Some good news: they’re calling for cool temperatures and less humidity than usual this weekend. And while there may also be a bit of rain, it shouldn’t stop you from attending the 17th Annual Hamilton Street Festival and Classic Car Show on Saturday, July 31st, from 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Enjoy live music, local fare, vintage cars, games for kids and pony rides, a beer garden, and some of the best in local art and crafts, including vendors from the Baltimore Etsy Street Team. Be sure to check out the work of crafter Spaghetti Kiss, whose whimsical illustrations are screen printed by hand onto organic clothing and apparel.

The Festival will take place on Harford Road at Hamilton Avenue. For more information, visit www.HamiltonLauravilleMainStreet.org.

Posted by Christy Zuccarini at 9:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Baltimoreans have recycled 50 million pounds of waste since weekly collection began last July, city officials report.

Despite some hiccups as the city shifted twice-weekly trash collection to once a week, the weekly recycling pickups under One Plus One have boosted the city's recycling volume by more than 50 percent.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was to celebrate the milestone this morning in Edmondson Village, where she was to be joined by community leaders.

"We thought the easier we could make recycling, the better participation would be. It actually exceeded our estimates," said Celeste Amato, spokeswoman for the city Department of Public Works.

More than half of the city's residents didn't even use trashcans before One Plus One began, Amato says, so city officials expected a hard sell in a lot of neighborhoods.  But community leaders got behind the effort. 

It helped that Cleaner Greener Baltimore, a city program, and the Baltimore Community Foundation handed out $17,000 in recycling grants for block parties, workshops and distribution of more than 1,000 recycling bins.

Besides reducing the flow of waste to incinerators and landfills, recycling earns the cash-strapped city a little money. Waste Management Recycle America, which contracts to take the city's recyclables, has paid $190,000 so far this year, officials report.

There's still work to do. Amato says city inspectors are "strategically enforcing" sanitation violations in about 40 neighborhoods where trash and recyclables still get left out in bags or dumped in alleys.

Baltimore Sun file photo of Waste Management Recycle America in Elkridge

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

While surfing the web for summer-themed DIY projects to share with you B'More Green readers, I came across a tutorial posted on Instructables that I thought might have been a joke: how to build a grass lawn chair couch.

Well it wasn’t a joke, and the inventor of the couch and author of the post, got2bskilled, is head over heels for this leafy invention. “This is the best alternative to lawn furniture ever!” she writes. “All of our friends and family love to sit and enjoy our grass couch. For me, there is nothing like a late night beer under my apple tree while gazing up at the stars on my grass couch (with a chorus of tree frogs singing)!”

Instructables is a great source for do-it-yourself instructions on just about anything, where thousands of members post stories, descriptions, and images of their innovative creations daily. In 2006, the San Francisco-based site won the Wired Rave Award for building an inspiring forum for DIY’ers who openly share their passion for making things (rather than keep their secrets and discoveries to themselves).

“I thought I would share this wonderful joy with all that are looking for an interesting alternative to lawn chairs and want to be as GREEN as possible,” writes got2bskilled. So, if you’re looking for a green way to lounge outdoors (with a beer or ice water in hand), gather some bricks, dirt, and lots of grass. For step by step instructions, visit the original tutorial here.

Image courtesy of Instructables.

Posted by Christy Zuccarini at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

On hot days like we've had this summer, I like to think back to the refreshing dips I've taken over the years in the Chesapeake Bay. I'm older, wiser -- and a little disgusted -- to learn now that some beaches and recreation spots around the Bay are about as safe to swim in after a hard rain as an unflushed toilet.

That's what reporters at the University of Maryland found recently when they sampled seven spots on five rivers that feed the Bay.

Three of the seven had bacteria levels that exceeded Maryland and Virginia standards for safe recreation, they reported, while five were higher than the safe level for swimming.  Two - Savage Park in Howard County and Middle Branch Park in Baltimore - had bacteria counts far worse than an unflushed toilet they also sampled.

The water sampling is part of a multimedia report, Bay on the Brink, being produced by the reporters, who are fellows with News21, a consortium of journalism schools. (Full disclosure: I'm a consultant to News21 and advising the fellows in their reporting.) 

Sally Hornor, a biology professor at Anne Arundel Community College, analyzed water samples taken by the reporters.  She points out that storm-water pollution is the usual culprit when bacteria counts soar in open waters.  A hard rain washes litter and a host of unseen contaminants - animal waste, food scraps, sewage overflows - off streets and parking lots into storm drains and nearby streams.

There are no official swimming beaches on the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River, and I've never seen anyone taking a dip there.  The city health department advises against swimming anywhere in the harbor or the rivers that feed into it.  But there are crabbers and fishers at Middle Branch park, and the river there is used regularly by members of the Baltimore Rowing Club.

Swimming is off limits at Savage Park on the Middle Patuxent River, too.  But as the photo above shows, it's not enforced, and it's a popular cooling-off spot on hot days.

To be sure, there are officially sanctioned bathing beaches around the Bay, and local health authorities regularly test them.  They're closed when bacteria levels are unsafe - most likely after a heavy rain.   But even if there's no warning sign on the beach, it's a good precaution to stay out of the water for at least several hours after a downpour. 

(Photo by Allison Frick, courtesy of News21)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 7:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
        

Handmade baby rattle by William Pierce Woodworking.

Head into Silver Spring tomorrow morning for the Fenton Street Market where local artists, collectors, and crafters exhibit their wares every Saturday from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. Held at the corner of Fenton Street and Silver Spring Avenue with plentiful free parking nearby, Fenton Street Market features an incredible assembly of handmade (and vintage) goodness.

Among the selection of delectable merchandise are refurbished bikes, artisan soaps, screenprinted posters, organic clothing, eco-friendly children’s toys, jewelry, baskets, teapots, cups, handbags, pet supplies, ornaments, wood vessels, paper crafts, textiles, bibs, booties, and banners – all of which are handmade.

The market runs weekly through October. For more information, including directions, a list of vendors, and application guidelines, visit their website at www.fentonstreetmarket.com.

Posted by Christy Zuccarini at 7:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The cap appears to be holding on the drilling rig blowout off Louisiana's coast, but the impact of the massive gusher is still being felt all along the Gulf coast.

The photo above, taken by Will Atkinson of Baltlimore, shows a sparsely populated beach at Santa Rosa, about 60 miles east of Pensacola on the Florida panhandle.  His dad, Bill, a former reporter for The Baltimore Sun, reports that the beach, usually bumper-to-bumper with sun and surf worshippers, has a new clientele - cleanup workers patrolling for oil.  Three workers he spoke with had found just one tar ball so far that day, so there wasn't a lot washing up on the beach.

"Last night we ate at Buster's, a local restaurant in Sandestin, which is known for its fried pickels," Bill emailed. "The place normally would be packed, but it was dead."

Vacationers evidently are staying away out of fear their favorite beaches will be soiled, even before it's happened.  Of course, with all the oil released, it may be sloshing up for some time to come.  Meanwhile, an economy that depends on tourism is taking a big hit.

"Yesterday, my wife and I took our car to the car wash," Bill wrote, "the do-it-yourself kind with the spray wand. The man doling out change said his business was off and thanked us for coming to Florida and supporting the economy. Then, he plugged four quarters into our machine giving us a few extra minutes."

Has anyone else from Maryland been to the Gulf coast this summer?   Was your visit affected at all by the oil spill?   Share your tales here.

(Photos by Will Atkinson)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Maryland's and Delaware's governors have called on the Obama administration to buy into developing wind projects off the mid-Atlantic coast.

In a letter to President Obama, Govs. Martin O'Malley and Jack Markell asked him to have federal agencies join with their states in committing to buy one gigawatt of electricity generated by offshore wind turbines.  O'Malley already has pledged Maryland state government to buy 55 megawatts, and the Delaware Public Service Commission is in for 200 megawatts.  That leaves 750 megawatts for the feds.

Why a gigawatt?   It's not just because it's a cool-sounding word for a lot of juice.  Malcolm Woolf, Maryland's energy czar, says it'll improve the region's chances of attracting jobs in building industrial wind turbines. 

"If we can get a gigawatt of sales here, the manufacturers have told us that they'll start building factories here," Woolf said.  The governors' letter suggested the industry might grow to 15,000 or 20,000 jobs.

That's a lot of jobs, but it would take a lot of wind turbines, too.  The project proposed off Delaware's coast is for up to 450 megawatts' worth of generating capacity.  

This would mean basically doubling down on an industry that has yet to put a single turbine off the coast.  Of course, that's in large part because of the caution (or timidity, depending on your point of view) of regulators and politicians who are confronted with objections from waterfront property owners, fishing interests and others concerned about the potential impacts on scenic views, ocean habitat - and sacred places, in the case of Native Americans in Massachusetts who've been fighting the Capewind project.

(Turbine near Great Yarmouth, United Kingdom; photo by Bloomberg)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Floating wetlands, green roofs, porous pavement and "living" retaining walls.  Those are just some of the environmentally beneficial things engineers and scientists trotted out this week at "Technologies That Can Save the Bay," a one-day seminar in Annapolis put on by the Maryland Technology Development Corp. and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.   The Daily Record published a story about it you can read here.

Several of the ideas presented are already in use or being tried out.  The Inner Harbor, for instance, is getting a pair of small floating wetlands.  It's hoped they'll soak up at least a little of the nutrients that fuel algae blooms there and restore a bit of the long-lost wildlife habitat along the water's walled edge.  In an ironic twist, one of the islands (a piece of which is pictured above) gets its buoyancy from some of the trash that's littering the harbor - discarded plastic bottles that have been collected from a storm drain outfall.

Such ideas alone won't cure what ails the bay - a choking surplus of nutrients and sediment from (treated) sewage discharges, from farm and urban and suburban runoff, and from the fallout of air pollution from power plants and vehicle exhaust.  But they can help, and the bay needs all of that it can get. 

Do you have any bright ideas you think can give the bay a lift?  Here's your chance to exercise your inner inventor.  Send them in, we'll air them here, and let you vote on which you think shine the brightest.  

(Baltimore Sun photo by Kenneth K. Lam)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Live video by Ustream

So far so good with the cap BP has placed on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig blowout.   The video above shows it all - no more billowing plume of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.

Kent Wells, a BP vice president, said at a press briefing this morning that pressure is good (meaning high) inside the cap, the Associated Press reports. The pressure test that began Thursday afternoon could go on for up to 48 hours, company officials have said, before deciding if the cap is working and the well is not leaking somewhere else.

Company officials say they're encouraged, but until the tests are complete are withholding any claims of success.  Meanwhile, though, this is the first time oil hasn't been pouring into the Gulf in nearly three months.

To stay abreast of developments, check out these sites:

 - The Daily Glob, a news blog tracking reporting on the blowout response, its cause and consequences (full disclosure, I'm a board member of the Society of Environmental Journalists, which produces this blog)

 - Deepwater Horizon Response, the official website of the unified command of government and private entities working to halt the oil and clean it up

 - BP's Gulf of Mexico Response, the company's website

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

It's mid-July - time to count dolphins!  What better excuse to head "downy oshun"?  If you're in Ocean City already or headed there for the weekend, join the National Aquarium's marine animal rescue staff on the beach Friday (7/16) morning for their annual tally of dolphins swimming by just beyond the breakers.

Teams of staff and volunteers will be stationed on the beach in Ocean City and at Assateague State Park.  Another team will be aboard a Coast Guard boat offshore.  Anyone who wants to help should be at the beach by 9 a.m., either at 40th or 130th streets.  Bring binoculars if you've got 'em.

The count is just a snapshot and far from scientific, but the aquarium says the data collected do help marine biologists learn about and keep track of the dolphin population that migrates along the mid-Atlantic coast.  It's also an opportunity for participants to learn more about these amazing animals.

Those of you stuck at home or work, don't despair.  You can still participate in the aquarium's dolphin count contest!  Just guess how many will be spotted tomorrow and text "count" and your figure to 30644 by 1 p.m. (message and data rates apply).   The three closest guesses each win a pair of free tickets to the aquarium. 

Last year, the total spotted was 344 dolphins, the most in over a decade, according to aquarium spokesperson Molly Sheehan. Official count and winners to be announced on the aquarium's blog.

(2007 photos courtesy National Aquarium)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 3:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

As of July 1, Maryland stores are no longer supposed be selling dishwasher detergent containing phosphorus.   The ban was enacted three years ago to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay, with the effective date delayed until this month to give detergent manufacturers time to reformulate their products.

But an enterprising Annapolis reporter found more than a week after the ban took effect that half the 10 stores she checked in the capital area still had some of the banned soap on their shelves.  Finish (formerly Electra-Sol) Powerballs containing phosphorus were found at Giant, Safeway and Shoppers stores there, and one Safeway had old Cascade products containing phosphorus.

Hats off to Pamela Wood of the Annapolis Capital for watchdogging this.   

Store managers contacted were quoted saying they'd promptly remove the banned items.  Businesses could be fined up to $1,000 for selling, distributing or making a detergent containing phosphorus.  There's also apparently a fine of up to $100 for using the wrong detergent, though the Maryland Department of the Environment isn't about to demand to check what's under your sink. 

The fine on use is perhaps meant to dissuade residents from going out of state to buy phosphorus-containing detergents, as occurred initially in Spokane, WA after a similar ban took effect there.  That'll be harder here, as according to this report, 16 states just banned phosphate-laced detergents, including neighboring Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Is your store P-free now?  Let us know if you find banned products on your neighborhood store shelves.  It may not be that easy to tell, though, as there's no standard labeling requirement.  Some brands boast "phosphate free" prominently on the label, while with others you may have to read the ingredients fine print, and even then it may not be conclusive.  

By itself, the phosphorus dish detergent ban represents no more than a tiny step toward a cleaner bay.  Sewage treatment plants, farm animal manure and even pet waste are all likely larger sources of the nutrient that, along with nitrogen, creates the dead zone that forms ever summer in the middle of the Chesapeake.  But it's an important symbolic step nonetheless, coming decades after the state banned phosphate-laced laundry detergent and shortly after it moved to curb phosphorus in lawn fertilizer.  

Unfortunately, Consumer Reports says that phosphorus-containing dish detergents are tops at cleaning dishes.  But its latest round of testing has found several brands with little or no phosphates that also do a pretty good job, notably Cascade, Ecover, Method and Simplicity. 

What's your experience with P-free dish soap or dishwasher detergent?  Do your glasses and plates get as clean as before?  Any products (or techniques) seem to work better for you than others?

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

With another steamy week ahead, air conditioners will likely be getting another workout. Or will they? Eco-conscious and/or frugal people are trying to go without air conditioning for as long as they can stand it.

Take Gerald Winegrad. The Chesapeake Bay advocate tells Dan Rodricks that "if the temperature doesn't exceed 88 degrees, we try to go with fans."

And scientist Stan Cox has come out with the book "Losing Our Cool: Uncomfortable Truths About Our Air-Conditioned World (and Finding New Ways to Get Through the Summer)." In it he talks about the country's dependence on air conditioning and offers suggestions for decreasing our reliance. (Read more about his book here.)

I know people who set their thermostat at 80. So what about you? In the comments tell us how high you will go before your air conditioning kicks in and your tips for surviving the heat. On Wednesday, we'll do a random drawing of commenters, and the winner will get packages of energy-efficient light bulbs sent to us from IKEA.

Baltimore Sun file photo

Posted by Kim Walker at 6:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (24)
Categories: Going Green
        

Looking for something green to do this weekend? How about camping in the rough on an 80-acre circa 1850’s farm in Westminster? If that sounds to you like an adventure worth taking then head over to Common Ground on the Hill’s celebrated Roots Music Festival, this Saturday and Sunday at the Carroll County Farm Museum.

Since 1994, Common Ground on the Hill has been working to unite people through the “common ground” of music and art. For 16 years, they’ve offered workshops in music, visual arts, dance, and dramatic performance, which are held during two consecutive weeks each summer, and feature professional musicians, artists, dancers, actors, writers, and thinkers from a wide variety of disciplines who hail from all over the United States and beyond.

This year’s Roots Music Festival will feature four stages of music, fine arts, eco-friendly crafts, handmade instruments, and organic cuisine. Also worth seeing are the museum grounds, which include original farm structures, herb and vegetable gardens, a working windmill, and gorgeous trails.

The cost for “camping in the rough” is $10 or $25 for an RV electric hookup. However, if camping isn’t your style, the cost per day is $25 ($40 for both).

Tickets are available for purchase at the door or online. For more information, including a list of vendors and musicians, schedules, and directions, visit Common Ground on the Hill’s website.

Posted by Christy Zuccarini at 2:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

What could be better than bands, BBQ, beer and - oh, yeah - fresh berries? Those will be among the featured attractions at the 5th annual Native Berry Festival Sunday (July 11) at Herring Run Park, Belair Road at Shannon Drive.

Local will be the order of the day, with live music from area bands, Big Bad Wolfe barbecue, Brewer's Art beer, local wine, arts and crafts - and of course berries and plants for sale.

The event, from noon to 5 p.m. is free, though tasting the desserts prepared for the festival requires a "nominal donation." Participants also are encouraged to make their own dessert concoctions and bring them to enter in a contest.  Those who donate desserts get to join in the judging.

The shindig had been scheduled for Saturday, but got bumped to avoid possible thunderstorms that day.  So that should bring cooler, less humid weather, right?  Perfect for eating berries, and the rest!

(Blueberries from Moody Blues Farm in New Windsor, Baltimore Sun photo by Amy Davis)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Could the nation's oldest and largest civil rights group be going green?

The NAACP has announced it plans to unveil environmental priorities when its 101st annual convention begins Saturday (July 10) in Kansas City, Mo.   There'll be a workshop during the six-day gathering on the environmental and economic impacts of climate change on communities of color.  The group also is promising a "major announcement" on the Gulf coast.

 “Our communities are disproportionately affected by global climate change," said NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous (pictured above at last year's convention). "We envision advocating for a clean environment as a key part of a civil and human rights agenda."

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, the agency's first African-American leader, is expected to be on hand.  Convention go-ers also will be able to apply there for green jobs, as NAACP leaders intend to push "green enterprise," pairing economic development with environmental protection.

(2009 AP Photo)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

Environmentalists mostly still seem to be backing Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin's watered-down Chesapeake Bay cleanup bill, despite the concessions he made to get it out of committee a little over a week ago.

One who takes a dimmer view - or who is perhaps less shy about voicing it publicly - is Rena Steinzor, president of the Center for Progressive Reform and a professor at the University of Maryland School of Law.

Steinzor, in a post to the center's blog, contends that Cardin gave away too much in haggling with Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., to gain concessions for farmers in the bay watershed. She calls the resulting compromise "deeply flawed" and "an inexplicable throwback" that gives the Environmental Protection Agency no stronger authority to impose "total maximum daily loads," commonly known as "pollution diets," on the states and communities that drain into the bay and its tributaries.

Cardin spokeswoman Sue Walitsky countered that the legislation still "explicitly recognizes" EPA's authority to set pollution diets for the bay and all the tributaries.  And among other things, it also imposes for the first time a drop-dead deadline on having all the needed cleanup actions in place by 2025.  Even with revisions, Walitsky contends the bill "represents a huge step forwrard for restoration efforts." 

"If indiividuals take the time to review the reported bill carefully, we think that they will agree," Cardin's spokeswoman concluded.

Of course, strong or not, to do anything the bill has to pass both Senate and  House. That remains very much up in the air this election year.  To follow the bill, and see the revised text when it's available, go here.

(AP photo)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

Talk about a nasty job that somebody's got to do! Four area college students who may have dreamed earlier of spending their summers in other ways are pulling tires and debris out of Back River instead - and finding it satisfying, if a bit mucky.

"I wanted to feel like I was making a difference," said Molly Williams, 21, of Cockeysville.

The difference is a huge pile of tires and garbage bags full of other debris that they've collected, with the help of some old-timers (aka age 30 and above) and Baltimore County, waiting on the bank for removal and proper disposal.  Read my story about their efforts in The Baltimore Sun.  And check out the video, shot by The Sun's Algerina Perna to see what a difference they've made in how one stretch of the Chesapeake Bay tributary has been cleaned up. 

As much debris as the kids have pulled from Back River in the past 2 1/2 weeks, there's plenty more to do.  The banks are still littered with trash.  The Back River Restoration Committee, an energetic newcomer on the community action scene, has a big cleanup planned Saturday, 9 am to 2 pm.   The kids will be there, but they could use plenty of help.  Volunteers should meet at the Essex Park & Ridge on Eastern Boulevard by the Back River bridge.   p>

It'll take a lot more to restore this river, of course.  But the collegiate cleanup crew has shown what the river can look like if only Baltimore city and county residents in the 55-square-mile Back River watershed can be persuaded to stop littering and clean up their streets and neighborhoods.  Otherwise, the labors of these hard-working, idealistic kids will be buried under another torrent of trash washed down the storm drains and creeks the next time it rains.

Impaired as it still is, Back River boasts some beautiful natural vistas, and some signs of life.  Not all of them are welcome, as I reported last week on the midges swarming there, bedeviling boat owners and waterfront residents.  Those, ironically enough, may also be a sign of life returning to the river.  A Towson University biologists suggests that the nonbiting flies can be pretty hardy, so may be among the first things to flourish in an ecosystem still lacking the fish and other bug predators that could keep their numbers in check.  So they're possibly a hopeful sign, one that can lead to others with still more work on the river and on the land throughout the watershed.

;(Baltimore Sun photo and video by Algerina Perna)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Fewer oysters in the Chesapeake Bay are dying from the diseases that have devastated the bivalve population in recent decades, leading some to believe they may be developing a natural resistance, says a new report by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Dermo and MSX, the two parasites that have been killing oysters, still afflict them throughout the bay - but scientists are seeing more of them surviving, the Annapolis-based environmental group reports.   

Citing data from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the report says that disease-related oyster mortality in the upper bay declined from 2005 through 2009 to 17 percent a year, down from 29 percent on average from 1985 through 2004.

Both parasites seem to spread and kill more readily in saltier water, as is generally found in Virginia's portion of the bay, but Dermo is more tolerant of low salinity and is the greater problem in Maryland waters.

A scientist with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Ryan Carnegie, has seen marked declines both in disease prevalence and death among oysters in that state.  In the York River, for instance, fewer than 5 percent are dying from MSX now, compared with more than 50 percent a decade ago, the report says. In the lower James River, only about 24 percent of oysters were infected with MSX in 2009, down from 80 percent in 1995. 

Dermo continues to plague Virginia oysters, but the foundation report says mortality appears to have moderated in the Lynnhaven and Great Wicomico rivers, where oyster reefs have been built up using old shell dredged from the bay bottom.

The environmental group says the improved survival of bay oysters supports Maryland's new oyster restoration strategy.  State officials are moving to ease commercial harvest pressure on the bivalves by expanding sanctuaries and encouraging watermen to move into private aquaculture, as is already being done in Virginia.

Maryland DNR is holding four public hearings this month on proposed regulations to set aside more sanctuaries and open up more of the bay for leasing to private aquaculture.  They are as follows:

 -- Wednesday, July 7, 6:00 p.m., Anne Arundel Community College, Pascal Center for the Performing Arts, 101 College Parkway, Arnold, MD 21012

-- July 13, 6:00 p.m., Leonardtown High School Auditorium, 23995 Point Lookout Road, Leonardtown, MD 20650

-- July 22, 6:00 p.m., Salisbury University, Caruthers Hall Auditorium, 1101 Camden Avenue, Salisbury, MD 21801

-- August 5, 6:00 p.m., Chesapeake College, Todd Performing Arts Center, Route 50 and Route 213, Wye Mills, MD 21679

(Watermen clean oysters in Severn River sanctuary; 2008 Baltimore Sun photo by Doug Kapustin)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

With 100-degree temperatures and cloudless, practically windless skies forecast for the next few days, it's a perfect recipe for unhealthful air quality.

The Maryland Department of the Environment warns that today, tomorrow and Wednesday are all predicted to be Code Red air quality days.  That means ground-level ozone, aka summer smog, could reach levels in the air we breathe where it's best to stay indoors as much as you can.  At 9 a.m. Monday, it's already Code Orange in downtown Baltimore, with ozone levels bad enough that children and those with breathing or heart conditions ought to stay inside.

High ozone levels in the air can cause shortness of breath, coughing, wheezing, fatigue, headaches, nausea, chest pain, and eye and throat irritation.  Exercising outdoors in this kind of air can make it painful to take deep breaths.

Ozone forms when chemicals in vehicle exhaust, paint, aerosol products and power plant emissions all mix in the atmosphere on hot sunny days.  So if you want to do your part to help the air quality, cut down on driving and mowing lawns on days like this.

To stay current on air quality in the Baltimore and Washington areas, check out Clean Air Partners.   And if you want to know more about smog here and elsewhere on the continent, check out The Smog Blog produced by atmospheric scientists at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

(Blistering morning at the Inner Harbor, 2007 Baltimore Sun photo by Karl Merton Ferron)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

A group of Western Maryland residents and a state conservation group have filed formal notice they'll sue to stop construction of a wind farm in Garrett County, contending the massive turbines "almost certainly" will harm endangered bats in the forested, mountainous region.

Save Western Maryland, a group of local residents opposed to wind farm projects in the county, announced Saturday that it had joined with the Maryland Conservation Council and "several concerned citizens" in a June 23 letter warning of the lawsuit to Constellation Green Green Energy LLC, and other businesses that have or have had a hand in the wind farm being built on Backbone Mountain south of Oakland.   Constellation Green Energy is an offshoot of Baltimore-based Constellation Energy.

The groups contend the Eagle Rock project will violate the federal Endangered Species Act because the 28 turbines, each more than 400 feet high, would "almost certainly" kill or injure rare Indiana bats or Virginia big-eared bats, both protected by law. 

The notice said a lawsuit would be filed within 60 days, unless Constellation obtains an "incidental take" permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for any protected bats its turbines might harm.  Getting such a permit requires the applicant to prepare a "habitat conservation plan," which lays out steps taken to avoid or minimize harm to rare species, and possibly to mitigate their loss as well.

A federal judge temporarily halted construction of another wind farm in West Virginia, citing the project's potential impact on Indiana bats.  The developer subsequently agreed to scale back the project and obtain an incidental take permit for Indiana bats in order to settle the case.

Garrett County is within the historic range of Indiana bats.   A spokesperson for Constellation emailed a statement that even though the company believes the risk of impacting Indiana bats is "very remote," it's working with state and federal agencies to avoid any harm to the rare animals. "We are already voluntarily working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in connection with the 'incidental take' permit process," the statement said.

Constellation began construction earlier this year and expects to be finished by year's end.  A second company, Synergics of Annapolis, also has approval to build a wind farm on the same mountain ridge.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 5:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)
        

A day after politicians haggled over how to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, the regulators are taking their turn at bat. The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to hand out today the Chesapeake Bay nutrient pollution limits that Maryland, the five other bay states and the District of Columbia will have to meet in coming years.

(Update: Full story here.)

It's the beginning of a bureaucratic ballet the EPA and bay states will act out over the next six months, but a dance with serious consequences.

Federal regulators have laid out a series of steps to be taken in coming weeks and months to finish putting the Chesapeake on a "pollution diet," known bureaucratically as a "total maximum daily load."   Today is for the distribution of limits for nitrogen and phosphorus pollution - from sewage, air pollution and runoff from farms and urban and suburban lands - that stimulate algae blooms and trigger the bay's summer "dead zone."  On Aug. 15, the states will get similar limits to achieve on sediment, the silt that clouds the water and prevents fish-harboring underwater grasses from growing.

Today's limits come on the heels of approval in Washington by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee of a compromise bill meant to strengthen the lagging 26-year restoration effort.   Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md., agreed to drop any reference to the "pollution diet" in the bill he'd introduced to appease Republicans concerned about a broadening of federal authority to regulate water pollution, especially runoff from farms and urban and suburban lands.   That provision had been seen by some as needed to buttress the EPA's legal right to impose sanctions on states if they fail to do their part to clean up the bay.  Even with that and other concessions, it's far from certain this or any bay bill will pass Congress this year. 

Legislative backing or no, the EPA is committed to going forward.  It has to under the settlement of a federal lawsuit brought years ago by environmental groups accusing the federal government of failing to impose a pollution diet on the bay, as called for in the Clean Water Act when pollution impairs the use and enjoyment of a water body.   Even so, regulators say this is the largest and most complex pollution diet the federal government has ever drafted,  spread across six states encompassing 17 million people, nearly 500 major sewage plants and some 88,000 farms.

Once given the cleanup targets they have to reach, Maryland and the other states will have just a few weeks to finish drafting plans outlining how they intend to reach those pollution limits.   The states' "watershed implementation plans" are to be submitted to the EPA by Sept. 1.

Then, with barely three weeks to review the states' plans, the EPA has committed to issuing its draft pollution diet for the bay and its tributaries by Sept. 24.  The agency will give the public 45 days from then to comment on the whole shebang, then require states to submit final plans by Nov. 29. 

The feds will wrap up the whole bureaucratic ballet by formally establishing a "total maximum daily load" for the bay by Dec. 31.  That'll spell out the recipe and schedule the states must follow in seeking to restore the bay, with EPA waiting in the wings to hold states accountable - possibly even withholding federal funds or development permits - if the states fail to hit their marks.

It's all a paper exercise at this point, with scientists and bureaucrats haggling over numbers.  But those plans and figures will force action  --  and consequences if actions fall short.   Unless, of course, some state or industry feels it's being unfairly imposed on in this new effort to clean up the bay and goes to court challenging the federal government's authority to do all this.   The final act hasn't been written for this show, so it's not clear how it will end.  Stay tuned.

(Crabs caught near Ridge, MD. 2008 Baltimore Sun photo by Glenn Fawcett)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)