Enough to make you sick
    by Al Paschall

     I caught one fish in my whole life.  Back in a Boy Scout camp a long time ago.  The allegation that the fish was already dead and just got stuck on my hook is probably true.  I was too worried about what to do with it to find out the whole truth.  Since then I’ve left my fishing to the supermarket.
     Supermarket fish are probably a good idea at least if State House Democratic Whip Mike Veon is right.  He wants a criminal investigation into the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for changing its position last week on how often to eat trout caught in the state’s rivers, lakes and streams.
     It seems that under former State DEP Secretary Jim Seif, who resigned last month, Pennsylvania’s favorite fish was caught in the tangled nets of the Federal Environmental Protection Agency and the state bureaucrats over the level of contaminants that the fish might have.  PCB, a widely used industrial chemical until it was banned 24 years ago, still turns up in trace amounts through out Pennsylvania’s waterways.  A committee with representatives of the departments of Health, Environment and the Fish and Boat Commission test fish through out the state every year for safe levels of contaminants for human consumption.
     With more than 2500 natural and man made lakes and over 40,000 miles of rivers and streams in the state the statistics on fish contamination can change with the tides.  This season you can eat all the yellow perch that you can catch in Lake Erie but with the PCB levels found in Smallmouth bass you’d better hold them down to one meal a month.  In northeastern Pennsylvania’s favorite lake - Wallenpaupack - there are no restrictions on eating Walleye under 19 inches long but larger Walleyes have high levels of mercury and shouldn’t be eaten at all.  Right now in Pike and Wayne counties state chemists are wading through statistics and will probably change the advisories for Lake Wallenpaupack’s fish.
     Last month when Seif said that contaminant levels in Pennsylvania trout wouldn’t make you sick he was right.  Using standards imposed on commercially sold fish the contaminant levels were acceptable under Federal regulations for supermarkets.  But when a private lab later re-tested fish from around the state and reached a slightly different statistical conclusion the state’s new acting DEP secretary David Hess issued a one meal a week warning just before trout season opened.  This policy shift on the side of caution became political bait for Veon when he accused DEP of criminal conduct.  “The fact that the warnings weren’t interpreted properly is disturbing” Veon said, “the fact that officials may have tried to keep evidence from the public is downright criminal.”
     Jim Seif’s rigid determination to protect Pennsylvania’s environment has been costly.  During his reign at DEP a new department was created separating resource protection and environmental regulatory enforcement.  Compliance with tighter regulations on industrial wastewater was expensive for business owners while the state’s farmers haven’t always appreciated DEP’s aggressive approach to farm run-off and soil erosion management.  So after 7 years of taking all of that heat why would Seif, Hess or any other DEP official jump from the frying pan into the fire by covering up for some small fish?
     They wouldn’t.  Whatever can be said about Seif you can filet his whole public carcass and you won’t find a dishonest or indirect bone in his body.
     The only thing that’s really fishy in this story is Veon’s motive.  The warning about trout was timely and broadcast all over the state.  There was no wrongdoing.  Veon hooked DEP in the Democrats’ desperation to capture the Governor’s mansion next year.  He was just casting about the political waters using Ridge’s environmental record as bait. 
     Pennsylvania politics is usually a messy kettle of fish.  But when a good man’s reputation gets gutted to try and snag some headlines some days it’s enough to make you sick.

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