Environmental activists and former and present elected officials staged a "plunge-in" today of the Anacostia River in Washington's Maryland suburbs to highlight the failures of government at all levels to clean up the Chesapeake Bay region's degraded waterways.

Several donned white "haz-mat" coveralls before wading in to emphasize the polluted nature of the Anacostia, a tributary of the Potomac River that flows from Prince George's County through the District of Columbia.  Vernon Archer, mayor of Riverdale Park just downriver, waded into the water in a business suit.

Like the Patapsco and Back rivers in the Baltimore area, the Anacostia is fouled with trash, sewage and polluted runoff, and its bottom sediments are contaminated with toxic wastes.

The waders at Bladensburg Waterfront Park - and one impulsive soul who did a cannonball into the river - risked infection and illness, as bacteria levels in the Anacostia there often exceed safe levels, especially after it rains.

Speakers pointed out that the federal Clean Water Act, which became law in 1972, called for all American waterways to be fishable and swimmable by July 1, 1983.

Former state Sen. Gerald Winegrad of Annapolis called it "a national disgrace" that the Anacostia, which flows through the nationl's capital, is not even close to being safe for water-contact recreation.

"We've come a long way in cleaning it up," said Jim Foster, president of the Anacostia Watershed Society.  But, he added, "we still have a long way to go."  A plan for restoring the Anacostia adopted last year calls for it to be cleaned up by 2032, but Foster indicated he didn't want to wait that long.  Although the Anacostia and Baltimore's Patapsco have both been chosen by the Obama administration as "pilot" rivers for a new federal effort to restore urban waters, the initiative promises no infusion of new funding.  "One month's rent in Iraq or Afghanistan," Foster said, referring to the costs of the two wars, "would clean up this entire watershed."

The event was conceived by Howard Ernst, an Annapolis political scientist and author of two books critical of Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts to date.  Others attending included state Sen. Paul Pinsky, a Prince George's Democrat, and David Harrington, a former Prince George's senator and former mayor of Bladensburg. 

The event was staged in Bladensburg to emphasize activists' concerns that Prince George's County is not moving aggressively enough to curb polluted runoff from new development.   The county council is considering legislation to meet new state standards for controlling runoff -  capturing the first 1/2 inch of rain - but activists point out that neighboring Montgomery County mandates that new and redevelopment projects soak up twice as much rainfall.

Among the participants was Dottie Yunger, the Anacostia Riverkeeper, who said her dog normally accompanies her on outings.  But before wading in, she said, "there's no way I would let my dog swim in this river." 

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 1:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Maryland's two US senators have written a top Obama administration official expressing their frustration over federal delays in approving new oyster farming ventures in the state's portion of the Chesapeake Bay.

Sens. Barbara A. Mikulski and Ben Cardin, both Democrats, wrote Jane Lubchenco, undersecretary of commerce who directs the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, complaining that her agency is endangering the state's fledgling aquaculture industry by taking so long to review permits needed by the new oyster farms.

As I reported last week, only a handfull of the new oyster-growing enterprises that have applied in the past year to lease areas in the bay and its rivers have received final approval. State officials say some are held up by objections from waterfront property owners or from watermen, but many are awaiting approval of permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The Corps consults with NOAA, and the federal oceans and fisheries agency has raised questions about the impacts of oyster farming operations on endangered sturgeon and sea turtles. NOAA and Corps officials both told me they were on verge of working everything out and should be issuing more permits soon.

"NOAA's role in this process is necessary, and one that we fully support," the senators wrote in a letter last wek to Lubchenco. But they added that the amount of time NOAA officials have taken is "unreasonable."

"This work began well over a year ago, with promises that issues were being worked out time and again," they wrote. "Time is up." Saying the permit delays are putting new jobs in jeopardy and stalling economic opportunities in coastal communities, they called on NOAA to wrap up its review "immediately" and give the Corps its final feedback "without further delays."

(Jay Robinson, director of the Watermen's Trust, with a pile of oyster shells he plans to use to raise oysters in Fishing Bay south of Cambridge.  Batimore Sun photo by Jed Kirschbaum)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 7:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Maryland's ocean and Chesapeake Bay beaches ranked 16th cleanest for swimming and wading in the latest nationwide survey by the Natural Resources Defense Council. Delaware's Rehoboth and Dewey beaches, though, earned "superstar" ratings for the quality of their water and their monitoring.

Overall, seven percent of the water samples taken last year at the state's 70 coastal beaches exceeded health standards for bacteria that could make bathers sick, the national environmental group reported in "Testing the Waters," its 21st annual report on beach water quality.

Tolchester Beach Estates in Kent County was the worst, with 43 percent of samples registering unsafe bacteria levels, followed by Elk Neck State Park in Cecil County (26 percent) and the YMCA's Camp Tockwogh, a youth camp in Kent County.

The NRDC rated Ocean City's beach in the top tier of water quality, with just 3 percent of the weekly water samples there showing high bacteria counts. But NRDC noted that its "superstar" beaches like Rehoboth and Dewey had tallied zero bacteria exceedences in the past three years.

In the Baltimore area, unsafe bacteria levels were detected in 7 percent of the samples taken at Anne Arundel County beaches, and in just 2 percent of tests done at Baltimore County's beaches - though one beach there, in the Hammerman area of Gunpowder State Park, had swimming advisories in effect for 24 days.

The 7 percent of high bacteria measurements at Maryland's beaches last year represented an increase over 2009, the NRDC reports, when just 3 percent of samples exceeded daily maximum bacteria standards.

Maryland's beaches generally rated a little cleaner than the national average, according to the NRDC report, which found that 8 percent of samples exceeded health standards.

But beach closings and swim warnings nationwide shot up last year, the NRDC said, to its second highest level in the 21 years the group has been collecting beach water quality data. It said there were a variety of reasons for the increase, including heavy rains in Hawaii, the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and unknown sources of contamination along the California coast.

While the offshore drilling rig blowout forced beach closures in the Gulf, the main sources of contamination nationwide are storm-water runoff and weather-related sewage overflows, the NRDC says. It urged the federal government and states to do more to curb runoff, including requiring the use of porous pavement and installation of rain gardens and green roofs to soak up rainfall, rather than letting it wash pollutants into nearby streams.

"We still have a lot to do to clean up America’s beaches," said David Beckman, the NRDC's director of water programs. "A day at the beach doesn’t have to mean getting skin rash or dysentery as a souvenir of your vacation."

To see the entire report and a state-by-state breakdown, go here.

(Ocean City, Baltimore Sun photo by Gene Sweeney Jr.)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
        

Ten students at Salisbury University are completing today one of the most intense classes they've probably ever taken in college - but maybe one of the most enlightening, too.

For the past five weeks, the environmental studies majors and two instructors have been exploring the Chesapeake Bay, by land and water, from the Sassafras River to the Bay Bridge-Tunnel. They've paddled the Choptank and Nanticoke rivers, and seen firsthand the interplay between nature and humanity across the Delmarva Peninsula, from the condo canyons of Ocean City to disappearing islands like Hollands, Smith and Tangier.

The six-credit course is taught by Bay author and former Sun writer Tom Horton, and by Bill Nelson, a fellow instructor at Salisbury and a veteran outdoorsman. It wasn't just an extended camping trip - the intinerary covered the science and the social science of the bay watershed. And the students kept journals of what they experienced and learned, and had a final paper or presentation to give.

With their permission, Tom, a longtime friend, shared some of their entries. I'll quote a few snippets:

"I learned so much this week without opening a textbook or sitting at a desk," wrote Sarah Mattingly, who grew up on the Magothy River in Anne Arundel County, Tom informed me. 

She said that she'd learned about barrier islands and the movement of sand in her Coastal Processes class at Salisbury, but the lessons didn't hit home until she and the others kayaked out to Cedar Island on the Virginia coast and found they couldn't paddle up to the buildings still standing off that eroding barrier island.

There were hands-on lessons in wildlife, too. "I got to see a petrified spider crab up close, not just a flat picture of one, got to hold periwinkles, see a baby piping plover and check out fiddler crabs and learn the purpose of their big claw," Sarah Mattingly noted.

Courtney Cohen gained a greater appreciation of trees, in part because of the shade provided by a giant walnut at aptly named Walnut Landing after a grueling 17-mile paddle in 90-degree heat.

"While the shade is a nice gift there was something more magnetic about trees this week," she added. The students heard from Joan Maloof, a just-retired Salisbury botany professor who shared her passion for trees. "She talked about the beauty value associated with these giants," Cohen wrote. adding "they give off an energy that cannot be measured."

The students spent some time in the traditional fishing communities on Smith and Tangier islands and learned from the islanders about the lives they lead there, and the daunting challenges to the continued existence of these historic places. Tangier in Virginia is losing 35 to 75 feet of land a year as the residents try to scrape together the money to build a seawall. On Smith, the threat is more cultural, as young people abandon the hard, uncertain life of fishing and seek work on the mainland. The island's population dwindles and ages.

"At what cost are humans impacting the environment, so much that we are causing thousands of people their homes, livelihood and community?" asked Alison Mattingly, Sarah's sister, in her journal. "Though we now have created an effort to restoring the Chesapeake Bay to better health, are we too late to restore and protect the culture and livelihood of those on Smith and Tangier Island?"

The experiential lessons the students learned may help shape future career choices for some. Sarah Mattingly was impressed by the passion and commitment of many of the people they met in their travels - artist, naturalist, scientist and fishermen alike.

"I don’t want to end up being stuck in one job which may pay the bills, but doesn’t make me happy or connect me to the natural world," she wrote in one entry. "Taking this class has really given me hope that I will be able to find a job that I love and have a passion and dedication for that will also benefit either the Delmarva waterways or another natural marvel around the world."

Tom writes that the school plans to offer the class every summer. Tent camping for days and lugging a portable toilet around may be more roughing it than some are used to. But from the excerpts I've read, the experiences and insights gained by such immersion in the natural world made it all worthwhile.

(Photos by Jason Rhodes for Salisbury University)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Five endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtles nursed back to health by the National Aquarium are being returned to the wild on Sunday.

The rarest and smallest of all sea turtles, the five were found stranded last winter along Cape Cod suffering from cold stunning, not unlike hypothermia. They were shipped to Baltimore by the New England Aquarium, where they've spent the past six months rehabilitating in the local aquarium's marine animal rescue program.

At 11 a.m. on Sunday, the aquarium staff plan to release the turtles at Point Lookout State Park in southern Maryland, where the Potomac River meets the Chesapeake Bay. Kemp's ridley sea turtles are known to feed on jellyfish and other aquatic life in the bay during the summer. The public is invited to be on hand to observe the release. Directions are here.

If you can't make it, some of the turtles will be fitted with small satellite transmitters so their movements can be tracked. The aquarium plans to plot the animals' locations on a map on its website, which you can see here.

(Rescued sea turtle being examined, Dec. 2010.  National Aquarium photo)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

NASA's known for space flight, but next week one of its airplanes is going to start buzzing low over central Maryland, dipping down to 1,000 feet off the ground at times.

The series of overflights beginning Monday are part of a monthlong mission to sample the region's air pollution. Federal, state and university scientists hope the data gathered will help them design new air monitoring satellites and ground stations.

For more on the flights and the region's air quality, read my colleague Frank Roylance's story in baltimoresun.com

(P-3B Orion turboprop based at NASA's Wallops Island flight facility. NASA photo)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 2:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

A batch of top Obama administration officials are coming to Baltimore Friday to announce a new "urban waters" initiative. Nice to see they're getting out of Washington and maybe recognizing that the Patapsco River, rated the sickest waterway in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, is every bit in need of help as the DC area's Anacostia River.

Middle Branch Park in South Baltimore is to be the setting for the late-morning announcement. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar are among the officials scheduled to be there, as are the White Houses's environmental and domestic policy advisers and high-level agriculture and housing officials.

The media advisory put out by EPA gives no details, other than to call it a "new initiative to restore and revitalize waterways in cities across the nation." EPA has been pushing something called the "Urban Waters Movement," aimed at helping communities - especially underserved ones - to improve and benefit from their waterways. 

Under that program, EPA has offered "partnerships" with local governments and community groups, but it seems a little short on money to finance improvements or even the promise of greater regulatory attention to spur cleanup. At least there's no prominent mention on EPA's website of those two traditional federal tools for driving environmental restoration.

Though unsure whether this promises real or mostly symbolic support, local environmental and community activists say privately they're pleased to get top-level Obama administration officials here and to have Baltimore included in a nationwide effort that until now has showered most of its attention in this region on the Anacostia.

Not that DC's "other river" (besides the Potomac) doesn't need help, but EPA played an active role there that it has yet to demonstrate in the Baltimore harbor watershed, w hich some scientists have rated the most degraded spot overall in the entire Chesapeake watershed.  The agency, for instance, was involved in the development of an ambitiious restoration plan for the Anacostia and has pushed through a mandatory trash cleanup plan and tighter requirements on the District and its suburbs to reduce polluted runoff via storm water. 

By comparison, it's been Baltimore's Waterfront Partnership, a coalition of business and civic groups, taking the lead in drafting a restoration plan for the harbor.  And local activists, with some help and encouragement from city and state, provided the spark for getting pollution diets ordered for the harbor to reduce the trash and sewage fouling it.

President Obama directed his administration to take the lead in jump-starting the lagging Chesapeake Bay restoration effort, but that apparently hasn't extended to to the tributaries of the bay - at least not yet. EPA has been more cheerleader than player or even coach in the fledgling harbor restoration effort.

It will be interesting to see if this announcement is the beginning of a new, more active role in reclaiming Baltimore's troubled waters. With housing and domestic policy officials due for the event here, perhaps the administration will somehow coordinate better its economic and community development programs to help green and revitalize urban and older suburban neighborhoods - which many local activists see as key to any effort to halt the torrent of trash and storm water pollution fouling our urban waters.

(Trash floats in the water off Middle Branch Park.  2010 Baltimore Sun photo by Kim Hairston)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Maryland public school students will need to know their green to graduate under a new policy adopted today by the state board of education.

State officials and environmental activists called the vote "historic" and said Maryland has become the first state in the nation to require environmental literacy to graduate from high school. Under the rule, public schools will be required to work lessons about conservation, smart growth and the health of our natural world into their core subjects like science and social studies.

The requirement applies to students entering high school this fall.  Local school systems will be able to shape those lessons to be relevant to their communities, but all will have to meet standards set by the state. School systems will have to report to the state every five years on what they're doing to meet the requirements.

Gov. Martin O'Malley issued a statement calling the board's action "a defining moment for education in Maryland," while environmental advocates were even more effusive. Don Baugh, head of the No Child Left Inside Coalition promoting federal environmental literacy legislation, called it a "momentous day."

Environmentalists had initially howled over draft guidelines adopted by the state board last fall, complaining they would let school systems get by without doing anything - essentially claiming they were teaching environmental literacy simply by offering existing math and science courses. But state School Superintendent Nancy Grasmick and board members reassured activists they really meant to strengthen environmental education, and advocates say the final rules seem to make that clear.

The new environmental instruction should not require any additional funding or staff, according to the governor. But by adopting the requirement Maryland may be in better position to receive federal funding for green literacy, under national No Child Left Inside legislation to be reintroduced in Congress. The bill's chief sponsor is Rep. John Sarbanes, a Maryland Democrat.

(Students at Baltimore's Digital Harbor high school test water in Inner Harbor. 2008 Baltimore Sun photo by Ann Torkvist)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 4:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
        

Continuing his push to limit development on septic systems, Gov. Martin O'Malley named a 28-member task force to study the environmental and health impacts of on-site sewage disposal.

The task force is to be headed by Del. Maggie McIntosh, chair of the House Environmental Matters Committee. McIntosh, a Baltimore city Democrat, tabled the governor's push for septic limits during this year's legislative session and called for more study of the issue. The panel's vice chair is Jon Laria, a Baltimore development lawyer who is head of the state growth commission.

A press release from the governor's office calls the task force broad-based, with representatives of business, agriculture, science, environmental advocacy and government. A quick scan of its members, though, suggests the panel is stacked at least modestly in favor of the governor's position that septic-based development needs to be limited.

O'Malley contends curbs on septic-based growth are needed to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay and to curb suburban sprawl. 

"This effort is not about stopping growth" O'Malley said in a statement. "It is about stemming the tide of major housing developments built on septic systems to generate clean water and protect our environment and public health."

State planners project that septic-based development will account for 26 percent of all the new households built in the state over the next 25 years, but produce 76 percent of all the new nitrogen pollution getting into ground water and streams feeding into the bay. Critics also say building with septics aggravates suburban sprawl, fragmenting farmland and forests and increasing the costs to government of providing roads, schools and other services.

Developers, farmers and some local officials, though, complained that the legislation supported by the governor would stunt growth in rural and some suburban areas of the state. The bill O'Malley backed would have barred septic systems for any "major" subdvisions with more than five homes, and would have required more costly and less polluting septic systems be used on individual homes or smaller developments.

Andy Ratner, spokesman for the state Department of Planning, acknowledged that there had been "great differences of opinion" about septic systems during the legislative session this year. He said the O'Malley administration hopes the task force can tackle those differences and "try to satisfy them as much as you can."

McIntosh had indicated during the session that she favored limits on septic-based development, but was concerned about their impact on rural economies. She also wanted to see that there was adequate capacity in the sewage systems of small towns and cities to handle the growth that might be shifted their way by tightening curbs on septics. The state's fund for upgrading wastewater treatment plants is due to run short of cash in the next year or two.

The governor's April executive order creating the task force directs it to study this issue as well. The panel has until Dec. 1 to reports its findings and recommendations to the governor and to legislative leaders.

(Septic system to serve new home being built in northern Baltimore County.  2011 Baltimore Sun photo by Kim Hairston)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Chesapeake Bay, News
        

The health of Maryland's coastal bays near Ocean City worsened slightly last year, according to the latest ecological report card. Driven by declines in the northernmost bays and in the southernmost bay reaching down into Virginia, the overall condition of the 175-square-mile watershed slipped from a C-plus in 2009 to a C in 2010, which advocates say needs improvement.

The annual report, produced by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, provides a status check for the shallow embayments separating Assateague Island from the Worcester County mainland. Summer beachgoers flock there to boat and fish, and portions of the watershed have seen heavy development pressure over the years for vacation and retirement homes.  Their waters are a vital nursery area for summer flounder and other species.

Levels of dissolved oxygen in the water - needed for fish to breathe - were rated "generally moderate" except in Newport Bay, where declining water quality earned it a D-plus, the worst score of the five bays and river analyzed.  Nutrient pollution from farm runoff, development and septic leakage varied, with nitrogen levels relatively low in three bays and phosphorus readings moderate to poor in all but one.  Nutrient levels in the streams feeding into the bays were all relatively high, with phosphorus levels especially bad in the St. Martin's River and Newport Bay.

Sea grass growth and hard clam abundance on the bay bottoms were judged moderate to very poor everywhere but Sinepuxent Bay, which with a B grade was deemed the healthiest of the bays.

Dave Wilson, executive director of the Maryland Coastal Bays Program, said he thinks the northern bays are essentially "holding their own," despite what the report card characterizes as "slight" declines in some ecological indicators.  He attributes the dips in phosphorus in Assowoman Bay and the drop in hard clams in Isle of Wight Bay to unusually rainy weather washing more pollutants into the water.

More worrisome is the worsening condition of the southernmost bay, until lately considered one of the most pristine. Its health grade dropped to a C, from a B-minus in 2009.

"We're just continuing (to see) the decline of Chincoteague Bay, the jewel of our watershed," Wilson said. The reasons aren't clear, he added, because many of the farmers in that bay's watershed are practicing conservation.  But seagrass beds there have failed to rebound from a 2005 die-off, he noted, which may be a contributing factor.

This marks the 15th year of the coastal bays program, a partnership of local, state and federal governments aiming to preserve and restore the water bodies.   For more on the report card and the bays, go here.   

(Wild ponies on the shore of Sinepuxent Bay, 2010 Baltimore Sun photo by Karl Merton Ferron)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 8:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Looking for some colorful and environmentally friendly plants for your garden or lawn? Now there's a handy online guide to native plants in the Chesapeake Bay region.

With the Native Plant Center, you can search for native plants by name, type, sun exposure, soil texture and moisture - even look for native plants that match the characteristics of popular non-native plants.  The site also features a "geo-locator" so you can identify what plants are suited to your particular location.

Replacing portions of your lawn with native plants suited to local conditions helps local water quality and the bay by reducing the need for fertilizers and pesticides, which can wash into nearby storm drains and streams when it rains. They also cut down on the need for watering.

The online uses the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's native plant database, which is associated with its print publication, Native Plants for Wildlife Habitat and Conservation Landscaping: Chesapeake Bay Watershed.  Other partners in the online portal are the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay and Image Matters, a software consulting firm based in Leesburg, VA.  

(Photo: Asclepias tuberosa, or butterflyweed.  U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service) 

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 3:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

The emerald ash borer, an invasive pest from Asia that's been wreaking havoc in ash trees in southern Maryland and up and down the East Coast, has now been spotted in Howard County - the first detection in the Baltimore area.

My colleague Frank Roylance reports in today's Baltimore Sun that borers were positively identified earlier this month in three locations in Howard - in the mostly rural northwestern part of the county, in Jessup and in Columbia.

University of Maryland entomologist Mike Raupp called it "a watershed event," as the insects have been spreading much faster than expected. Experts last year updated their predictions for when borers would reach Baltimore from 2052 to 2022, but it now seems they could reach the city even before that.

The bright green borers first turned up in 2002 in a Michigan tree nursery. They've since been detected in southern Maryland and 14 other states. Shipments of infested trees and of ash firewood apparently have been among the chief means of spread. They're devastating to ash trees, which have been a popular shade and landscape tree in this area.  Experts estimate there are upwards of 600,000 in the city and near suburbs. 

Adult borers just nibble on leaves, but their larvae burrow beneath the bark and cut off the flow of nutrients, causing the trees to wither from the top down and ultimately die.  As reported in B'more Green recently, the state has stepped up efforts to detect the pests, hanging thousands of purple traps in ash trees to catch the adult borers.

Officials have been removing infested trees in an attempt to control the spread, but with so many ash trees in the area, they're seeking alternatives An insecticide is available that works, but it's costly. Experts have had early success with "bio-control", importing a tiny wasp that feeds on the borer larvae. But it'll be a few years yet, at least, before there are enough of the counter-pests to tell whether they're truly effective at halting the borers' spread.

For more on emerald ash borers and what to do to protect your trees, go here and here.

(Photos: Emerald ash borer, Michigan State University via AP; Ash borer trap, Nate Pesce of Patuxent Publishing)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 1:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Schools almost out for the year, but some Baltimore city students have a truly memorable experience on the Chesapeake Bay to look back on - again and again, through the pictures they took.

Last month, National Geographic held its first all-girls photo camp on Smith Island, in partnership with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.  Twelve seventh-graders from the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women and four high schoolers from the Refugee Youth Project spent four days on the island learning about its culture and environment, and capturing it in photographs and words. 

Their chief mentor for the camp was veteran Bay photographer Dave Harp, who's documented in pictures the effects of rising sea level and erosion on traditional Bay fishing communities like Smith Island. 

The photos shown here were all taken by Victoria Dailey, a 7th grader at the leadership school. 

(Full disclosure: my daughter teaches at the leadership school, and forwarded the pictures to me, along with a few of the girls' written comments on what was plainly an eye-opening experience. NatGeo's mission is to get people to care about the planet, and these girls came to care about an exotic place that isn't that far away.)

"Smith Island is so different from my home," wrote Julia Bainum, a 6th grader at the leadership school.  "Every morning I love to get up and watch the sun rise.  The light is so beautiful on the water and I could take thousands of pictures of it."  She also reveled in "island time," a respite from the rush of urban life.

"Being on this island with a camera changed me," Julia went on.  "I notice the beauty more."

Tila Neupane, of the Refugee Youth Project, noted she took her first boat ride to Smith, which she called "a silent place."

"It is a beautiful place where neighbors are nice and respectful," she wrote. "At my home it is very crowded and lots of cars and roads, lots of noise and people walking on the street. Some people there are nice, but some aren't." 

Finally, 6th grader Andrea Morgan wrote that she learned about the importance of pictures.

"I thought photography was just a picture," she said, but the true definition is more about telling a story."  After her "amazing experience" on Smith Island, Andrea wrote that she wants to be a photographer when she grows up.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Chesapeake Bay
        

Some people just won't give up - and the Chesapeake Bay is the better for it.  Sunday brings the annual Patuxent River wade-in, begun 24 years ago by former state Sen. Bernie Fowler. Fowler, who spent decades as a Calvert County commissioner and then state senator, recalls standing chest-deep in the Patuxent as a young man in the 1950s and being able to see his feet on the river bottom while netting blue crabs.

In 1988, amid growing concern about the river's decline from nutrient and sediment pollution, he waded in again to see how far he could get before losing sight of his white sneakers. He only reached about 10 inches deep that time. He's made an annual pilgrimage into the river since then, in what's become a signature rite of the Chesapeake - and a testament to his persistence in the protracted struggle to restore the bay.

The wade-in attracts bay lovers and politicians galore.  Last year he was reportedly joined by more than 100 people. Once held at Broome's Island where Bernie used to crab, the wade-in's been moved to Jefferson Patterson Park, 10515 Mackall Road in St. Leonard. It starts at 1 p.m., and it's a great event, full of cameraderie and encouragement by Bernie and others to keep up the decades-long fight to restore the Patuxent and the Bay.

For those who can't make it, there's a way to wade in vicariously - by guessing how deep he'll get. The state Department of Planning is sponsoring a "guess-the-depth" contest. Last year, 21 people guessed everywhere from 20 inches to 41.5 inches. I was one of the more pessimistic, as I recall - it looks like I guessed 21.2 inches. Only one person, a John from Harford County, came within an inch of Bernie's actual depth - 34.5 inches.

Feel free to try your hand again this year. There's no prize for winning, just the bragging rights for knowing how clear the Patuxent is this year.  For more info, go here.

Meanwhile, it's not clear when Bernie will be able to see his sneakers in shoulder-deep water again. He's gotten up to 44.5 inches in 1997, but the water's gotten murkier since then. Last year's depth was an encouraging rebound - coming amid a renewed push to restore the bay.  We'll see if it's clearer still this year, even as there's been pushback lately against some of the new cleanup initiatives. Bernie sure would be relieved to know after all this time that his beloved Patuxent is clearly headed in the right direction.

(PHOTO: Bernie Fowler, right, wades into Patuxent with friends. 1992 Baltimore Sun.  CHART: Depths at which Bernie lost sight of his sneakers, by year.)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Sunday is the 9th annual Tour Dem Parks, the yearly bike ride through Baltimore’s parks and neighborhoods.

With the heat easing off, it's a great chance to enjoy the city's green gems, like Carroll, Leakin, Patterson, Clifton and Druid Hill parks. There's a choice of routes to match riders' abilities, from a 12-mile "family" jaunt up and down the Gwynns Falls Trail to the 64-mile Metric Century that's for serious road warriors indeed.

There are rest stops at Patterson, Herring Run, Druid Hill, and Leakin parks, with complimentary snacks, Gatorade and water, plus toilets or port-o-johns and even bike mechanics to help keep you rolling. And when you finish, there's a barbecue and live music at Carroll Park to wind down.

Cost is $20 for children 15 and younger, $40 per adult. Even though it's fun, it's also a fund-raiser, okay? The money goes to help gussy up the parks, print trail maps, create rain gardens and the like. For more on that, go here.

Rides start in Carroll Park, 1500 Washington Blvd, and run from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Go here to register in advance. If you'd rather not ride but want to be part of the scene, they're looking for volunteers to staff registration and rest stops.

(2008 Tour Dem Parks, Baltimore Sun photo by Algerina Perna)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The state Department of the Environment says it's investigating a small fish kill discovered earlier this week at Deep Creek Lake, the popular western Maryland mountain resort area which experienced a large and prolonged fish die-off during last year's blistering summer.

A fishing guide reported spotting about 50 dead fish Monday or Tuesday, and a state fisheries biologist checking it out found "scattered fish, in low density" at various points around the lake, according to Jay Apperson, an MDE spokesman. Most were bluegills, and all appeared to have been dead for several days, with no signs of fresh deaths, he wrote in an email.

About 2,000 walleye and other mostly deep-water fish went belly-up from July into September last year, an unusually large and prolonged die-off that state investigators concluded resulted from a combination of heat stress and bacterial infection that can kill fish when they're stressed. Adding to the stress was the shrinkage of the zone of water in the lake with enough oxygen for fish to breathe comfortably - also likely a result of high water temperatures.

"At this point, there is no indication that water quality is an issue," Apperson said of the new fish kill. But he added that the state will continue to investigate and monitor conditions at the lake.

As B'more Green reported last week, a checkup of the lake's ecological health by University of Maryland scientists found it basically okay, but with some troubling signs and a lack of enough data to really get a good reading on the overal condition of the entire lake and its watershed. Read a summary of that checkup here.

(Dead fish at Deep Creek Lake, July 2010. Baltimore Sun photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor.)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Smog pollution reached "Code Red" unhealthful levels in the Baltimore area yesterday as the latest heat wave pushed the temperature to 100 degrees F. Only I didn't find out about it until the air quality was already on its way back down to moderately unhealthy levels.

Clean Air Partners, the nonprofit group chartered by Baltimore and Washington area planning agencies, put out an emailed warning to limit outside activity because ozone had climbed to the level where it could affect even healthy adults and children.  It showed up in my emailbox at 6:01 p.m., three hours after the email said ozone had hit red levels in Edgewood northeast of the city.  A check of the "realtime" hourly readings, though, shows smog went into the red zone in Edgewood at 2 p.m., and didn't ease to Code Orange - a risk for asthmatics and others with heart and lung conditions - until 7 p.m.

Ozone also hit the red - bad enough to irritate anyone's lungs and trigger wheezing and coughing in some - in Millington on the Eastern Shore.

It turns out that Thursday was the second straight day ozone hit Code Red levels. But unless I missed it, I never got an email alert about the Wednesday smog peaking in Edgewood and Essex. (Historical note: Smog didn't reach Code Red levels until July during 2010.)

UPDATE: At 2 p.m. today (6/10), ozone pollution shot into the Code Red unhealthy range in Davidsonville.  As of 3:26 p.m., I've received no email or text notification of the unsafe air reading. UP-UPDATE: Received alert minutes after posting this, at 3:31 p.m., though alert said the red smog level occurred at 3 p.m., not 2 p.m. as the map indicated  More on all this confusion later.

Clean Air Partners performs a valuable public service by issuing daily forecasts of air quality, and they're usually accurate. (Air quality is predicted to ease back to improve to moderate and even good over the weekend, as the heat wave ends).  The partnership also offers email and text alerts to anyone wanting to be notified real-time when air quality reaches Code Red seriously unhealthful levels.

But if the alerts aren't issued until hours after pollution has crossed into the red zone, how much use are they to the public?  Clean Air Partners also publishes on its website the day's air-quality readings throughout Maryland and the Washington area, but even those are 1-2 hours behind.

In this era of instant communications, can't we get a little quicker notice, at least at those times when smog gets seriously unhealthy, so people can decide whether to venture outdoors or wait a few hours?  If it's not urgent to get people's attention when smog is that bad, why label it Code Red?

(2007 Baltimore Sun photo by Karl Merton Ferrron)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Want to beat the heat and still do something worthwhile? Why not join several dozen expected volunteers and pluck trash from Armistead Creek and Herring Run on Saturday (6/11)?

Blue Water Baltimore, the local watershed group, is teaming up to clean the stream banks with volunteers and employees of United by Blue, a Philadelphia organic cotton T-shirt and maker.

If you've never heard of United by Blue, the startup has an unusual creed - it pledges to remove one pound of trash from the world's oceans and waterways for every product it sells.  Apparently it's more than just a sales gimmick to get the green-oriented consumer.

"We’ve done over 35 cleanups in the past year, and removed about 18,000 pounds of trash all up and down the East Coast and some on the West Coast," said Mike Cangi, who's listed on the company website as "director of cleanups."  The firm's founder is identified as "chief trash collector." 

Cangi's looking to make room for sales growth by picking up 100,000 pounds of refuse in the coming year, and expecting to get several pounds picked up in the Baltimore swing.  As this was the same creek watershed where miscreants recently stuffed a bolt of some kind of fabric down a manhole and triggered a nearly million-gallon sewage overflow, they should have no trouble. The photo above is from a 2008 spring cleanup (why the volunteer is wearing a jacket).

The cleanup is from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and for those who really get into this kind of thing, there'll even be waders provided. Meet at 1200 Armistead Way. For more, or to register, go here.

(Baltimore Sun photo by Kim Hairston)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 7:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

An experiment in making "bio-fuel" is slated to get under way this summer at Baltimore's Back River wastewater treatment plant.

The city's Board of Estimates approved Wednesday a $255,000 contract with a small Maryland company to grow algae at the plant and convert it to fuel. The project is underwritten with federal economic stimulus funds the city receved last year.

Under the one-year agreement, Hytek Bio LLC of Dayton will install "bioreactors" to cultivate algae, using the nutrients in the treatment plant's wastewater as food.

"The water's still fairly high in nitrogen and phosphorus, and it's low in dissolved oxygen, which is not good in the (Chesapeake Bay)," said Bob Mroz, Hytek president and CEO. "The algae will consume the balance of the nitrogen and phosphorus and put oxygen back in the water."

In another kind of virtuous circle, the algae's growth will be boosted by feeding it carbon dioxide. The source - the flue gas given off by the generator that's burning methane from the sewage to help power the treatment plant.

City officials are looking to see the algae harvested and converted to biofuel, which might be burned one day in city boilers or used to run city vehicles. Mroz, a retired federal official, says this one-year project is a "small-scale demonstration of the technology." But he's bullish on the prospects for making fuel, oil, cosmetics and even "bioplastics" from the algae while capturing climate-warming greenhouse gases and helping reduce nutrient pollution of the bay.

The biomass-to-biofuel pilot is one of more than 18 initiatives the city's Department of General Services has launched with federal aid to see about reducing the municipal government's energy bills through greater efficiency and conversion to alternative fuels. 

(Sludge digester domes at Baltlimore's Back River treatment plant.  Photo special to the Sun by Colby Ware)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

If you're like me, you probably have a few old or broken cell phones lying around your house - maybe even a 1980s dinosaur like the one pictured here. 

I could never bring myself to throw them away, figuring they'd just wind up in a landfill or even incinerated. So they're sitting on a shelf or in a box somewhere.

Now, here's a chance to get those unwanted phones recycled, and make a little cash in the process. From Friday (6/10) through Sunday (6/12), everyone who brings two old cell phones to Mondawmin Mall will be given a $10 gift card.  You can go green and get some green in exchange.

The event is sponsored by General Growth Properties, owner of Mondawmin and other area malls, in partnership with Cathy Allen, a West Baltimore resident who dubs herself the "Green Ambassador."  Among her efforts to green the urban environment, she's campaigning to plant trees in every public elementary school in the city.

Remember, you need to turn in TWO old cell phones to get a gift card. The swap will be taking place at Center Court at Mondawmin, 2401 Liberty Heights Ave. from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and from noon to 6 .m. Sunday.

For more, go here.

(Baltimore Sun photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Artist Matt Muirhead of Headspace shows off his line of original screenprinted clothing, made with recycled and vintage items.

Support handmade at this year’s Pile of Craft on June 25 from 10am to 5pm at St. John’s Church in Charles Village. More than 65 local and national crafters will be selling their wares at this fantastic fair, organized by the Charm City Craft Mafia.

Looking for “green” stuff? Check out Volta Organics all-natural body products; Survive Design eco-friendly handbags and pouches; greenstarstudio hand-knit children’s dolls; and Headspace screenprinted recycled and vintage clothing.

While you’re there, enter the Pile of Craft raffle to win a huge basket of goodies, and stick around for a weaving demonstration by Carlybird Weaves. Seriously folks, this event is one of the best craft shows in town and you shouldn’t miss it!

For more information, visit the Charm City Craft Mafia website.

Image courtesy of Headspace.

Posted by Christy Zuccarini at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Homeowners, if you've ever thought about ditching your messy, polluting gasoline-powered lawnmower, here's your chance: Swap it for a cleaner, deeply discounted new battery-powered job.

On Saturday (6/11), consumers can turn in their old gas-powered mowers for a marked-down rechargeable Black & Decker mower.  Buyers get 31 percent off the $379 sticker price for an 18-inch, 36-volt model and 33 percent off the $429 ticket for one with a 19-inch blade and a removable battery.

The swap will take place from noon to 4 p.m. at Cardinal Shehan School, 5407 Loch Raven Boulevard. But don't procrastinate - only 200 mowers will be on hand to sell.

Why go to the trouble? Because more than 17 million gallons of gas get spilled each year nationwide refueling lawn and garden equipment. Some of that winds up in the nearest water way, and some gets into the air, adding to our region's choking summer smog.  Even the gas that gets in the tank pollutes: a single 3.5-horsepower gas mower emits as much smog-forming exhaust as a new car driven 340 miles.

And if you let the mulching mower mulch and leave off bagging the grass clippings, you can have a healthy lawn without needing to fertilize as much - another help for stressed local streams and the Chesapeake Bay. That's why the city of Baltimore and the local watershed group Blue Water Baltimore have teamed up to co-sponsor B&D's mower swap. For more, go here.

(Old mowers being turned in for new electric ones. 2010 Baltimore Sun photo by Kim Hairston)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 8:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

The poultry industry is rapidly phasing out use of arsenic in chicken feed after the Food and Drug Administration announced a "voluntary suspension" of the arsenic-laced drug because tests found elevated levels of the known carcinogen in birds fed the substance.

The announcement Wednesday (6/8) comes after years of controversy over the widespread poultry industry practice of giving chicks arsenic-laced feed to combat infection and give their flesh a pinker hue. Scientists and environmentalists have pressed state and federal governments to ban it, raising concerns about food safety and the environmental impact of arsenic in poultry waste getting into soil and streams.

Roxarsone has been fed to chickens since the 1940s, for what the industry calls "growth promotion, feed efficiency and improved pigmentation in chickens." The drug contained the less harmful organic form of arsenic, but scientific studies found that the organic arsenic in roxarsone switched to more harmful inorganic form, which is known to cause cancer.

FDA did tests of its own on 100 broiler chickens fed roxarsone and found elevated levels of inorganic arsenic in the chickens' livers. FDA and industry spokesmen stressed that though arsenic is carcinogenic, the levels detected in the chickens were very low and there's no health risk for people to continue eating roxarsone-treated poultry for the next month or so.

Alpharma, a subsidiary of Pfizer Inc., said it would voluntarily suspend sales of the animal drug, which it markets under the name 3-Nitro. All sales of the drug will be ended in the next 30 days, according to the company.

The FDA's action was praised by Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, who'd joined with other state attorneys general to press for a federal ban after state legislation to ban roxarsone twice failed to pass in Annapolis. Lobbyists for the state's poultry industry, which is concentrated on the Eastern Shore, had complained that a ban was unwarranted and would put Maryland chicken farmers and processors at a competitive disadvantage.

"It's absolutely the effect we've been trying to get all along," said Gansler. "It’s going to take time for people to realize the chicken they’re buying in the supermarket that’s not as pink (as it is now) is not only as fresh but better for you."

Industry reaction was muted. Julie DeYoung, spokeswoman for Salisbury-based Perdue, the nation's second largest chicken producer, noted that it had phased out feeding roxarsone to its flocks in 2007.

"We've found that, through improved flock health programs and housing environments, we are able to produce healthy chickens without it," the Perdue spokeswoman wrote in an email.

Bill Satterfield, executive director of the regional trade group Delmarva Poultry Industry, noted that the other four chicken producers operating on the peninsula that still use roxarsone would have a month to phase out its use. Those companies are Allen Family Foods, Amick Farms, Mountaire Farms and Tyson Foods. Attempts to reach them for comment were not successful.

"Clearly this will have an effect," said Richard Lobb of the National Chicken Council, "but they're not being given much of a choice." He said roxarsone's use was widespread but not universal among chicken growers nationwide. While there is no other drug handy to replace roxarsone, Lobb said companies like Perdue have figured out ways to maintain their birds' health through other means.

Among those quick to react to the FDA announcement was Johns Hopkins University's Center for a Livable Future, which has focused on the health and environmental impacts of large-scale industrial farming.  In the center's blog, Dr. Keeve Nachman, who has researched the arsenic issue, is quoted saying, “It is curious that the FDA says chickens produced with Roxarsone are safe for consumption, while also acknowledging it poses an increased public health risk.”   He said FDA had done little to examine the long-term health implications for consumers who've eaten roxarsone-treated chicken all their lives.

While pleased with the FDA action, at least one Maryland lawmaker vowed to keep pressing for an outright ban on arsenic in chicken feed. Del. Tom Hucker, a Montgomery County Democrat who's cosponsored ban legislation in Annapolis, noted that "the manufacturer could resume production at any time and it only affects chicken domestically. Clearly, we still need a ban."

(Chicks eating starter feed with roxarsone.  2007 Baltimore Sun photo by Lloyd Fox)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 5:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

Another heat wave is oppressing Maryland, and air-quality experts are warning today (6/8) could be another "Code Orange" day for all but the western end of the state. Children and adults with breathing or heart conditions should limit their time outdoors because of rising levels of smog, or ozone pollution.

Ozone forms in the air when emissions from vehicles, power plants and other sources "bake" under hot, sunny skies. It can irritate the lungs, triggering coughing and wheezing, and aggravate asthma and other respiratory and heart problems.

Last summer was the hottest on record in these parts, and Clean Air Watch, a blog by Washington-based clean-air lobbyist Frank O'Donnell, points out that there've been fewer days of unhealthy smog levels so far this year nationwide, with national health standards for ozone breached 445 times through May 31, compared with 575 such "exceedances" by the same time last year.

But according to federal data, Maryland and 21 other states, plus the District of Columbia, have already experienced more bad air days in 2011 to date than in the same period the year before, he notes.

While Maryland and other states have made progress in recent years in reducing smog levels, climate experts have warned that global warming is likely to undercut those gains as unchecked emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other so-called greenhouse gases raise the earth's average temperature. The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that climate change-induced ozone increases in Maryland could result in about 69,000 additional cases of serious respiratory illnesses, with the health-related impacts of worsening air pollution costing the state more than $133 million in 2020 alone.

Meanwhile, a political tug-of-war continues in Washington over whether to tighten limits on ozone-forming emissions.  Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed to lower the acceptable level of ozone in the air, pointing to research indicating some health effects at concentrations below the current standard, which was set during the Bush administration.  The agency has yet to finalize that proposal, as industry groups have objected, complaining that the costs of reducing pollution levels are unwarranted and a drag on the economy.

(Hazy summer skyline from Federal Hill; 2002 Baltimore Sun photo by Nanine Hartzenbush)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Spice maker McCormick & Co. apparently likes the taste of solar energy. It's covered the rooftop of its sprawling distribution center at Belcamp with 7,491 photovoltaic panels. 

The 1.8- megawatt array is capable of generating 75 percent of the facility's annual electricity needs, according to the company.  The same amount of power from fossil fuels would produce more than 1,600 metric tons annually of climate-warming carbon dioxide.

This is McCormick's second helping of sunshine. In late 2008, the company put nearly 1 megawatt's worth of solar panels on its spice mill in Hunt Valley. Both solar installations were installed by Constellation Energy, which retains ownership and will maintain them. McCormick buys the power from the panels at below current market rates under a 20-year contract, while Constellation keeps the renewable energy credits.

Executives of both companies, along with state and local government officials, gathered Monday on the roof of the massive 363,000 square foot distribution center to cut a ceremonial ribbon on the new PV array. 

With nearly 3 megawatts of solar capacity now, McCormick can lay claim - for now - to having the single biggest onsite capacity for tapping sunshine among Maryland companies, according to Constellation.  But the Baltimore-based energy company plans to start construction this summer on a nearly 16-megawatt "solar farm" at Mount St. Mary's University in Emmittsburg. The $60 million installation will cover 100 of the school's 1,400 acres.

(Solar array on McCormick distribution center, photo courtesy Constellation Energy)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

 
Wildlife and conservation advocates are pressing Maryland and Virginia to halt all commercial harvest of horseshoe crabs, whose eggs sustain a dwindling population of red knot shorebirds when they stop over in Delaware Bay on their long spring migration from South America to the Arctic. 

Bird-lovers and environmentalists have called on the federal government to protect the red knot by placing it on the endangered species list. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service may begin that process as early as this fall, but it may take years to achieve. 

Meanwhile, advocates warn that measures taken by Maryland and Virginia to restrict the harvest of horseshoe crabs are not enough, given the alarming decline of red knots in recent years. My colleague, Sun outdoors writer Candus Thomson, provided a thorough update on the issue earlier this week.

Maryland has curbed taking female horseshoes, and put all of them off limits until June 7 each year during spawning season, when they crawl out of the surf onto sandy beaches to lay eggs and have them fertilized by male crabs. The eggs, rich in fat, are a major source of food for migrating shorebirds.

In the 1980s, as many as 100,000 red knots stopped off every spring to rest and refuel along the Delaware Bay. By 2001, estimates put the number down to 45,000 birds, and just five years ago the count only tallied 15,000.  Conservationists have been pressing the federal government since 2006 to put the bird on the endangered species list, but only got a commitment to act on it and 250 other candidate species after filing suit.

Ten commercial entities have Maryland permits to catch up to 170,653 horseshoe crabs for bait, Thomson reports, and one company has a "scientific permit" to collect up to 150,000 horseshoes so their blood can be drawn for use in producing a medicine. It's not clear how many of those crabs, though released afterward, survive the ordeal.

Maryland officials defend the current harvest as sustainable and down from what it was 15 to 20 years ago. But others point out that the state's catch still exceeds the entire mid-Atlantic haul during much of the 1980s.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which has overall responsibility for regulating inshore fisheries, is reviewing its coastwide management plan. A meeting is planned June 24 in Annapolis.

(Video by Candus Thomson; Horseshoe crabs on Cape May NJ shore by Baltimore Sun's Jerry Jackson) 

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 1:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Could weatherizing your home to fight climate change actually be harmful to your health?  Possibly, according to a new study, which warns that indoor environments could be impaired by global warming and some of the measures taken to combat it.

Most research on climate change has focused on its impacts on weather and external ecosystems, but the report today (6/7) by the Institute of Medicine warns people could suffer more from indoor dampness, poor ventilation and emissions from building materials and equipment used to counter the outdoor conditions. Some of the culprits may be the very things done to our homes and workplaces to mitigate climate change by reducing energy consumption, it says.

"America is in the midst of a large experiment in which weatherization efforts, retrofits and other initiatives that affect air exchange between the indoor and outdoor environments are taking place," said Professor John D. Spengler of the Harvard School of Public Health, and the study's lead author. "And new building materials and consumer products are being introduced indoors with relatively little consideration as to how they might affect the health of the occupants. Experience suggests that some of the effects could be negative."

The study, commissioned by the Environmental Protection Agency, calls on the federal agency to address those concerns as building codes, ventilation standards and other regulatiosn are adopted or revised to cope with climate change.  For more, go here.

(Worker weatherizing Howard County home, 2010 Baltimore Sun photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Capt. John Smith, the early English explorer, inspired waves of European settlement and centuries of human use of the Chesapeake Bay when he described its shores in 1606 as a "fruitfull and delightsome land." How abundant is the bay today, and what lessons are there in looking back?

On Wednesday, June 8, from 7 - 9 p.m. at the Village Learning Place in downtown Baltimore, Henry Miller of the Maryland Humanities Council will discuss the history of the Bay's use by humans. Miller is director of research for Maryland's state museum at St. Mary's City, the state's first English colony and seventeenth-century capital.

Miller's overview of human consumption of the bay is free and open to the public, and light food and refreshments will be served. The Village Learning Place is at 2521 St. Paul St. For more, go here.

(17th century-style shallop off Annapolis as it reenacts 1608 bay exploration of Capt. John Smith, 2007 Baltimore Sun photo by Kim Hairston) 

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

When - if ever - can citizens go to court if they believe a new factory or development is going to degrade the environment?

That's the question now before the Maryland Court of Appeals. The state's highest court heard arguments Monday in a case that could determine what rights Marylanders have to challenge a regulatory agency's approval of a project or activity they are convinced will cause unwarranted pollution or harm to natural resources.

The Patuxent Riverkeeper challenged a permit the state Department of the Environment granted to a developer to build a road across a stream near the Washington Beltway. The river watchdog group contended that destruction of 3/4 acre of wetlands along the stream would increase nutrient and sediment pollution downstream.

But the Prince George's County Circuit Court threw the case out, ruling that the group and the resident on whose behalf it sued had no legal standing to question the state's action.  

Macy Nelson, lawyer for the riverkeeper, argued that the lower court's ruling runs counter to legislation approved in 2010 intended to give citizens and groups greater access to courts to challenge environmental permit decisions.  The resident opposed to the wetlands loss, David Linthicum, lives on the Patuxent and paddles up the affected stream, the Western Branch, several times a year to within 8.5 miles of the crossing, until the stream becomes too shallow and narrow to kayak any farther, Nelson said.

Courts have granted citizens and groups broad rights to go to court to enforce environmental laws when someone is polluting, Nelson pointed out, but this case is about challenging prospective harm - preventing it before it occurs.

Edward Gibbs, lawyer for the developer of Woodmore Towne Center at Glenarden, argued that Linthicum and the riverkeeper group had not met the legal threshold for challenging the state's approval of the permit. They didn't present any evidence that this specific project would harm the stream, Gibbs said, and the resident even acknowledged during the lower court hearing that he did not see any change in the stream seven months after the road had been built.

"Everyone knows over a long period of time development will have an impact," the developer's lawyer said. But he added "that falls far short of showing there'll be an impact from this permit."

But Nelson countered that "environmental harm is done over time - not in weeks, days or seven months," and that his clients should have been allowed to make their case in court because they had a "reasonable concern" the project would affect the Patuxent.

The state attorney general's office had opposed the riverkeeper's challenge of the bridge permit in the lower court, a position that irked some environmentalists since Attorney General Douglas Gansler had supported the legislation broadening citizens' ability to challenge permits. But Gansler's office attempted to straddle the issue Monday, as assistant attorney general Adam Snyder argued to the appeals judges that citizens and groups should not have to go through a "mini-trial" of their complaint "just to get into court."

Fred Tutman, the Patuxent Riverkeeper, said after the arguments Monday that much rides on the appeals court's decision. Environmentalists had forged a compromise with the business community over challenging permits, giving up the right to lengthy administrative proceedings in return for what they believed would be an easier path to challenge permits in court. If the state's highest court sides with the developer, he said, "then we've been had."

"It implicates any other case we're likely to work on," Tutman said, "whether we're two miles downstream or 8.5 miles downstream."

A decision is likely weeks or even months from now.

(Patuxent Riverkeeper Fred Tutman, 2005 Baltimore Sun photo by Doug Kapustin)

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

The smog wave continues for a second day. As of noon Wednesday, ozone readings in the air in Fairhill in Cecil County and in Davidsonville in Anne Arundel County reached "orange" levels, meaning they're a risk for adults and children with heart or respiratory conditions.

For more, go here.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 1:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

A checkup performed by University of Maryland scientists finds Deep Creek Lake appears to be generally healthy.  But researchers say there's not enough monitoring done of the popular western Maryland tourist attraction to tell what shape it's really in - or how much trouble it may be having with harmful aglal blooms, polluted runoff or other symptoms of the growth of vacationers and vacation homes at the mountain resort.

So a year after concerns were voiced about the 3,900-acre manmade lake as it experienced its largest recorded fish kill, the first-ever assessment of the lake comes back with an "incomplete" on its ecological report card.

Basic water quality in the lake seemed to be good, and bacteria levels did not appear to pose a health risk for swimming, according to the report by EcoCheck, a partnership between UM's Center for Environmental Science and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  

The group was commissioned to produce a report card on the lake last year by Friends of Deep Creek Lake, a citizen's watchdog group. It's raised concerns about water quality being affected by polluted runoff from farms and vacation homes, leaking septic tanks and shoreline erosion. Adding to the anxiety was a prolonged fish kill last summer, in which an estimated 2,000 walleye, perch and a range of other species went belly up from late July into September. 

EcoCheck produces annual report cards on the health of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.  But the scientists concluded they didn't have enough data to really tell what was happening throughout Deep Creek Lake, so they produced instead what they call a "baseline assessment."  Most of the water testing has been done in the middle of the lake, for instance, with relatively little checking of other sections.

Among the question marks, report authors Heath Kelsey and Sara Powell point out that testing for potentially harmful mercury contamination is lacking, as is reliable information on how much grass is growing on the bottom of the lake. Water-quality sampling of the streams feeding into the lake also was limited, but based on low counts of aquatic insects found, they seem to be in relatively poor ecological health, the report said.

Irregular sampling and photos taken by lake residents indicate there are problems with shoreline erosion, with the shallows filling in with sediment and with blooms of potentially harmful algae, the scientists noted.  More data also are needed to properly assess the lake's suitability for swimming and boating, the report concluded.

Barbara Beelar, head of the friends group, said it was "very disappointing" not to be able to get a more complete picture of the lake's condition, particularly near the shore where most people swim, fish and canoe or kayak.

"No one is disagreeing with this - the water quality in the middle of the lake is in great shape," Beelar said. "That's very nice for the boats that are traveling in the middle of the lake, but where people recreate is along the shoreline."

The Department of Natural Resources, which manages the lake, already has teamed up with the state Department of the Environment to do more water-quality monitoring, said Bruce Michael, DNR's chief of resource assessment.  DNR also is surveying the lake's underwater grasses and has checked on the siltation rates in coves, where some lakefront residents had voiced concerns about not being able to get their boats out in late summer, when the lake water level drops.

Michael said that the study so far has found that most of the coves are not filling in at an accelerated rate.

"All lakes in Maryland are man-made," he explained. "Basically, they're filling up from the day they're created.  You're going to have runoff, even if it's a competely forested area - which Deep Creek Lake is not, because of all the development.  You're going to see these potential algal blooms up in the headwaters and coves, and see sediment." 

Deep Creek Lake was created in 1925 to generate electricity. It was acquired by the state in 2000.  There are about 4,600 homes and condominiums around the lake, according to state real estate records, but another 1,000 or so in the vicinity - a 50 percent increase since 1990.

More growth is projected, with Garrett County's 2008 master plan forseeing another 4,050 homes. Traffic crossing the U.S. 219 bridge across the lake also is projected to increase by a third, from nearly 18,000 trips daily to 24,000 by 2030.

Last year's fish kill apparently proved to be unrelated to the concerns voiced by some lake residents about potential pollution. State biologists determined that the fish likely were stressed by abnormally high water temperatures during last summer's prolonged heat wave, and by resulting anaerobic conditions shrinking the area of the lake with enough oxygen for the fish to breathe, according to Jay Apperson, spokesman for the state environmental agency, which investigates fish kills.  

Investigators also found the dead fish were infected with a common fresh-water bacterium, aeromonas hydrophila, that can kill them when stressed.  The bug can infect humans, though experts say healthy adults are unlikely to get sick from it.  Even so, anglers are advised to wear gloves when handling affected fish, covering open wounds and promptly treating any cuts or lacerations - precautions urged in a lot of other waters as well.

The die-off doesn't appear to have affected fish populations in the lake. Michael said spring surveys showed "plenty of fish."

Given the gaps in monitoring of the lake, the university's Kelsey says it may take a couple years of additional monitoring before enough information is gathered to confidently "grade" its health. 

Michael says DNR is doing what it can with a limited budget.  Meanwhile, the agency is trying to do something about one of the chronic issues at the lake - the noise from all the outboard boats and jetskis out on the water, especially on busy summer weekends.  DNR has proposed new sound level limits for vessels using the lake.

"It's a great resource out there," Michael said. "It's certainly used by a lot of citizens, and we want to make sure we have a good understanding of what's happening out there."

(2010 Baltimore Sun photos by Barbara Haddock Taylor)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)