project funded through an earlier Schuylkill River Restoration Fund grant. That project included installing manure storage tanks and stormwater controls aimed at keeping manure and other nutrients from leaching into groundwater and being washed into streams.

Speakers included Schuylkill River Heritage Area Executive Director Silas Chamberlin, Delaware River Basin Commission Executive Director Steve Tambini, as well as representatives from the Philadelphia Water Department, The Coca-Cola Company and Exelon Generation’s Limerick Generating Station.

“The Schuylkill River Restoration Fund has become a model for the ways in which the non-profit, government, and private sectors can work together to improve water quality,” said Schuylkill River Heritage Area Executive Director Silas Chamberlin. “Over the past ten years, we have distributed over $2.5 million — and leveraged another $2.5 million — for 73 projects that protect and restore the Schuylkill River for recreational use and as a source of drinking water for 1.5 million people.”

Grant recipients were carefully selected by an advisory committee consisting of: Exelon Generation, Delaware River Basin Commission, Philadelphia Water Department, Environmental Protection Agency, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, Schuylkill River Heritage Area, Aqua PA, The Coca Cola Company and the Schuylkill Action Network.

“The health of our watersheds is the result of planning, policies, and projects at every scale,” said Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) Executive Director Steve Tambini. “Today is about conservation leadership at the local project level. On behalf of the DRBC, I am pleased to be here with our partners to announce local grants for six projects and three land conservation transactions which will improve the water quality in the Schuylkill River and its tributaries.”

This year, fund donations came from Exelon Generation ($186,292), Philadelphia Water Department ($100,000), The Coca Cola Company ($25,000), Aqua PA ($7,500) and MOM’s Organic Market ($1,000). Any funds not distributed this year will be rolled over into 2016.

The Land Transaction Assistance Grants program, introduced three years ago, provides grants of up to $4,000 per project to pay for costs associated with property purchases and conservation easements on high priority lands for water quality and habitat protection.

Exelon has provided over $2 million to the Schuylkill River Restoration Fund since it was founded in 2006; the Philadelphia Water Department has contributed $600,000. Aqua PA has donated over $15,000 and MOM’s Organic Market over $1,700.

For the past several years, the fund has attracted new contributors. MOM’s Organic Market began contributing last year, and The Coca Cola Company joined this year with a first time donation of $25,000. The Schuylkill River Heritage area and the Schuylkill Action Network continue to seek additional contributors to further expand the fund.

The fund was originally created under a Delaware River Basin Commission docket approved in 2004 and Exelon Generation’s desire to support restoration efforts in the Schuylkill River and its tributaries.

The Philadelphia Water Department’s contribution to the fund is leveraged by other watershed partners and is directed towards addressing stormwater management and pollution mitigation projects upstream of the City’s two drinking water intakes on the Schuylkill River.

Exelon-fueled Grants to Improve Water Quality in the Manatawny

Photo provided

Schuylkill River Heritage Area Executive Director Kurt Zwikl announces the 2012 Schuylkill River Restoration Fund grant recipients on the Russell Guntz Farm, in Oley, on Thursday. Looking on are (l to r) PA House Rep. David Maloney, Exelon Generation representative Chris Gerdes, Delaware River Basin Commission Planner Jessica Sanchez, and farm owner Russel Guntz.

Blogger's note: The following was submitted by the Schuylkill River Heritage Area.

OLEY -- The Schuylkill River Heritage Area distributed over $200,000 in grants Thursday to nine projects that will improve water quality in the Schuylkill River and its tributaries.

The Schuylkill River Restoration Fund grants were funded by Exelon’s Limerick Generating Station, the Philadelphia Water Department and Aqua PA, and administered by the Schuylkill River Heritage Area (SRHA). 

Manatawny Creek at Memorial Park in Pottstown

The grant announcement took place at the Russell Guntz Farm, in Oley, a Restoration Fund recipient for a recently completed agricultural remediation project.

Speakers included Christopher Crockett, Deputy Commissioner of the Philadelphia Water Department; Kurt Zwikl Executive Director of the Schuylkill River Heritage Area; Jessica Sanchez, River Basin Planner with the Delaware River Basin Commission; Chris Gerdes, representative of Exelon’s Limerick Generating Station; and state Rep. David Maloney, R-130th Dist.

Maloney presented certificates of recognition to property owner Russell Guntz and Berks County Conservancy Senior Ecologist Larry Lloyd for their work in significantly reducing the agricultural run-off from the Guntz dairy farm, located along Manatawny Creek.

Following the grant announcements, Guntz and Lloyd led a tour of the farm, highlighting the agricultural remediation projects. 

Among the projects completed as a result of the grant were: construction of a manure storage tank, a new roof over the barnyard, rain gutters, stream bank fencing and a stoned animal walkway. All the projects help prevent manure and other pollutants from washing into the Manatawny Creek, which is a tributary of the Schuylkill River.

This is the seventh year the grant program has been available. 

This year, money was distributed to five projects that will mitigate stormwater runoff and agricultural pollution. There are also four land transaction grants, totaling $4,000 each, to assist with costs associated with permanent protection of priority watershed parcels. (Please see 2012 Grant Awards list for recipients and project descriptions).

All the projects will benefit the entire watershed because they reduce the amount of pollution that enters creeks, and ultimately, the river, which is a source of drinking water for 1.5 million people.

“Over the past seven years, the Schuylkill River Restoration Fund has helped fund 30 projects, effectively reducing the amount of pollutants entering the river and its tributaries,” said Zwikl. “We are grateful to the unique partnerships that have formed to support this fund, which is helping us improve water quality throughout the watershed.”

This year, Exelon Generation contributed a total of $211,092 to the fund, while the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) donated $100,000. Aqua PA, a first time contributor, provided $2,500. All funds not distributed for 2012 projects will be rolled over into the 2013 grant round.

The Land Transaction Assistance Grants program, introduced last year, provides for matching grants of up to $4,000 per project. It will pay for costs associated with property purchases and conservation easements, in order to facilitate preservation of high priority lands for water quality and habitat protection. A total of $16,000 in land protection transaction grants were distributed to assist with protection of four properties.

Exelon has provided $1.6 million to the Schuylkill River Restoration Fund since it was established in 2005. The annual fund began as part of a demonstration project for what is known as the water supply program at Exelon’s Limerick Generating Station. That program is under the purview of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC).

For the past several years, the Schuylkill Action Network (SAN) has been working to grow the program by seeking additional funders. This is the third year the Philadelphia Water Department has contributed, and the first year Aqua PA has donated, so that more projects can be undertaken. SAN continues to seek additional contributors in an effort to further expand the fund.

Open House on Limerick Nuke Performance Set

Exelon Nuclear's Limerick Generating Station

If you have ever wondered how safe the Limerick Nuclear Generating Station is, Wednesday, April 18 is the time to find out.

That is the date that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will conduct its annual "open house" to discuss the plant's performance over the prior year.

The meeting will take place at the Limerick Township Building, 646 West Ridge Pike, from 6 to 8 p.m. and is open to the public.

NRC staff members, including the on-site inspectors, will be on hand to discuss the plant's safety record over the year.

NRC oversight will be increased in 2012 as the result of a finding of "low to moderate safety significance," regarding the operation of Limerick's Unit 2 generator.

The finding was the result of "inadequate procedures" related to the operation of two main feedwater system valves, which would have been inoperable in the case of an accident  as a result of the problem.

As The Mercury reported in December, for a month last spring, two safety systems needed in case of a nuclear accident at Exelon Nuclear's Limerick Generating station were not working properly due to an error by plant personnel.

Exelon operates two boiling water reactors at the Limerick plant.

One, designed to get enough water to one of the nuclear reactors at the Limerick Generating Station during an accident; and another, designed to isolate radiation in the plant's containment building during an accident, would both have failed if called upon to perform during a nuclear accident, the NRC found.

An NRC team inspection is planned for the week of June 11 "to review the company's root cause and contributing cause evaluation for the problems; its assessment of potential similar issues; and its corrective actions to prevent a recurrence," according to an NRC release.

"Our expectation is that Exelon will thoroughly address the issues that contributed to the 'white' inspection finding finalized for Limerick late last year," NRC Region 1 Administrator Bill Dean said in the release.

"Ensuring that occurs will be a focus for the NRC in 2012," he said.

In 2011, "our inspectors spent time checking on whether there were any immediate safety concerns at U.S. nuclear power plants following the March events at the Fukushima Daiichi facility in Japan," Dean said. "Those reviews indicated the plants remained safe for continued operation."

Below is a timeline I put together that allows you to follow along with the developments after the earthquake and how they affected Limerick.

Earthquakes and Nuclear Plants on Dipity.

(If the timeline doesn't appear or work right, don't blame me. Every since I started paying for the Dipity service, it was gone straight down hill. If all else fails, in theory, you should be able to see the timeline by clicking on this link.)

The hydrogen explosion at Fukushima.

But one of the more significant outcomes of the NRC's review of the Fukushima disaster is an order for Limerick to install an upgraded venting system designed to correct the problem at the Japanese plant that allowed hydrogen to build up and cause an explosion that blew apart Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear reactor buildings last March, spreading radiation in a 40-mile radius and forcing the evacuation of 90,000 homes. .

As The Mercury reported here last month, Exelon Nuclear has until the end of 2016 to install a new ventilation system.

You can read the annual assessment for the Limerick plant for yourself on the NRC web site or by clicking here.