Hundreds of scientists, activists and government officials from around the world have gathered in Baltimore's Inner Harbor to compare notes on cleaning up the planet's troubled coastal waters.

From the Cheapeake Bay to the Seto Inland Sea in Japan, near-shore waters suffer similar insults - too many nutrients from sewage, fertilizer and air pollution, overfishing and habitat degradation.

What's quickly apparent from sitting in for a short while this morning on the four-day global summit is that progress in the uphill battle of restoring stressed and degraded ecosystems depends on one's perspective.

This 9th international conference on Environmental Management for Enclosed Coastal Seas (EMECS) has drawn a sizable contingent from Japan, and several speakers have touched on the devastation wrought earlier this year by the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck the island nation's northeastern coast.

Many conference participants got an up-close look at a much less disruptive natural calamity oer the weekend because they arrived in Baltimore just before Hurricane Irene reached here. Indeed, several sessions planned Sunday morning were postponed in anticipation of the storm.

The Inner Harbor got off light this time, compared with the flooding brought by Tropical Storm Isabel in 2003.  Indeed, at the conclusion of a talk outlining the challenges of managing coastal seas, Dr. Motoyuki Suzuki, chairman of Japan's Central Environmental Council, flashed up before-and-after photos of the Inner Harbor taken from the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel, where the summit is meeting. The images showed that the storm had not harmed any of the structures along the waterfront, prompting the speaker to say, "Beautiful!"

But the photo taken after the storm had passed showed a swath of caramel-colored water streaming out from Pier 6 by the concert pavilion - where the Jones Falls empties into the harbor.  Evidently the storm washed signfiicant amounts of dirt, harmful bacteria and probably other pollutants down storm drains into the falls and ultimately the Inner Harbor.

It's storm-water runoff like that - every time it rains, even lightly - that's one of the biggest hurdles to making the harbor fit for human contact.  Not the harm wrought by a a tsunami or a truly destructive hurricane, to be sure, but beneath the surface not exactly beautiful, either.

The conference, hosted by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and the Maryland Department of the Environment, meets here through Wednesday.

(2006 Baltimore Sun photo by Robert Hamilton)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 2:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Buoyed by the success of its inaugural class, the Chesapeake Conservation Corps is growing.

The environmental career and leadership training program created last year by the General Assembly has selected 21 young adults for its second class - up from 16 last year, the Chesapeake Bay Trust announced today.

The trust oversees the program, under which volunteers work on a variety of environnmental initiaitives, including energy-efficiency campaigns, tree planting, stream cleanup and job training. Volunteers are assigned to nonprofit groups and government agencies.

"In today's challenging economic times, it is important that we invest in our young people and provide them with the skills and training necessary for jobs that create a smarter, greener future for Maryland," Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, the corps' chief legislative sponsor, said in a statement. The program is underwritten by the state and the Bay Trust, with additional support from Constellation Energy.

Four of last year's initial class of 16 corps members, pictured above, wound up being hired by the groups they worked with over the past year - which organizers see as a sign of the program's strength. Of this year's group, four will work in Baltimore city, five in Anne Arundel County and one in Howard County.

Applications were solicited from young people ages 18 to 25. Corps members receive a stipend and have the opportunity to gain environmental careeer certificates from Maryland's community colleges. For more info, go here.

(2010 Baltimore Sun photo by Amy Davis)

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

What's a little rain and wind when you have toxic wastes eating a hole in your basement?

A tropical storm may be bearing down on us, but Baltimore city is NOT canceling its drop-off of household hazardous wastes Saturday (8/27) from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute parking lot at Falls Road and Cold Spring Lane.  The event is run by the Department of Public Works Bureau of Solid Waste.

City residents can drop off oil-based paints, pesticides, herbicides, car and household batteries, drain cleaners, gasoline, pool chemicals and many other items. Latex paint can be dried up and the cans put out for regular trash collection.

Do NOT bring trash, acids, asbestos, ammunition, fire extinguishers, industrial or medical wastes, or radioactive materials, including smoke alarms with a radioactive symbol.

Residents must show proof of city residency - a driver's license, telephone bill or tax bill - and are asked to use the Cold Spring Lane entrance to the school parking lot. For more, go here.

(Baltimore Sun file photo)

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The O'Malley administration has decided to give unhappy local officials more time to review the state's "smart growth" plan after tweaking it in response to criticism.

The state Department of Planning announced it's releasing a revised draft of "PlanMaryland" on Sept. 7, then providing an additional 60 days for public comment on the changes.

Since a draft was released in April, the first-ever state growth plan has drawn fire from local officials who've complained the state is trying to usurp their traditional prerogative to decide where development is to go in their communities.

O'Malley administration officials say the plan is meant to strengthen to-date ineffective efforts to curb suburban sprawl and conserve forests and farmland. A statewide growth plan was called for under a 1974 land use law, but never drafted until now.

State officials say the plan is only meant to improve coordination between state and local governments on growth, and that local officials would still be free allow development anywhere in their communities.  State funding for roads, schools and other infrastructure would be limited to growth areas designated in the plan, however. Local politicians have complained that is tantamount to dictating to them, and that they shouldn't be forced to comply with a "one-size-fits-all" definition of what constitutes smart growth.

"Achieving complete agreement on the process may be difficult, but there seems to be broad accord on the objectives of PlanMaryland," state Planning Secretary Richard E. Hall said in a statement. 

Comments will be taken through Nov. 7. To review the current draft of the plan, go to Plan.Maryland.gov.

(2006 Baltimore Sun file photo of development in Howard County)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 8:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

Globe-trotting TV naturalist Jeff Corwin, who's trekked rainforests and deserts in search of exotic wildlife, is turning his attention to the Chesapeake Bay.

Corwin, the Emmy-winning Animal Planet star, kayaked Monday on New York's Lake Otsego, headwaters of the Susquehanna River, as part of a multimedia educational and entertainment initiative known as Expedition Chesapeake.  It's the first of a series of paddles he's expected to make all the way from the river's beginning in Cooperstown NY to Havre de Grace, where it meets the bay.

"This is going to be an incredible journey and it starts right here, in Cooperstown and on this beautiful lake," Corwin said in a prepared statement. "The Chesapeake Bay watershed is home to a staggering 17 million people and we want to educate and inspire those citizens to better understand and appreciate this incredible treasure."

Launched by the Whitaker Center, a science and arts museum in Harrisburg, Pa., Expedition Chesapeake plans to spread the word about the nation's largest estuary by producing an IMAX film, a made-for-TV documentary series, a traveling science exhibit and a set of "online learning experiences" designed to engage students throughout the 64,000-square-mile watershed that's spread across six states, including nearly all of Maryland.

The outreach effort couldn't come at a better time, as federally directed efforts to restore the bay's water quality are running into resistance, particularly in upstream states like Pennsylvania and New York, where officials and their constituents are questioning why they should shoulder any additional burden for the cleanup of an estuary far from them. 

(Jeff Corwin wearing a black-headed python at the opening of the National Aquarium's Australia exhibit. 2005  Baltimore Sun file photo by John Makely)

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State officials announced today they will join with hunting groups to take a look at the feasibility of reintroducing elk in mountainous western Maryland after a three century absence.

The Department of Natural Resources is working with the Maryland Legislative Sportsmen’s Foundation and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to review the biological, social and economic feasibility of returning the species to land that hasn't seen any elk since the 1700s.

Elk once were found from New York to Georgia in the East, but were hunted out over a century ago. The animals have been restored in some spots, notably Tennessee, Kentucky in the Great Smoky Mountains.  Pennsylvania also has gradually conserved enough land to sustain a modest-sized herd, on which it allows limited hunting.

While the return of elk to Maryland could be a bonanza for hunting interests in the state, they're not universally welcomed. The animals tend to roam, causing crop damage and even more mayhem than a deer if hit by car or truck while crossing a road. And some worry about the potential for elk to contract and spread illnesses like wasting disease, which also affects deer.

So a key factor in the study, expected to take at least 12 months, will be gauging public opinion toward the move, particularly among farmers and other property owners whose land may attract herds of elk.

“Far Western Maryland offers ideal habitat for elk, but we all agree that citizens must be supportive,” David Allen, President and CEO of the Montana -based Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, said in a statement released by DNR. The Maryland sportsmen's foundation aims to hire a consultant to conduct polling, under the oversight of state officials.

“As with all of our ecological programs, science and informed public input will be our guide,” said Natural Resources Secretary John W. Griffin. “Consensus from our experts and all impacted stakeholders will be a prerequisite to this decision.”

Baltimore Sun file photo of bull elk in Yellowstone by Jerry Jackson

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 4:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: News
        

More than 20 Washington-area environmental activists - including some from Maryland - were arrested outside the White House today as protests continued against building a 1,700-mile pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico to carry oil wrested from the tar sands of Alberta.

The arrests came on the third day of a series of protests planned through Sept. 3 urging the Obama administration to reject the $13 billion project. TransCanada Corp. is seeking US approval to complete the 36-inch Keystone XL pipeline, which it says will boost American energy security by linking Canadian crude oil with US refineries and sea lanes.

But activists contend the project will lead to oil spills, and that extracting oil from the tar sands will devastate vast forested Canadian habitat and greatly increase climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions. Protestors sported signs supporting development of more wind energy instead.

Mike Tidwell, head of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, was arrested Saturday along with about 60 others. Among the protest's leaders is Gus Speth, a Vermont Law School professor who ran the  United Nations Development Programme in the 1990s and was President Jimmy Carter's top environmental adviser.

(Photo courtesy Chesapeake Climate Action Network)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

Can this be summer?  In Alaska, you bet!

My wife and I just got back from a cruise through Alaska's Inside Passage, where between occasional fog banks we were treated to stunning scenery like the wintry vista above in Tracy Arm fjord.  Those are chunks of ice in the water, remnants of the glacier's calving - which we got to witness from a safe distance.  Whales spouted along our route, and even flashed a few flukes, and a bald eagle swooped low over our fishing boat one day looking for a handout.

The sun played hide-and-seek (mostly hide) on our cruise, and the temperatures dipped into the 60s, 50s and even frigid 40s. A welcome respite from the muggy 90s we left behind in B'more 11 days ago. When we disembarked in Seattle, the city was warming up to its hottest day so far this year, hitting the mid-80s on Saturday.

After a couple days on land soaking in more coastal scenery - and more than a few farmed Pacific oysters - we headed home, only to find it coming out to meet us.  At the airport, as we waited for an elevator, we spied a man sporting an Orioles cap and commiserated.

It was our first visit to Alaska, and a stunning reminder of the diversity of landscape, foliage and wildlife across North America. We're already talking about going back - to visit, of course, since I'm pretty sure we couldn't handle the winters there.

Anyone else take a memorable trip - even a short one - this summer? What are your favorite places?

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 3:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Back in June, Tim reported on the frustrations of budding aquaculture entrepreneurs about the bloated approval process. He mentioned the state review process would soon be consolidated under DNR. On Monday, Maryland announced that watermen can now file a single, joint state-federal application with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Read more here.

Posted by Kim Walker at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Chesapeake Bay
        

Tim's still on vacation, but here's a little update to keep you going until he comes back:

Baltimore's National Aquarium said it released three endangered Ridley Sea Turtles into the Chesapeake Bay on Friday. The stranded turtles, Oceana, Prancer and Vixen, were among 12 rescued this winter from Cape Cod, Mass., and brought to Baltimore to be treated for hypothermia, also known as "cold stunning," the aquarium said in a news release.

On Friday, they were released at Point Lookout State Park in Scotland, Md., into the bay where they can feed on jellies and invertebrates, the aquarium said. One turtle, Oceana (pictured), was outfitted with a satellite transmitter, and you can follow Oceana's movements at http://www.aqua.org/trackoceana.html.

Photo courtesy of the National Aquarium

Posted by Kim Walker at 4:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Chesapeake Bay
        

If you don't see much new here for the next week or so, that's because I'm away for a bit. Back soon. Until then...

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 12:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The 2nd annual Charm City Garden Tour rolls out Saturday, Aug. 13, offering a chance to see some of Baltimore's lushest community gardens and sample some locally sourced refreshments at a post-tour garden party.

The tour begins and ends at the Whitelock Community Farm, which figured prominently in a recent Baltimore Sun story I wrote about the greening of Reservoir Hill. The farm is at 940 Whitelock Street, and the tour runs from 2 p.m to 5 p.m., with the garden party from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.  Stick around, and you can catch the open-air movie showing at Reservoir Hill's German Park at 8:30 p.m.

The event is sponsored by Community Greening Resource Network, the UME Baltimore City Master Gardeners and Parks & People Foundation.

A bus tour already is sold out, but space is still available for a bicycle tour covering the same route, which makes stops at gardens in Mount Washington and Park Heights as well as Reservoir Hill. The cost is $15 a head, and cyclists are required to bring their own bike and strongly encouraged to wear helmets.  To reserve a spot, email charmcitygardentour@gmail.com or call 410-448-5663 ext 128.

(Newington Avenue in Reservoir Hill. Baltimore Sun photo by Gabe Dinsmoor)

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With Congress home recovering from last week's debt-ceiling donnybrook, Rep. John Sarbanes says he's expecting a bruising fight over federal environmental programs in the fall when lawmakers return to Washington. If the GOP succeeds, he warns, it could undermine the progress recently made toward restoring the Chesapeake Bay.

Speaking this week in his Towson district office, the Baltimore area Democrat said the Republican majority in the House has embarked on a "systematic assault on the environment" by moving to cut funding for the Environmental Protection Agency and other programs, such as national parks and wildlife refuges.

"As this larger debate about cutting our debt and deficit is happening, they are sort of piling on behind that as much as they can," Sarbanes said, with measures aimed at blocking new regulations or even rolling back existing environmental protections. Given the public's understandable fixation now with jobs and the economy, he said that "it's going to be very very difficult" to hold the line.

Republicans - with some Democratic allies - attempted earlier this year to block EPA from spending any funds in the current budget on a variety of controversial regulatory activities, including curbing climate-warming greenhouse gases and enforcing the agency's "pollution diet" for the Chesapeake. Though the House approved the spending curbs, the Senate refused to go along.

Now GOP members are making another run at EPA, proposing to reduce its funding significantly in the next year while also tacking a bevy of "riders" on the appropriations bill that would prohibit the agency from doing anything on climate, mountaintop coal mining and other moves by the agency that are opposed by various industries.

Rep. Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican, is pushing proposals to block EPA's Chesapeake cleanup plan, which set a "total maximum daily load" of pollution for the bay and requires Maryland and the other five states in the watershed to reduce nutrients and sediment to meet that cap. Officials in Virginia and New York have complained about the costs of complying, while other states have resisted EPA's pressure on them to mandate reductions from farmers and local communities. Farm and development groups have sued to block EPA's plan.

GOP members and some Democrats contend that EPA has overstepped its authority and is pushing costly regulations that could hurt industry and kill jobs.  EPA and its supporters, though, argue that the rules are mandated by law or court settlements and are meant to enhance the public's protection from air and water pollution.

Though in the minority in the House, Sarbanes said he'll keep arguing with his colleagues to maintain environmental programs, not just at EPA but in the Army Corps of Engineers, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Interior Department, which manages the national parks and wildlife refuges. He said he also would attempt to win converts to his proposals for getting the public more engaged in the environment, and the bay cleanup in particular.

He's reintroduced his "No Child Left Inside Act," (HR2547), which would authorize federal grants for environmental education. It passed the last House, but died in the Senate. This time, as an indication of the partisan divide, Sarbanes was unable to enlist a single GOP cosponsor for the bill. Though environmental education is relatively noncontroversial, Sarbanes said many still view it as a frill or an add-on to the core school curriculum. He contends that integrating outdoor and environmental lessons into various courses actually boosts academic performance in fundamental subjects like math, reading and science.

Sarbanes is also pushing a measure he contends ought to appeal to conservatives opposed to the heavy hand of federal regulation. Dubbed the "Save the Chesapeake Bay Homeowner Act" (HR1651), it would encourage homeowners to plant rain gardens and do other things voluntarily to reduce polluted runoff - one of the bay's biggest threats. Under the bill, EPA would then be directed to give states and communities credit towards meeting their pollution diets, based on how many homeowners participate. To help win support for the bill, Sarbanes said he's looking for places in Maryland to do a "pilot" demonstration of how homeowners can make a signficant dent in runoff to streams and the Bay.

But Sarbanes has been on the losing side of most environmental and energy debates in the GOP-dominated House. An attempt by him, for example, to exclude the Atlantic off the Chesapeake Bay from a GOP push for more offshore oil and gas exploration failed. He admitted it's been frustrating, "kind of like you're always putting your finger in the dike," but vows to press on.

"Increasingly members of the public are ready, eager and willing to be part of the solution," Sarbanes maintained. "If we start stepping back from that," he warned, the bay cleanup could lose not only federal funding and pressure on states to act but would also be wasting opportunities to enlist citizens in the effort.

(Rep. John Sarbanes visiting Lansdowne Middle School in April. Patuxent Publishing photo by Phil Grout) 

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A Baltimore Circuit Court judge dismissed a Bolton Hill resident's bid for an injunction to prevent any more more trees from being removed to accommodate the Baltimore Grand Prix, but she appealed to the city to be more forthcoming about plans to replace them.

Judge Evelyn O. Cannon ruled that David C. Troy lacked legal standing to sue the city, and in any case was suing the wrong party, since the city itself didn't remove the trees. She also questioned the urgency of Troy's court quest, since city officials have said no more trees need to be cut down or moved.

City officials had declared on Friday that tree removal had been limited to 31 along the race course, down from the 50 they'd said earlier in the week would be taken.

It was disclosed at the hearing, though, that another nine trees are to be moved from in front of the Hilton Hotel on West Pratt Street. City officials said those were on private property and not subject to the agreement the city had negotiated with Baltimore Racing Development, the organizer of the tree-day street race downtown on Labor Day weekend.

Troy, a software developer, had protested the tree removal after seeing a photograph in The Baltlimore Sun Monday showing trees being cut down on West Pratt Street and readinng that a race official said 136 trees were being removed. He also drafted an online petition, which had garnered more than 4,000 signatures by this morning. Frustsrated by an inability to see the agreement the city had negotiated with the race for tree removal and planting, and by the shifting numbers of trees being taken, he filed suit Friday and sought an injunction.

Cannon said there was no legal basis for granting the injunction, and lectured Troy on the shortcomings of the complaint he drew up himself. But the judge also urged city officials to be more forthcoming about their arrangements with the racing organization to replace the cut trees and plant more.

Racing officials say they plan to plant 59 new trees along the race course, plus another 139 around downtown, and they have pledged to pay for another 5,000 saplings to be used as the city sees fit. But the memorandum of understanding detailing the deal has not been released, with city officials saying it's not official until it's been reviewed by lawyers and signed.

"I think in the long run it would be helpful," the judge said, if the city would provide Troy and other protestors with the agreement and details on what trees are being taken and what ones planted, and how they're to be cared for. If that was done, she added, "everybody just might be able to sleep better."  Matthew Nayden, the city's lawyer, complained at first that Troy, a supporter of mayoral candidate Otis Rolley, was making political hay with the tree flap and accusing Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake of wrongdoing.  But the judge responded that none of that was in the lawsuit and renewed her suggestion - Nayden said he would contact Troy later.

Troy acknowledged after the hearing that his case had been "rough around the edges,'' but he said he didn't regret bringing it. He said he believed that had he not rallied protests against the cutting, more trees would have come down.

UPDATE: Late Monday, the city provided Troy the signed memorandum of understanding with Baltimore Racing Development over tree removal and planting.  He shared it.  To read it, go here.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
        

A new solar-powered electric-vehicle charging station took a bow in Bethesda this morning.

The "Solar Power Pole" was developed by Advanced Technology & Research Corp. (ATR), an engineering and manufacturing firm based in Columbia, MD. It moves as the sun crosses the sky (because of the earth's rotation) to maximize its photovoltaic electricity production.

The 18-foot tall device, with six solar panels capable of generating 1410 watts, is 30-45 percent more efficient than conventional fixed solar arrays, thanks to GPS-based sun-tracking technology, according to the company. The power generated is fed to the grid, and the charger draws from the grid to recharge electric vehicles - so no one's Volt goes hungry just because the sun isn't shining.

A bevy of muckety mucks, including Gov. Martin O'Malley, were expected to show up to celebrate the gadget, placed in a Bethesda commercial complex. It was developed through a $1.1. million clean-energy development grant, administered through the Maryland Energy Administration and the U.S. Department of Energy, using federal stimulus funds.

(Photo courtesy ATR)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

The tempest over cutting some trees downtown to make way for the Baltimore Grand Prix goes to court today, as attorneys for the city and protestors are scheduled to appear in Baltimore Circuit Court at noon.

Even though city officials declared Friday that tree cutting was done - with just 31 trees removed, rather than the 50 officials earlier said they'd agreed to - critic David Troy said opponents plan to press for a restraining order anyway barring any more trees from coming out, plus the setaside of funds to ensure that the race puts in and cares for all the trees it's promised to plant.

Troy, a software developer whose online petition opposing the tree removal has garnered more than 4,000 signatures, said in a Facebook post that since almost 20 more trees had been targeted under a plan released earlier last week, among other things, "we couldn't take the chance that more trees would be at risk."  

City officials say they approved some tree removal so temporary grandstands could be put up along the race course, but limited the number sharply from what race organizers had originally wanted, said to be more than 100. They also note that many of the trees cut down or transplanted were already targeted for replacement under a previously approved plan to remove the earthen berms along West Pratt Street.

Under a plan released last week, the Grand Prix organization pledged to plant 59 trees along the race course, 14 of them in oversized concrete planters, and to plant 139 more trees elsewhere downtown within a year of the Labor Day weekend race. Additionally, as the furor dragged on last week, the racing group's CEO let it be known it would pay for another 5,000 saplings for planting wherever the city chose.  And on Friday, with threatened legal action imminent, city officials declared that tree they'd halted the tree removal with just 31 taken out.

But Troy was unmollified, especially since the racing group refused to set aside funds or provide a letter of credit to cover the costs of planting and tending the trees. He also questioned why the city refused to release the memorandum of understanding with the Grand Prix spelling out the tree removals and replantings. Officials had said they wouldn't release it until it was finalized and signed. 

(Baltimore Sun photo by Gene Sweeney Jr.)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 8:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson defended Friday her agency’s plan for reducing pollution in the Chesapeake Bay and said it remains a priority of the Obama administration despite shrinking budgets and pushback from affected industries and states.

Meeting with reporters before addressing a national ecosystem restoration conference in Baltimore, Jackson said her staff has been talking with New York officials who’ve been questioning the costs and science behind wastewater treatment upgrades they’re being required to make. They’ve been threatening to sue to challenge EPA’s bay pollution “diet,” as farm and development groups already have.

Jackson said her agency is trying to work with New York officials, and she noted that all six bay watershed states appear on track to meet their short-term cleanup goals for the end of this year. But she warned against letting up on the restoration effort just because money is tight.

“You know, the truth is It takes resources and time and effort and will to continually work hard on reducing pollution into the bay,” she said. Reductions have to be made from farmland and from urban and suburban lands as well, she said, “and it’s going to take continued effort.

“What we have to do is rely on the best science and be fair,” she concluded, “and not put in place a process that might make everyone happy, but that we know will result in us not meeting our goals.”

Jackson said the Obama administration will push for continued high levels of federal funding for the bay restoration effort, but she acknowledged that her agency and others face pressure from Congress to reduce their budgets. House members are attempting as well to block the agency from spending funds to enforce various regulations, including its Chesapeake cleanup plan.

She said if resources shrink too much, government may be forced to pick and choose which watersheds it works to clean up, though she stressed that the Chesapeake would remain a priority no matter what.  EPA and the bay states have vowed to put enough pollution controls in place by 2025 to restore the bay's water quality.

“The call for a clean Chesapeake doesn’t come from Lisa Jackson or from the EPA,” she said. “it comes from the people who love it and who are angry that it’s taken so long and that they’ve waited so long and haven’t seen progress” in cleaning it up.

To those industry and other critics who contend EPA is killing jobs by pushing costly regulations, she countered, “These are regulations designed to do some really important things like keep our air and water clean and provide certainty,” she said. “It’s unrealistic we should ask the American people to pay the price of pollution to get jobs.”

(EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson meets with Baltimore youths at Middle Branch Park during announcement of federal "urban waters" initiative in June.  Baltimore Sun photo by Joe Soriero)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 4:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

How convenient is it to go green? Ask Royal Farms, the Baltimore-based convenience store chain.

The comany's 5,000-square-foot store in Dover, PA is the first Royal Farms to earn LEED certification, the vanguard of a corporate pledge to certify all of their eligible stores under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council. Company officials celebrated the certification earlier this week.

From the outside, the Dover store, pictured above, doesn't appear any different than a traditional building.  Yet for what Royal Farms' consultant described as a "nominal" cost, the Dover store's designed and built to achieve 21 percent energy savings and use 42 percent less water, among other advantages. Any extra costs to go green were primarily for obtaining the LEED rating and should be easily made up by the operational savings, says Neal Fiorelli, managing partner of Lorax Partnerships of Columbia, the chain's consultant. 

Royal Farms says it has 20 stores that have applied for LEED certification, including a store on Charles Street in Baltimore expected to open later this year. Meanwhile, visitors to the Dover, PA store can pick up a brochure and maybe even get a quick tour to learn about its green features.

(Photo provided by Lorax Partnerships)  

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

Energy industry representatives and skeptics sparred Thursday over taxing natural gas drilling in western Maryland and the state's plan to take up to three years to study the environmental impacts of the hydraulic fracturing drilling technique, the Associated Press reports.

At the first meeting of an advisory committee Gov. Martin O'Malley appointed to study the risks and benefits of "fracking" for gas in Marcellus shale in Garrett and Allegany counties, Drew Cobbs, executive director of the Maryland Petroleum Council, pressed to expedite the study and adoption of any new regulations to cover drilling.

The panel met at Rocky Gap State Park. Cobbs said the industry would consider funding an environmental baseline study in return for an accelerated timeline, according to the AP.

Del. Heather Mizeur, D-Montgomery, who failed this year to get the General Assembly to restrict Marcellus drilling, proposed an extraction tax of up to 10 percent.  Industry representatives warned would discourage potentially lucrative drilling in western Maryland.

To read more go here.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 7:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The "tempest in a tree pit" over the Baltimore Grand Prix continues.

A vocal critic of the tree-cutting for the three-day downtown event met with the race's CEO today, but says his demands were rebuffed. David Troy, a software entrepreneur who launched a petition drive against the tree removal, says he didn't got to court today to block any further tree removals, but says he's still weighing that option. UPDATE: Troy posted a "press alert" that he's filing a petition for an injunction this morning (8/5). 

Troy, whose online petition has collected more than 1,500 signers, said he asked to see the memorandum of understanding between the city and the race. He also wanted the Grand Prix to provide a legally binding guarantee that it will plant and care for the nearly 200 trees it has promised to put in downtown in return for the city's blessing to remove 50 from to accommodate grandstands for race spectators.

Jay Davidson, chief executive officer for the racing organization, refused both requests, Troy said. Davidson did not respond to an email inquiring about his meeting with Troy.  UPDATE: Davidson confirmed that he would not provide the $1 million letter of credit Troy asked for.  He said the race is already paying for the trees, and has pledged to pay for an additional 5,000 saplings at a nursery to be used within the city.

"They just weren't able to offer any assurance one way or another," Troy said by telephone, adding that he was "just really disappointed" by the refusals. Although race officials had signed the agreement with the city on tree cutting and planting earlier this week, city officials refuse to release it until it has been reviewed by city attorneys and signed by the mayor.

Davidson had estimated yesterday that the tree planting would cost the race about $100,000. He pointed out that the Grand Prix already has posted a $750,000 performance bond guaranteeing to reimburse the city for its expenses in accommodating the Labor Day weekend event, which promoters hope will draw up to 100,000 spectators.

But Troy said he had no confidence that that bond would be enough to pay for the tree plantings along with all the other financial obligations the race would have should it be a bust and go bankrupt.

He also said he was shocked to see as he bicycled to the racing headquarters today another five trees had been removed by the Convention Center. Someone had carved the inititals BGP into one stump, he said, providing a photograph seen here.

Troy had vowed to file a lawsuit in Baltimore Circuit Court today seeking an injunction to block further tree removal, but after the meeting he said he had not done so yet and intended to consult his lawyer.

Erik Dihle, the city arborist, meanwhile, said that although the race's tree-cutting contractor didn't get required permits from the city forestry office before removing trees, he didn't intend to require permits after the fact or fine the organization.

"We would not normally recommend or levy a fine for failure to have a permit," he said, particularly in a case like this where city officials already had approved a plan for tree removal.

And while city forestry crews routinely post notices ahead of time on trees they plan to remove, Dihle said the city doesn't really enforce the notice requirement in the forestry code for private tree cutting.

The arborist did note that the number of trees the race has pledged to plant around downtown has grown by four - for a total of 139 trees to be put in tree pits now empty or occupied by dead trees. The race also is promising to plant another 59 trees along or near the race course, including 14 in movable oversized pots.

"Nobody loves taking down a portion of our tree canopy," Dihle said, but in this case he said the plantings far outnumbered the removals. He said the race is committed to watering and maintaining the downtown trees for two years - the ones planted along the race course are to be cared for up to five years. Two years is the most followup care the city requires on any tree plantings, he said.

The planting also helps augment a city forestry program that has had its budget cut from $4.4 million two years ago to $2.8 million now, Hilde pointed out.

For some, though, the tradeoff isn't worth it.

"I feel grief, absolute grief," said Rosalind Heid, who lives at the Inner Harbor and says she regularly walks down West Pratt Street to Camden Yards, past where some of the trees were cut. "Because I love trees, we all love our trees."

(Photo tree stump on West Pratt Street provided by David Troy)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 5:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
        

After years of debate, East Coast states may finally be moving to curb the commercial harvest of menhaden, a silvery little fish that helps filter the Chesapeake Bay's waters - and whose population scientists say has been overfished most of the last 50 years.

My colleague Candus Thomson, the Sun's outdoors writer, reports in her blog Outdoors Girl that the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted overwhelmingly last night to ask for public comment on a range of options for managing the vital menhaden stock - from making no changes in current harvest cap to reducing the catch by 45 percent from 2010 levels.

Though not a popular table fish, the small oily menhaden is a primary food for striped bass and other fish. It is prized commercially for its oil. A company called Omega Protein Corp. targets the fish in the Virginia portion of the bay, where they are ground up at a plant in Reedville, Va., and used to make diet supplements, pet food and cosmetics. They're also used as bait for blue crabs and lobsters.

Menhaden have been overfished in 32 of the last 54 years, according to biologists, and the stock is at its lowest point in recorded history. Some worry that decline could be having ripple effects on other fish like striped bass, or rockfish, that feed on them. 

The vote among Atlantic states fisheries commissioners last night on whether to consider curtailing the menhaden catch was 15 to 1, with Virginia's representative the lone dissenter, Thomson reports.

(School of menhaden in Virginia waters, 2004. AP photo)

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

The oxygen-starved 'dead zone' in the Chesapeake Bay, which covered a record third of Maryland's portion of the estuary in June, has grown still more, according to state scientists.

Samples taken by the state Department of Natural Resources in early June found that 33 percent of Maryland's bay waters had little or no dissolved oxygen, which crabs, fish and oysters need to breathe. That's the most recorded for that time in the summer since regular measurements began in 1985, DNR says.

The dead zone shrank slightly over the next several weeks, but samples taken in late July found poor oxygen levels in 39 percent of the state's bay waters - another record, according to DNR.

Scientists had predicted worse-than-average oxygen levels in bay waters this summer, based on high spring flows of fresh water into the bay. The US Geological Survey reported that fresh-water flows from the Susquehanna River by late spring had already matched what pours from the bay's largest tributary in an average year.

The extra-heavy flow flushed more nutrients into the bay from farms, sewage plants and urban and suburban land, fueling massive algae "blooms" that suck the oxygen out of the water when they die and decay. Low oxygen levels stress and can even suffocate fish and shellfish.

For more on the dead zone and other bay conditions, check DNR's Eyes on the Bay.  And listen here to a report on the dead zone by WYPR's Joel McCord.

(Algae bloom on Middle River near Essex. 2008 Baltimore Sun photo by Glenn Fawcett)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

The Environmental Protection Agency's new Chesapeake Bay 'czar' says the agency's plan for reducing the estuary's pollution can stand up to legal challenges being mounted by farming and development groups.

"If you want to challenge the bay restoration effort, that's fine. Because we've got the science, we've got the modeling, we've got the legal backing. We will win this one," said Jeff Corbin, senior advisor to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. "The tricky part is going to be where is the money going to come from."

Corbin made the remark Tuesday during the National Conference on Ecosystem Restoration in Baltimore. (Yours truly moderated the session, which is why i'm leaning heavily here on a report of it by Alex Dominguez of the Associated Press.)

EPA was required to draft a "pollution diet" for the bay to settle lawsuits brought by environmental groups over the lack of progress in restoring the estuary's water quality, which suffers from massive "dead zones" every summer. The federal agency ordered Maryland and five other states in the bay watershed to accelerate their efforts to reduce nutrient and sediment pollution from sewage plants, construction sites, farms, parking lots and power plants.

However, farming and development groups earlier this year filed suit to block enforcement of EPA's diet, challenging the federal agency's scientific basis and legal authority for ordering the states to make such steep pollution reductions.

While predicting eventual victory in the courts, Corbin said, according to the AP, that the new strategy has brought the issue to a crossroads, and more money will be needed to ensure success.

Virginia, for instance, has estimated its share of the bay cleanup effort could reach $8 billion, while Maryland has projected needing to spend $13-15 billion. Both have called on the federal government to increase funding of the effort.

Funding may be hard to come by, though, with Congress' approval this week of a plan to trim federal spending by more than $2 trillion over the next decade. House Republicans also have proposed separately to limit EPA's spending and regulatory authority over a variety of environmental issues, including the bay cleanup.

"If we're not going to get it done, the difference is now we're going to have to admit we're not going to get it done," Corbin said, adding later: "I don't think anybody is willing to do that."

Corbin appeared at the conference with Robert M. Summers, secretary of the Maryland Department of the Environment, Ann Swanson, director of the Chesapeake Bay Commission, which advises legislators in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and William Baker, president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Summers said the state is running short on funding for upgrading Maryland's sewage treatment plants, and needs to double the $2.50 monthly fee charged each household to close the gap. He also said the state's cities, towns and counties need to start raising revenue to reduce pollution washing off their streets and parking lots into streams. He declined, however, to say if the O'Malley administration would press for either when the General Assembly meets next year.

Baker, whose Annapolis-based environmental group sued the EPA and forced a court settlement over the slow pace of restoration efforts, said opponents wrongfully argue the effort will wreak economic havoc, according to the AP. Referring to the "pollution diet" proposed by the EPA, Baker said the states in the bay watershed have been "gluttonous," but the opposite is not starvation. "It's just eating wisely," he said.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 8:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Update: Full story can be found here. 

A city official is defending allowing the Baltimore Grand Prix to cut down trees along the Inner Harbor race course, saying organizers have agreed to replace those trees nearly four times over, more than tripling the downtown's tree canopy in the process.

Beth Strommen, director of Baltimore's Office of Sustainability says she negotiated a deal with organizers of the Labor Day weekend street race, in which they got to cut down fewer than half the trees they originally wanted to remove to improve spectators' views of the racing.

Only 50 trees are to be cut down along the race course on West Pratt and Light streets, said Strommen - not the 136 that Lonnie Fisher, assistant Grand Prix general manager had told The Baltimore Sun on Monday.  Strommen, who spoke by telephone while vacationing in New Jersey, said she could not explain the discrepancy, but said she had confirmed the city's agreement with the race by phone Tuesday.

News of the tree cutting has upset some residents, who contend that it violates the city's forest conservation code (Article 7, Natural Resources) and is at odds with the city's sustainability plan, which calls for doubling Baltimore's tree canopy by 2037.  

Critics have begun circulating an online petition calling for a halt to any more race-related tree cutting until the plan is fully aired and each tree to be removed identified, as required by city code. Petition drafter Dave Troy contended in an email that the plan for cutting and replacing trees because of the race was "haphazard" and "shoved down the throat of the public without due process."

Strommen said the deal she'd negotiated with race organizers hasn't been announced yet because it has yet to be finalized, reviewed by city lawyers and signed.   But it calls for planting 59 replacement trees in the race corridor, she said, and another 135 trees are to be planted in already empty sidewalk "pits" for trees elsewhere in downtown. 

Strommen said she has been hashing out tree removal and replacement with race organizers for months and had expected to unveil the plan next week when she returned to Baltimore from vacation.

Baltimore Grand Prix managers could not be reached yesterday evening to confirm the terms of the deal Strommen described.

Strommen said the city agreed to allow the removal of some trees that would block views of the street action from temporary grandstands to be erected along the race course. But she said the city exacted a price in additional trees to be planted elsewhere.

"They had their needs to sell tickets," she said. "We had our needs to preserve the beauty of downtown and make Pratt Street continue to be a main street in a great downtown area."

Strommen acknowledged that some of the trees cut bordering the federal courthouse were "big and healthy," as critics have complained. But she said others, particularly those near the convention center, were in decline because they did not have adequate space to grow and their roots were constantly trampled by pedestrians.

The trees to be replanted along the race course will be relocated, Strommen said, to spots where they won't be in the way of spectators in future years, as the city has a deal to host the Grand Prix for up to five years. And 14 of them around the courthouse will be planted in specially designed, oversized planters, she said, to test the viability of having movable trees.

Beyond replacing the trees cut along the race course, Strommen said she got race organizers to agree to plant 135 additional trees in every empty spot in the sidewalk downtown where a tree used to be or was intended to grow. Some details, such as the mix of trees to be planted, have yet to be nailed down, she said, but all the trees are to be planted this fall or within the next year, more than tripling the number of trees downtown.

"I'm feeling pretty good about getting every tree pit downtown filled, myself" said Strommen.

UPDATE: People continue to debate the removal of trees around the Inner Harbor to accommodate the Baltimore Grand Prix on Labord Day weekend, but city officials are speaking up to defend it.

Ryan O'Doherty, spokesman for Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, noted in an email that the tree canopy downtown is increasing under the plan worked out by the city.  And William H. Cole IV, the City Council member who represents downtown, called it a "net gain" for trees downtown and said all but a handfull of the trees being removed for the race have already been cut or relocated.

"This wasn’t something that just happened yesterday," Cole said in a telephone interview. "This has been a very deliberate process." He said he and Strommen and race reperesentatives "walked every single block and looked at every single tree and made a comprehensive list of everything that could not be touched."

Cole said the Downtown Partnership was actively involved in the planning, and he pointed out that the downtown business group has been removing and replanting trees along Pratt for some time now as it removes berms along the street.  A Downtown Partnership official declined to discuss the tree issue, referring a reporter to the Grand Prix.  Its top officers have yet to return repeated phone calls.

Dave Troy, a software entrepreneur who is circulating the online petition against the race-related tree-cutting, said he's still bothered by the way in which the cutting was done.  He questioned why the city didn't release the plan, even in draft form, so the public could see and comment on it before it was a fait accompli, and he insisted that race organizers and city officials be held accountable if the trees were removed without following the city's own forestry code.

"Trees are not fungible," said Troy. "You can't exchange one set of trees for another."

(Trees being cut across from Convention Center. Baltimore Sun photo by Gene Sweeney Jr.)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (38)
        

The University of Maryland announced today it's launching a new environmental research center that will bring together economists, ecologists, engineers and other disciplines to tackle complex environmental issues like water availability, sustainable food production and large-scale restoration of degraded ecosystems like the Chesapeake Bay.

The National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, known as SeSynC, is underwritten by a $27.5 million, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation, the largest NSF award ever for the university.

Environmental experts are increasingly recognizing that science alone isn't enough to deal with knotty issues like climate change, ocean degradation and the like.  The center's leadership says its research will draw on social as well as natural science to seek solutions. And they vow to produce what they termed "actionable science," engaging the public as well as scientists.

"The enormity of today's environmental problems requires a new approach to how we conduct research," said Margaret Palmer, a University of Maryland entomologist and environmental scientist who will serve as the executive director of the new center.

To be located in Annapolis, the center will draw additional support from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, which has three laboratories around the state, and from Resources for the Future, a Washington policy think tank.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

More than 100 trees are coming down in downtown Baltimore so spectators at the Grand Prix race on Labor Day weekend can get better views of cars speeding through the streets.  (UPDATE: City official says no more than 50 trees to be removed, with nearly 200 to be planted in compensation.  See later post here.)

The Baltimore Sun reports that trees are being removed along West Pratt Street, at the Inner Harbor and near Camden Yards. The first few fell to chainsaws Monday across from the Convention Center.

A total of 136 trees are to be cut down, but race organizers plan to replant them (plus three extras, apparently) - a cycle they'll evidently repeat every year for the next four, under the deal the city has to host the Grand Prix through 2015.

Baltimore Racing Development, the company running the three-day event, worked out the tree removal and replacement plan with the city's Office of Sustainability, the Downtown Partnership and the Waterfront Partnership, according to the Sun. 

For what it's worth, the city's sustainability plan calls for doubling Baltimore's meager tree canopy, from 20 percent of the urban landscape to 40 percent by 2037.  Guess this won't exactly be backsliding if the whacked trees get replaced every year, but not exactly progress, either. 

(Trees being removed across from Convention Center.  Baltimore Sun photo by Gene Sweeney Jr.)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
        

Some environmental groups are panning the debt reduction deal struck by Democratic and Republican leaders in Washington.

Friends of the Earth called for members of Congress to reject the plan to cut nearly $1 trillion in federal spending now, with another $1.5 trillion in debt reduction to be worked out later. Friends President Erich Pica contended that if only cuts were made, they would undermine enforcement of environmental laws, among other federal functions.

"It is likely to mean more people drinking poisoned water and breathing polluted air, and a slower transition to a clean energy economy," Pica said.

The Wilderness Society also warned that the deal would slash spending on conservation and environmental programs.

Others said environmental spending doesn't seem to take a major hit right away in the deal, but could in the second round of debt reductions.

Gov. Martin O'Malley, for instance, said he worried that environmental protections would suffer without a more "balanced" approach of raising revenues as well as cutting spending.

Speaking to reporters after addressing a national environmental conference in downtown Baltimore, O'Malley said of the deal: "It could undermine the progress that we are working towards not only in the jobs recovery but also in the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay.

"Cuts sound great," he added. "Members of Congress, some of them like to pound their chests, look into the camera and say ‘cuts, cuts, cuts,’ But there are certain things that we can only do together, and protecting the environment, protecting our nation’s borders, protecting our homeland security, these are things we have a federal government to accomplish."

(Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. speaks to press in Capitol. AFP/Getty photo

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

How would you like to spend a chunk of your summer bicycling around the Chesapeake Bay watershed, covering 1,300 miles in about three weeks? Sound like fun, or a hot, exhausting grind? Maybe a bit of both at times.

Thats what a pair of Chesapeake Bay Foundation employees are doing. Beth McGee and John Rodenhausen set out Saturday from just north Annapolis, pedaling through Baltimore on their first day (Story in Baltimore Sun on Sunday).

They're headed north to Cooperstown, N.Y., where the Susquehanna River begins as little more than a trickle. Then they'll head southwest back through Pennsylvania, passing through Williamsport MD on their way into West Virginia. They'll angle southeast from Charlottesville to Richmond and on to Hampton Roads, then across the mouth of the bay and up the Eastern Shore, crossing over into Delaware briefly before returning to Annapolis.

McGee, a senior scientist with CBF, and Rodenhausen, who runs CBF's educational program for adults, are making the ride to raise money and awareness for the Annapolis-based environmental group. They're also doing it for charities with which they have a personal connection - the Johns Hopkins pediatric oncology unit and the American Diabetes Association. Bambeco, a Baltimore-based retailer of "green" home decor, has pledged to donate a portion of its sales and otherwise support the ride.

The two are keeping a blog of their travels. From the entries so far, seems they're off to a good, if steamy, start. To follow along, go here.

(Beth McGee and John Rodenhausen pause in Baltimore on their ride around the bay. Baltimore Sun photo by Colby Ware)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 5:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)