Students at the University of Maryland have jumped on a nationwide bandwagon to ban bottled water sales on campus, it seems.

The Washington Post reports that student government groups on the College Park campus have yielded to the pressure and now serve tapwater in pitchers at their meetings and events.    Other schools around the country also are cutting out on the bottled beverage. According to the Post, Goucher College in Baltimore apparently has gone halfway, removing bottles from dining halls and other campus eateries while still offering them at the bookstore and in vending machines.

The rap against bottled water is waste - that Americans are burning up resources and generating mountains of plastic debris for a drink they could easily get from a faucet or fountain somewhere. Of course, the bottles can be recycled, but many aren't, and there's still the energy consumed producing and transporting them.

But some are suggesting it's not an open-and-shut case.  Bottled water helps fight obesity, some say, by offering youthful consumers a more healthful choice than sugar-laden soft drinks in vending machines and at snack bars. That's certainly how the International Bottled Water Association sees it, with a spokesman calling its members' beverage "a healthy, legal product."

There's also the convenience factor - could it be there aren't as many water fountains as there used to be?  And some activists worry that making a fuss about bottled water could alienate the public and lose goodwill for action on other environmental issues arguably of greater importance.

What's your take? Time to dump the throwaway drinks, or is this a diversion from bigger problems? Do you drink bottled water, or carry your own?

(Bottled water on sale in Florida supermarket.  Photo by Tina Russell, Orlando Sentinel)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)
        

Outdoor music festivals are trending green these days, which would be a good thing, given the mounds of trash and debris I've seen left by music lovers at the few I've attended in years past.

The Sweetlife Festival in Columbia on Sunday, May 1, professes to be carbon-neutral while also promoting local, sustainable food, and a green lifestyle. Tix aren't cheap - $55 - but if the music is to your taste you can feel better about the rest as well. It's put on by Sweetgreen, a Washington restaurant group peddling healthy, locally grown fare.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 3:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Baltimore County's Department of Public Works, Bureau of Solid Waste Management, and the Department of Environmental Protection and Sustainability will sell compost bins and rain barrels at the auxiliary parking lot of The Avenue at White Marsh Saturday from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Bins will go for $34 and rain barrels for $50. So if you ever wanted to attempt composting or conserving water, now is a good time to start.

For more information, visit Baltimore County's website.

Posted by Kim Walker at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Shopping
        

UMBC will celebrate all things vegetarian Saturday at its first VegFest. UMBC Vegetarians and The Humane League are hosting the free festival, which will feature vegetarian-friendly businesses, pro-animal organizations, music, activities and cooking demonstrations. There will also be speakers, including PETA vice president Bruce Friedrich. Yabba Pot, Burrito Bandits, Emily's Desserts and Dirty Carrots will be among the food vendors.

Hours are 11 a.m.- 3 p.m. at Erickson Fieldd on the UMBC campus. For more information, click here.

Posted by Kim Walker at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Food
        

Robert M. Summers, the state’s acting secretary of the environment, has been officially given the job, Gov. Martin O’Malley announced Thursday.

Summers had served as a deputy secretary since January 2007 and took over running the department in December 2010. O’Malley said Summers has been a key contributor to the state’s environmental programs, including those that focused on the Chesapeake Bay restoration, during his 27-year career that has mostly been spent at the Maryland Department of the Environment.

“With his highly-regarded expertise, straightforward approach to finding workable solutions, and passion for clean water, clean air and a healthy environment, we are confident that his continued leadership will serve the people of our state well as we work to protect our environmental priorities,” O’Malley said in a statement.

Summers said he’d apply “the best science, the best service using e-commerce, predictability and transparency in permitting and encouraging innovative technologies to protect public health and the environment.”

He said the bay particularly offered an opportunity to foster innovation and create jobs.
The appointment drew praise from leaders of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation as well as the Maryland Chamber of Commerce.

Summers earned his B.A. in 1976 and Ph.D. in 1982 in environmental engineering from the Johns Hopkins University.

Baltimore Sun file photo of Summers

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Chesapeake Bay
        

Polluted rain water draining into the Chesapeake Bay caused the health of the state’s largest estuary to decline in 2010, according to an independent scientific analysis released Wednesday by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.

The bay scored a C-minus on the center’s annual EcoCheck report card, down from a C the year before — the first decline since 2003. The runoff was affected by natural forces and human activities such as farming and urban and suburban activities, the researchers said.

“One of the main drivers of annual conditions in Chesapeake Bay is river flow related to weather patterns,” said UMCES-EcoCheck scientist Dr. Heath Kelsey. “While efforts to reduce pollution have been stepped up in recent years, nature overwhelmed those measures in 2010 and temporarily set the bay back a bit.”

Kelsey said some variability in scores is to be expected in such a complex ecosystem. Though, Robert M. Summers, acting Maryland secretary of the environment, said the drop shows the importance of controlling pollution from all areas.

Grades declined in nine regions, remained unchanged in three and improved in two, including Virginia’s James and York rivers. Two regions scored an F for the first time since 1996, the Patapsco and Back rivers and Lower Western Shore regions.

The data in the report come from state and federal agencies, and analysis is conducted by the Maryland center and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Chesapeake Bay office.

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Chesapeake Bay
        

Maryland and Virginia have reported that their annual winter survey of Chesapeake Bay's crabs found about a third fewer than the year before. Scientists blame the drop on a "killer" cold wave that hit in December and lasted into February.

You can read how I reported it in the Baltimore Sun here.

Reaction to the announcement has been interesting. Some see the drop as bad news, and suggest darkly that the O'Malley administration is trying to snow the public into thinking things are better than they are, and even that O'Malley's cozying up to watermen.

First, I doubt you'd find many (any?) watermen who support O'Malley or think he'd do them any favors, given their history over crabbing and oystering cutbacks, rockfish poaching, you name it. As for whether bad news is being spun, a little perspective is important.

Last year's survey found the crab population at its highest since 1997, and this latest count is the second highest. Scientists say the population, though lower than it was, is still healthy and for the third year in a row above the threshold they had set for ensuring a sustainable number.

Also, whether because of the catch restrictions in place or other factors, fisheries scientists estimate that recreational and commercial crabbers combined took something like 42-43 percent of the available crabs,  below the 46 percent ceiling experts had set for steering clear of overfishing.

That's why the state is looking at whether it should ease or tweak the limits a bit, but not a lot.  To learn more about what the survey found and what the state is contemplating, go here.

Longer term, under the auspices of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a group of biologists is in the throes of reassessing the health of the bay's crab stock.  The group's report, due next month, may recommend changes in how the fishery is managed.  One issue on the table is whether to impose differing catch limits for females than for males, since the "sooks" are the key to ensuring there'll be future waves of baby crabs in the bay.

For more on the winter dredge survey, I recommend reading this story that Sun outdoors writer Candus Thomson wrote about it last month.

(Top: Gov. Martin O'Malley announces crab survey results, Baltimore Sun photo by Lloyd Fox. Left: State biologist Joe Williams sorts crabs pulled from Patuxent River, Baltimore Sun photo by Candus Thomson)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 1:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

There's been a lot of debate lately about the costs of building commercial wind turbines off Maryland's coast to help ease climate change. 

A new report makes the case that failure to reduce greenhouse gases at all - whether by wind turbines or some other action - could cost state residents jobs, income and maybe even the culinary star of their summertime feasts, Chesapeake Bay crabs.

According to "Pay Now, Pay Later," by a group called the American Security Project, continued inaction to mitigate the effects of climate change could begin to weaken important state industries and erode jobs. Between 2010 and 2050, the report warns, Maryland could lose $23.7 billion in GDP and 163,000 jobs.

"Climate change is happening, and it will ultimately have a costly effect on the economy of Maryland," says Jim Ludes, executive director of the American Security Project, a nonprofit group dedicated to emphasizing the national security implications of climate change and energy policy. 

Maryland is among the states most vulnerable to climate change, the report notes, but also one of the nation's leaders in seeking to do something about it by promoting development of renewable energy.

Early signs of climate change are already manifesting themselves. The bay has warmed by 2 degrees Fahrenheit and sea level has risen in many places by a foot since 1900. Changes in the bay could affect its iconic crab population, the report argues.

Meanwhile, coastal marshes already have drowned, and beaches and islands washed away. The Environmental Protection Agency projects it could cost Maryland $35 million to $200 million to replenish beaches should water levels rise another 20 inches.

But more than real estate is at stake, the report says. As much as 16 percent of the state's labor force could be affected by changes in key state industries, such as fishing, farming, forestry, tourism, even shipping.

On the other hand, the report, argues, continued investment in and development of renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and biomass promise to create jobs and savings for residents. As of 2007, there already were 1,000 "clean energy" businesses in the state employing 12,900 people, and Maryland ranked 6th in renewable energy venture capital investment.

The future of offshore wind is uncertain, as the General Assembly shied from the costs to ratepayers of approving legislation pushed by Gov. Martin O'Malley that would have required the state's utilities to buy electricity produced by turbines placed off Ocean City.

Lawmakers may revisit the issue next year after studying it. But as my colleague Jay Hancock pointed out in a recent column, there are other, less costly ways to slow the increase of climate-altering greenhouse gases, mainly by investing in energy conservation and efficiency.

None of the possible responses to climate change is free up-front, though, so whether it's wind, solar, or energy-efficient lighting, the only real question, as the American Security Project puts it, is whether people are willing to pay now to save later, or pay later for doing nothing now.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 8:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Gov. Martin O'Malley created a task force today to figure out how to curb pollution of the Chesapeake Bay from septic systems, saying he hoped the study would help overcome "fears" of the legislation he had introduced this year that would have banned major housing developments relying on them.

"We must find a way to grow in a clean, green, more sustainable way," O'Malley said prior to signing an executive order establishing the task force. He held the signing ceremony at the Arlington Echo Outdoor Education Center on the Severn River, where household septic systems account for roughly 30 percent of the nitrogen fouling the water.

Currently, about 411,000 Maryland households are on septic systems. Although a relatively small source of nitrogen pollution baywide compared with sewage plants or farm runoff, septic leakage of the harmful nutrient could increase by 36 percent over the next 25 years if nothing is done, state officials project. 

O'Malley's bid to curb major housing developments on septic systems failed to get out of committee in Annapolis after rural lawmakers, farmers and developers raised an outcry, warning that it would throttle growth and cost jobs in the state's rural and suburban counties.

The governor was joined by Del. Steve Lafferty, a Baltimore County Democrat who had sponsored the septic curb legislation the governor wanted, and by Del. Maggie McIntosh, head of the House Environmental Matters Committee who had tabled the measure for further study.

McIntosh, a Baltimore city Democrat, said she hoped the study would take a broader look at how septic systems fit into the state's Smart Growth policies.  

The task force is to include members of the House and Senate, state secretaries of the environment, natural resources, agriculture and planning, local government officials, environmental activists, scientists, developers and farmers.  It's ordered to report its findings by Dec. 1, a month before the next session of the General Assembly.

Not coincidentally, the Maryland State Builders Association released ar report today estimating that Maryland's overall efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, not just septic curbs, would cost the state's taxpayers, businesses and consumers $21 billion by 2017, trimming some 65,000 jobs from the economy.

(House with septic system under construction in Baltimore County.  Baltimore Sun photo by Kim Hairston)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 4:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

Thwarted in his bid for legislation to curb development relying on septic systems, Gov. Martin O'Malley is scheduled this morning (April 18) to announce the formation of a task force to study how much the systems pollute the Chesapeake Bay.

Joining O'Malley at Arlington Echo Outdoor Education Center in Millersville for the announcement will be Del. Maggie McIntosh, D-Baltimore city, Sen. Paul Pinsky, D-Prince George's County, and Del. Steve Lafferty, D-Baltimore County.

Pinsky and Lafferty were cosponsors of the "Sustainable Growth and Agricultural Preservation Act of 2011, which died in committee under a hail of criticism from farmers and lawmakers and local officials in rural areas.  It would have banned major new housing developments using conventional septic systems, and required less polluting advanced septic systems in all smaller developments.

McIntosh, who heads the House Environmental Matters Committee, prompted O'Malley to seek a study after tabling his bill. In doing so, she echoed concerns of rural lawmakers that the septic ban would have a disproportionate impact on their communities.

O'Malley is to sign an executive order forming a task force to study the issue, as McIntosh had urged him to do. According to a media advisory from the governor's office, the order will "establish a framework to examine the extent to which septic tanks on major developments pollute the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries" and "inform" new legislation to be introduced next year.

The task force has its work cut out for it, as some refuse to acknowledge that conventional septic systems  systems are a source of the Chesapeake's water woes at all, much less a significant and growing one.

But the criticism that apparently gave pause to McIntosh, who otherwise supports a curb on septics, was that it would stifle growth in rural areas. It wasn't enough, apparently, that a few rural counties have already effectively moved away from large-scale devleopment on septics - for other reasons - without throttling their growth. 

So it seems the task force may have to come up with more than information.  Instead, it may need to forge a political compromise to quell or overcome rural fears that curbs on septic development will kill their growth.  One suggestion heard: soften the the impact of such a ban by phasing it in.   Another: couple it with an infusion of funds for infrastructure upgrades in and around rural towns and villages, where growth is supposedly encouraged under Maryland's Smart Growth law. 

(New home on septic in Baltimore County. Baltimore Sun photo by Kim Hairston) 

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Chesapeake Bay, News
        

Want to know what's being done to make Baltimore more bicycle-friendly? This evening (Monday, April 18) is your chance to find out, and help get it in gear.

As part of Green Week, there'll be an update on bike-related activities at Johns Hopkins University's Homewood campus.  Nate Evans of Baltimore's Department of Transportation will present the latest on bike lanes and other bicycle improvements in the city.   May is the Bike Month Challenge, for instance. 

Alison Dewey of the League of American Cyclists also will talk about what it would take for Baltimore to gain "bicycle friendly" status under her group's rating system.  And there'll be a discussion about starting a bike-sharing program here like the one in DC.

The update will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Great Room at Levering Hall, between the west and south gates to Homewood campus. There's metered parking on Wyman Drive and $6 parking in the South garage. Bike parking, of course, is available on campus. Beverages and light refreshments will be served.

(Bicyclist commuting along Hanover Street. 2005 Baltimore Sun photo by Kenneth K. Lam)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Some of B'more Green's readers recently have posted comments critical of electric vehicles, pointing out that they draw their energy from the electric grid, which in these parts gets half its power from burning coal.

Yes, coal-burning power plants are a major source of greenhouse gases. But does that automatically make an EV worse for the climate than an internal combustion engine?

Nope, according to The Energy Blog. After walking through the details, the blog concludes that burning gasoline produces 21 to 58 percent more carbon dioxide than getting the same amount of energy from the electric grid for a car of similar shape and size.

The Energy Blog is written by an alternative energy advocate.  But read the blogger's post  here to judge for yourself if it makes the case or not. 

As a native West Virginian, I'm well aware there are other environmental issues around coal, including the impacts on streams and forests of mountaintop mining.  And though the recession has dampened the demand on our electric grid, there still are issues we need to resolve about ensuring its adequacy for future demand.

But when comparing solely which type of vehicle produces more climate-warming emissions, it appears EVs come out ahead of gas-powered cars and trucks.

(Photo courtesy SemaConnect)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

If you're an electric-car owner, it can be a bit daunting to find a public place to plug in and recharge in Baltimore right now. That's due to change soon, though.

The Maryland Energy Administration is working with the city and Baltimore Electric Vehicle Initiative to install 65 stations across the Baltimore-Washington area this spring, the first of which already has gone in at the Community College of Baltimore County in Catonsville. SemaConnect of Annapolis, meanwhile, was first out of the gate, placing a few of its stations in parking lots and garages around the area. It hopes to have 50 out there soon. 

Now Coulomb Technologies of California has announced it'll be placing charging stations in Baltimore, too, as part of a $37 million expansion of its ChargePoint America program. The company's Scott Miller emailed me that it expects to install 50 to 100 in the metro area, though timing is still to be determined.

In addition, there'll soon be a new tax break for EV owners and others to help with the cost of installing a charging station at home or elsewhere. The General Assembly approved an O'Malley administration bill, HB163, to provide a credit covering up to 20 percent of the cost of EV charging equipment.

All that apparently has been enough for Ford Motor Co. to put Baltimore on its list of the 25 most EV-ready cities in the country.

So we'll have to see if the spreading network of charging stations will spark sales of electric cars, as the lack of such infrastructure has been cited as a drag on their consumer appeal.  And maybe higher gas prices won't hurt, either.

(Mahi Reddy of SemaConnect recharges at station in Fitzgerald apartments parking garage in Mount Vernon. Baltimore Sun photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: News
        

Green Week has begun in Baltimore, and it's already sprouting some interesting activities.

On Wednesday, students, parents, staff and volunteers started a "vertical garden" at Kennedy Krieger High School, planting seeds in soil-filled pouches hanging on a chain-link fence. It's a great way to grow in a small urban space.

Woolly Pocket provided a grant and the pouches, while local gardening outfit Baltimore Contained provided technical assistance. If you'd like to see vertical gardening demonstrated, there'll be another chance on Sunday, April 17, from 2-4 p.m. at the school, 3825 Greenspring Ave.

Today (Thursday, April 14), there's a multidisciplinary art exhibition, entitled " Regeneration," focused on the theme of balancing the needs of people, the economy and the environment. Fifteen local artists will present works on various media, some using reclaimed building materials. Appropriately, the exhibit is at Second Chances, which sells salvaged materials, at 1400 Warner St., south of M&T Bank Stadium. It's from 5 to 10:30 pm. and free. Curated by Jason Meyer.

For more Green Week events, go here.

(Photo courtesy Baltimore Green Works)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

While most environmentalists found little to cheer in the General Assembly session just ended, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation says it got its top priority - minimizing budget cuts to bay cleanup efforts.

Lawmakers actually put $23.5 million in the Chesapeake and Atlantic Bay Trust Fund, a $1 million increase over its current funding.  In doing so, legislators rejected a proposal by the Department of Legislative Services to cut funding for the trust fund, which pays for farm conservation practices and other efforts to curb polluted runoff

As previously reported, the Assembly also agreed to retain most of the funding for buying parkland and preserving farmland - rejecting another proposal by legislative analysts to permanently divert the property transfer tax revenue that has underwritten Maryland's open-space program for decades.

 “Governor O’Malley and the General Assembly held steady in tough times and continued to invest in clean water," said Kim Coble, the Maryland director for the Annapolis-based environmental group.

Beyond that, the foundation agreed with other green groups that the 90-day session yielded a "mixed bag" of things to cheer - such as passage of lawn fertilizer curbs and anti-poaching measures - and lament, including the failure to pass the offshore wind and septic limits bills.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Maryland's chief environmental regulator called Tuesday for greater federal oversight of drilling for natural gas using hydraulic fracturing.

Robert M. Summers, acting secretary of the environment, told a Senate committee that he's looking for the federal government to play a "more active role" in regulating the drilling technique known as "fracking."

"While we believe states should retain the responsibility and should be able to enact more stringent requirements if they desire," Summers said, "the federal regulatory floor will ensure at least basic protections of public health."

The Senate Environment and Public Works hearing, co-chaired by Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-MD, was looking into potential health and environmental impacts of fracking, increasingly used to extract gas in parts of Appalachia. Read more about the hearing here.

Energy experts have said there's enough natural gas in Marcellus shale deposits under Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York, Ohio and Western Maryland to supply the nation's needs for 15 to 20 years.  But concerns have been raised about the impacts of widespread drilling, which involves injecting millions of gallons of water and chemicals into the ground, then pumping them back out.  There have been reports of spills and contaminated wells.

EPA and other government agencies, including the Maryland Department of the Environment, are analyzing the potential impacts of fracking, and MDE has held up for more than a year acting on requests to drill in western Maryland.  A bill that would have blocked drilling for two more years so the state could conduct an industry-financed study died in the final day of the General Assembly this week.

Summers told the Senate panel Maryland officials would not approve drilling until they were sure it could be done safely.

(There's been some debate on an earlier post about fracking over whether the state already has all the regulatory power it needs to control fracking's impacts. State regulations do give MDE broad authority to set conditions on any drilling permit it issues, and to levy fees and require a bond to cover any cleanup or reclamation costs.

(MDE actually endorsed the two-year drilling study legislation, though.  Dave, the drilling advocate on the earlier post, might say that was just "political correctness," but if you take MDE at face value, their officials said they wanted more time to study the gamut of impacts from drilling - including the cumulative impact of many wells, not just each individual one - on ground and surface water, on air quality, forests and land use. MDE officials said they envisioned promulgating some new regulations applicable to this technology, to compelment whatever permit conditions they might set.

(The bill that died called for all that, spelling out the broad parameters of the study. It also would have required the industry to underwrite the study, with a $10 per acre fee on all drilling leases signed. The industry apparently was okay with all that, and even willing to wait at least another year to begin any drilling. Where discussion broke down - and the bill died - was over whether to allow drilling and gas production in the second year of the study.

(The industry argued, as Dave does, that MDE had ample authority to put whatever conditions it deemed appropriate on wells, so there was no need to wait until the study was finished. Administration officials and sponsors of the bill agreed that some "exploratory" drilling would be appropriate, so they could more closely evaluate the impacts, but didn't want to allow gas production before completing the review.

(The upshot is that the administration is still committed to studying drilling impacts more, and wants to wait until EPA finishes its evaluation as well, which isn't likely until late next year. Meanwhile, there won't be any extra funds for MDE to do its study. Whether that money was really necessary - or will further delay the agency's action on permit requests - remains to be seen.)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Hydraulic fracturing for natural gas is getting the once-over this morning in Washington, with Maryland's cautious approach in the spotlight.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is holding a hearing on the public health and environmental impacts of the controversial drilling technique. Sen. Benjamin Cardin, a Maryland Democrat, is joining Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, in presiding over the session.

Robert Summers, Maryland's acting environment secretary, is scheduled to testify. To read the prepared testimony or see the video, go here. 

The state Department of the Environment has held up acting for more than a year on requests for permits to drill in western Maryland, saying more study is needed of the impacts on drinking water wells, surface water, air quality, forests and land use.  A bill laying out an industry-financed two-year analysis failed to pass Monday in Annapolis.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

As if you need an excuse to spend a day at the beach, Assateague Island National Seashore is waiving entrance fees during National Park Week from April 16 through 24.

Normally, the seashore charges $15 for a seven-day vehicle pass, $10 for motorcycles or $3 per individual for the day - and no charge if on foot or bicycle.  There'll be ranger-led programs all that week in both the Maryland and Virginia portions of the seashore south of Ocean City, and April 23 is National Junior Ranger Day.

It won't be just Assateague that'll be free that week.  The entire National Park system is waiving entrance fees to encourage visitors. Its motto: Healthy Parks, Healthy People.  For more, go here.

(Wild ponies at Assateague Island National Seashore.  2009 Baltimore Sun photo by Kim Hairston)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Looking back on the General Assembly session that ended at midnight last night, lawmakers seemed bent on studying environmental issues more than acting on them.  The results of the 90-day session left environmental activists frustrated and in one case blaming the news media for their frustration.

A bid by Gov. Martin O'Malley to boost offshore wind energy development got sidelined for further study by lawmakers nervous about the potential cost to consumers. O'Malley's other major environmental initiative, to limit development on septic systems, got similar treatment amid worries about how it would impact rural economies.

On the other hand, an effort to mandate an industry-financed study of potential harm from drilling for natural gas in western Maryland failed in the final day, despite administration support, amid bickering over terms of the proposed two-year study. industry was willing to put up $1 million plus to pay for the study but wanted to be able to start producing gas while it was still going on.  And while agreeing to ban the use of plastic bisphenol A in baby formula containers, legislators balked at barring arsenic in chicken feed.

Other measures environmentalists hoped for didn't even get out of the starting gate.  A bill to clean up trash in urban waterways like Baltimore harbor by leving a fee on disposable store bags never emerged from committee. Likewise for legislation that would have required Maryland's communities to raise funds for controlling storm-water pollution, or that required commercial building owners to disclose their structures' energy use to potential buyers.

There were some bills that passed over environmentalists' objections, most notably the one Monday night that gives added financial incentives to facilities that produce electricity by burning trash.

Green groups did score some successes. Maryland joined Virginia in adopting new curbs on Chesapeake Bay pollution from lawn fertilizers. Bills toughening penalties for poaching sailed through the Assembly on news of widespread illegal netting of rockfish this winter. And lawmakers mostly retained funding for buying open space and keeping farmland from developers, though they did trim $10 million from the Rural Legacy preservation program.

But overall, the outcome was disappointing to activists. The Maryland League of Conservation Voters, which got only one of its top five legislative priorities, issued a statement last night saying the session was "leaving citizens and those who care for the environment exasperated." "Short-sightedness prevailed," said Environment Maryland's Tommy Landers.

Mike Tidwell of Chesapeake Climate Action Network wouldn't settle for legislative myopia as an explanation for the offshore wind bill's failure. He ticked off a few "villains," blaming outspoken opposition by Sen. E.J. Pipkin, an Eastern Shore Republican, and Bruce Bereano, lobbyist for Safeway food stores. He also faulted what he called "negative" news coverage and editorial opining on the issue by the Washington Post.

Bitterness aside, activists vowed to press on in the "study hall" where legislative leaders consigned most of their pet causes. Whether controversial bills got sent there to be improved over the summer or die remains to be seen.

"I hope we learn more than we did in study hall," said Sen. Brian E. Frosh, a Montgomery County Democrat and leading environmental ally in the legislature.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

An update on an earlier post - the bill calling for a two-year study of natural gas drilling in western Maryland's Marcellus shale deposits is dead.

Drew Cobbs, a lobbyist for the natural gas industry, said he was informed recently that the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee has given up on trying to forge a consensus on the bill, HB852/SB634. A committee staffer confirmed it.

Cobbs, director of the Maryland Petroleum Council, said what killed the bill was the O'Malley administration's insistence on limiting the ability of state regulators to approve natural gas wells after the first year of the study.

Talks between the gas industry, legislative leaders and the administration had yielded a tentative agreement to ban any drilling using hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," for the first year of the study.

Industry representatives had wanted the Maryland Department of the Environment free to approve drilling and natural gas production after the first year if regulators felt they had learned enough by then about what safeguards to impose to prevent potential environmental impacts of the drilling technique.

Administration officials, though, wanted the bill to allow only limited "exploratory" drilling in the second year, without any gas production -- even though, Cobbs contended, regulators already have ample authority to hold up permits if they feel they need more information.

Two requests for permits to drill in Garrett County have been under study by MDE now for more than a year.

Without a bill, the state still is publicly pledged to study the impacts of "fracking" for up to two years, but there will be no fees collected - more than $1 million worth - to help pay for the study.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

Prospects are dimming for a proposed two-year study of drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus shale deposits in western Maryland. 

The bill, HB852, sailed through the House 98-40 a few weeks ago, after being substantially reworked.  With only hours to go, though, it has yet to emerge from the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee.  Talks between the energy industry, environmental advocates and state officials aimed at resolving their differences over the bill reportedly have broken down.

The House-passed bill calls for the Maryland Departments of the Environment and Natural Resources to study the impact on drinking water wells and surface water of hydraulic fracturing (aka "fracking"), as well as the effects of drilling on air quality, traffic, forests and land use.  They were to render a report by 2013, with the study underwritten by a $10 fee paid on every acre of western Maryland land for which energy companies have leased the mineral rights - a total of $1.2 million to $1.5 million, by one estimate.

Talks have been going on between legislative leaders, the gas industry, environmental advocates and the O'Malley administration in an attempt to address continuing industry issues with the bill.

The chief hangup, according to those involved in the talks, is over allowing "exploratory" drilling before the study is concluded.  Under revisions to be proposed to the Senate panel, state regulators would have to submit an interim report by July 2012, with a final evaluation and recommendations due a year later. 

Industry officials reportedly want to be able to move ahead with producing gas as soon as possible after the interim report, while regulators and others want to limit drilling activity until all the impacts have been thoroughly analyzed.

Another change proposed in the House-passed bill would up the lease fee to $15 an acre for any new contracts signed after a certain date later this year.

With less than eight hours to go, though, the Senate committee must vote out a bill, have it pass the Senate and then get the House to agree to it - or negotiate out the differences.

"Long way to go with not a lot of time on the calendar today," one participant in the talks emailed a short while ago. "Not feeling confident." 

Without legislation, state officials have already said they intend to take their time studying the potential impacts of fracking, because of controvesry over the practice in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.  Officials have said it likely will take them two years to complete that evaluation anyway, but left open the possibiility they may decide sooner that they have enough information to put appropriate safeguards in place.  

Even so, the lack of legislation would mean there'd be no revenue from gas leases to help pay for the state's study.

(Natural gas well being drilled in Pennsylvania, 2005 Baltimore Sun photo by Doug Kapustin)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 4:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Funding for preserving open space and farmland remains uncertain as the Maryland General Assembly races to finish its 90-day session by midnight.

The House of Delegates opted to take the property transfer tax revenues traditionally earmarked for preservation to help balance the overall state budget. But as they did last year, the delegates proposed replacing the transferred revenues with borrowed money - from a bond issue.

The Senate, on the other hand, apparently has followed the advice of legislative budget analysts in taking most of the transfer-tax revenues outright, and not replacing them with bond funds.

If the Senate gets its way, all funding for state purchases of parkland (projected to be $4.4 million) would be eliminated, according to Kelly Carneal of 1000 Friends of Maryland.  So would all funds for the Rural Legacy land preservation program ($14.1 million) and all the nearly $4.4 million that would have gone to the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation.

The two chambers did agree not to whack open-space funding for local governments, meaning counties and municipalities will still be able to buy land and fix it up for ballfields and local parks. But if the Senate prevails, there'll be a lot less land preserved in the coming year.

Some lawmakers have argued that the state can't afford to be buying parkland when so many other things are being cut to balance the budget. But environmentalists counter that this is the ideal time to be preserving, when land prices have softened as a result of the recession.

House and Senate must resolve their differences before the day is out.

"It's down to the wire, of course," Carneal emailed me this morning.

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Every energy project gets static, and power lines are no exception. Thirty-eight national, state and local environmental groups have banded together to voice concerns about the Mid-Atlantic Power Pathway (MAPP), a 152-mile transmission line that would cross the Chesapeake Bay and traverse much of the Delmarva Peninsula.

The $1.2 billion project is being pushed by Pepco Holdings Inc., a combination of the region's utilities including Pepco and Delmarva Power, which argues that the line is needed to avoid power blackouts, to lower electricity costs and to make it possible to access electricity generated by new wind turbines.

But the green groups question the need for MAPP, and worry about the impact on fish and water quality of carving trenches across 16 miles of bay bottom and up 23 miles of the Choptank River. In all, the project would cross 27 different streams and disrupt 76 acres of forested wetlands, the groups contend. They also suggest there are alternatives that would be less disruptive.

Under similar fire from environmental and community groups, a different group of utilities announced plans earlier this year to withdraw a bid for permits to build the 275-mile Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline from West Virginia to Frederick County.  The move came after PJM, the regional electric grid operator, decided to reevaluate the need for the project.

A portion of the proposed MAPP project has similarly been tabled for now, but Pepco Holdings is moving forward with the rest of the proposal. The Maryland Public Service Commission is weighing issuing a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity authorizing the project.  Testimony is to be taken through the spring and summer, with hearings scheduled in September and a decision by late fall or early next year.

(Map: Community & Environmental Defense Services)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Chesapeake Bay, News
        

It's that time of year again.  The 8th annual Baltimore Green Week begins April 16 and runs through the 23rd.

The weeklong series of events, lectures and volunteer opportunities leading up to Earth Day is focused on sustainable living. It kicks off with Ecofest, an outdoor festival from noon to 5 p.m. April 16 in Druid Hill Park.

Yoga classes, bike rides around the reservoir and flower arranging lessons are among the activities offered by local producers and organizations. There'll also be food and activities for kids.

Ecofest and Green Week are put on by Baltimore Green Works.  For more, go here.

(Photo courtesy Baltimore Green Works)

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A new documentary suggests that scientists share blame with watermen and early oyster "farmers" for the drastic decline of the Chesapeake Bay's native bivalves.

In "Who Killed Crassostrea Virginica," fimmaker Michael Fincham of Maryland Sea Grant College makes the case that scientists and early oyster growers testing faster-growing foreign oysters likely introduced the MSX parasite that devastated populations of the native bivalve in Delaware and Chesapeake bays.

"Most people mention pollution as the primary cause for the decline of Crassostrea Virginica," according to Fincham. "Although pollution is a problem, it is not the problem that killed off the oysters."  His research found poorly controlled experiments and "secret plantings" of non-native oysters that may have brought the parasite to the region's waters.

Watermen, often faulted for overharvesting the bay's signature shellfish in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, don't get off the hook in this new filmed history. Fincham notes how the widespread use of dredges and tongs broke down the bay's high-rising oyster reefs, destroying their habitat.

The film debuts Sunday, April 10, at 10 p.m. on Maryland Public Television.  It's the kickoff of MPT's annual "Chesapeake Bay Week," a week of programming about the bay.

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Legislation aimed at boosting offshore wind development in Maryland has been tabled for further study amid lawmakers' concerns about the cost to consumers, according to Shaun Adamec, Gov. Martin O'Malley's press secretary.

O'Malley's spokesman said the setback was "not unexpected," given the debate and persistent questions being raised about the governor's bill, HB1054/SB861, which would have required Maryland utilities sign long-term contracts to buy power from offshore wind projects.

With just five days to go, the measure had yet to clear committees in either chamber of the General Assembly. The House Economic Matters committee had been scheduled to vote on it today, and the Senate Finance Committee just recently formed a work group to study the bill.

Adamec said the governor realized when he introduced the bill that offshore wind energy is such a new and complicated concept that it may take more than one year for legislators to endorse subsidizing it. The governor is committed to working with lawmakers on the study, his spokesman said.

This is the second major environmental initiative of the governor's to get sidetracked. Legislation he requested to limit rural development based on septic systems also was set aside for summer study. But O'Malley kept pressing for the offshore wind measure, offering an amendment just last week to cap the potential cost to Maryland households at no more than $2 per month.

Legislative leaders had welcomed the proposed price cap, but some lawmakers remained unsurre, and Republicans continued to attack the legislation, arguing that Maryland consumers could be forced to pay much higher electric bills to cover the costs of the turbines. 

The governor and wind supporters stressed the potential for construction and manufacturing jobs associated with building huge industrial-scale wind turbines 12 miles or more off Ocean City, and he repeatedly pointed to similar clean-energy efforts under way in other Atlantic coast states.

"The hope was that we could pass it this year to be a leader in this race for innovation off our coast," Adamec said. "There very well may be other states that beat us to that, but we will continue to lead this effort and hopefully next year can begin the process of getting those windmills spinning."

(Offshore turbines, China, AP photo)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 4:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

There was more trash talk at City Hall this week about Baltimore's ailing harbor - and a challenge issued to the city's tax-exempt universities to lend a bigger hand in the struggle to heal the watery heart of the metro area.

A City Council committee heard from municipal officials, business leaders and community activists Wednesday evening on what's being done, and what's to be done, to reduce the water-borne litter and debris that are just the most visible form of pollution plaguing the Inner Harbor.  It was the latest in a series of hearings held on the issue over the last 2 1/2 years.

There was no shortage of ideas and opinions aired at the hearing about how to curb the torrent of trash washing into the harbor whenever it rains. But the speakers made clear that money and political will would be needed to do something meaningful, and it wasn't clear if either would be forthcoming anytime soon.

Al Foxx, director of the Baltimore's Department of Public Works, said the city faces "some very costly and challenging mandates" from state and federal governments to clean up the harbor, and he bemoaned the inflexibility of the Environmental Protection Agency in seeming not to care about whether local taxpayers could afford the ordered cleanup measures.

The Maryland Department of the Environment will be requiring significant curbs on trash in the harbor as part of a stringent new permit calling for major reductions in pollution washing off city streets and parking lots, noted Kim Burgess, head of the DPWs surface-water section. The city already is doing some things to keep litter out of the water, she noted, including patrolling the Inner Harbor and Middle Branch with trash-skimming boats and sweeping city streets of debris that otherwise might wash into storm drains.

But some of the city's litter-collecting efforts, including a mill-style trash "wheel" at a huge storm drain outfall in Canton, have been disabled by vandalism and maintenance problems.  Though city funds are tight, some relatively small-scale "pilot" projects are planned in the near future to test other approaches to dealing with the problem, Burgess said.

Peter Auchincloss, a downtown engineering consultant who led a group studying the harbor trash problem, said it needs to be made a higher priority. His group urged the city to restore funding cut last year for street sweeping and other pollution control efforts, and it called on the city to start raising the funds needed to do more by levying a fee on all municipal properties, based on their size.  He ticked off more than $5 million in  trash-control and cleanup projects proposed, to be paid for with municipal bonds authorized by city voters.

But Dr. Ray Bahr, a retired cardiologist in Canton who's spearheaded a cleanup effort in southeast Baltimore, appealed for a much more modest city investment.  He said by working for more than a year with city officials and community leaders of 17 diverse upstream neighborhoods, they've been able to at least temporarily curtail the torrent of trash flowing through storm drains into the harbor from the Canton outfall.  He and others are eyeing expanding the effort to other nearby neighborhoods. 

But he said he needs 5,000 trash cans to distribute free to poor residents in the area he's been working in.  The cans would be offered to get them to stop putting their garbage out in the alleys in plastic bags, where they get torn open by rats, cats and other vandals.  Neighborhood leaders have told him with such a modest demonstration of the city's encouragement, a "carrot," as Bahr called it, they'll work harder to confront litterers and illegal dumpers.  Without it, he said, the progress made to date will be lost.

"We need a lot of carrots, because we have a serious education problem," agreed Glenn Ross, with the Environmental Justice Partnership. He and others said many residents still don't realize that even inland neighborhoods are linked to the harbor via the vast network of storm drains under city streets.

Councilman James Kraft, who represents the Canton area and who presided over the Judiciary and Legislative Investigations Committee hearing, endorsed Bahr's request for trash cans and pleaded with Foxx to provide them.

(ADDED: It's illegal to put trash out for pickup in anything but a can, but Bahr said he'd found that city sanitation workers were sanctioning it in effect, by advising residents without cans to put all their bags at the ends of alleys. Also, he contended that the city had essentially ignored the buildup of more than 100 "mini-landfills" found during a 10-week sweep last summer of several neighborhoods.  Trash was piling up in the backyards of vacant homes, Bahr said, leading him to ask if there were "two Baltimores," with two levels of city services for rich and poor neighborhoods.) 

But DPW spokeswoman Celeste Amato wasn't encouraging after the hearing closed. "We've tried that before," she said, recalling that the city doled out 100,000 trashcans with "Believe" printed on them, only to see many lost or stolen or get used to store things other than garbage. 

City officials believe the most effective way to curb unwanted litter would be to completely overhaul garbage collection, she said, with every household issued large wheeled bins too big to carry off or get taken indoors.  That would also require refitting the trash trucks with mechanical arms to pick up the bins.  It's a multimillion-dollar investment the city can't afford to make, but Amato said officials are looking to try the approach out in a couple selected neighborhoods in the next year or so.

Ray Ehrlich, a member of the Baltimore's Sustainability Commission, urged city officials to consider stiffening fines for illegal dumping and ramping up litter enforcement efforts in other ways. He recommended against attempting to ban plastic bags, bottles or other consumer packaging that frequently winds up in the streets and water.  Such product bans don't reduce litter, he argued, only change its makeup.  The real problem is a cultural one, that littering is too readily accepted these days, he said.

But some backed curbs on plastic bags, bottles and foam, while others pointed out that littering isn't solely an urban problem. The Gwynns Falls and Jones Falls, which empty into the Inner Harbor, begin far north of the city line in Baltimore County.  One speaker noted that he'd recently witnessed a woman outside a Starbuck's coffee shop in Baltimore County toss a food wrapper on the ground. 

"Trash in the harbor is an upstream, downstream and everywhere in between problem," Foxx said.  "It will take all of us to solve it." 

Kraft then issued a challenge to Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland to do more to help the city deal with its pollution problems. The two institutions are tax-exempt, so can't readily be dunned to help pay for the effort. 

The UM Center for Environmental Science already is assisting in assessing water quality in the harbor. But Kraft noted that each school has a wealth of resources, including scientists and engineers. He called on both universities - one state-funded, the other private - to pitch in to a greater degree than they do now.

(Closeup floating debris Inner Harbor, Sept. 2010.  National Aquarium photo)

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