Mahwah Firefighters Move Indian Camp Propane Tanks To Protect Ramapo River

MAHWAH, N.J. -- Mahwah firefighters secured several propane tanks Saturday amid concerns that they'd float into the Ramapo River, which supplies water for millions of people in New Jersey and New York.

The area is the first along the Ramapo in Mahwah that floods -- and, some fear, could someday be washed out completely.
Photo Credit: *Jerry DeMarco*

Jerry DeMarco

01/13/2018 4:27 p.m.

Firefighters moved the tanks after being called to the Split Rock Sweetwater Prayer Camp, west of Route 202 in the Ramapo Mountains, where the recent rain and melted snow raised fears of serious flooding.

The area is the first along the Ramapo River in Mahwah that floods -- and, some fear, could someday be washed out completely.

The Ramapough Lenape Nation camp, on what is considered a sacred site, is name for both the Split Rock site in the area mountain's and "sweet water," which is the Lenape meaning for "Ramapoo."

It was jointly created in October 2016 with the Standing Rock Indian Reservation as a way of educating the public on the threat of the planned AIM and Pilgrim oil pipelines to the local water supply.

Plans are for the lines to stretch 178 miles each underground from Albany to Linden and carry 200,000 barrels a day of volatile crude oil south and an unspecified amount of gasoline and aviation fuel north.

The tribe has vehemently opposed the $1 billion project.

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