Natural gas wells and related processing sites in Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia are spewing "invisible" plumes of air pollution, according to an investigation by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. 

The Annapolis-based environmental group hired an infrared videographer to check 15 natural gas drilling and compressor sites in the Marcellus shale region of the three states.  The special camera picked up the heat signature of gases billowing into the air from 11 of the sites, or nearly three out of four.

Robert Howarth, an ecologist at Cornell University in New York, said the gases being released in the video most likely contained methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and other other hydrocarbons, including possibly benzene and toluene.

“This would certainly contribute to smog, ozone… and it’s putting out carcinogenic substances," Howarth told the foundation, according to a post by Tom Pelton on CBF's blog Bay Daily.  “I would not want to be breathing the air downstream of those rigs.”

Howarth co-authored a study last year that estimated hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in Marcellus shale formations allows 4 to 8 percent of the methane to escape into the atmosphere, where it contributes to global warming. 

The foundation contended in a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency that its video shows air pollution from hydraulic fracturing is not being adequately controlled and a new rule EPA is considering to limit methane emissions does not go far enough.

Harry Campbell, the foundation's senior scientist in Pennsylvania, said in Pelton's blog post that the video provides new evidence of the need for a comprehensive federal study of the human health and environmental impacts of drilling in the Marcellus shale.  CBF has petitioned the White House Council on Environmental Quality and EPA for a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, as the study is known.  To date, it has received no response..

Maryland has imposed a de facto moratorium on hydraulic fracturing or "fracking," for gas in western Maryland's Marcellus shale deposits until it completes a three-year study of the potential environmental impacts and needed controls.  Drilling has taken off in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, though, and controversy has swirled over its impact on neighboring residents, on drinking water wells and streams.

One of the sites filmed is a natural gas processing center in the town of Accident in Garrett County, MD. Though not directly related to the debate over hydraulic fracturing, the compressor station is often mentioned by gas industry supporters as an example of the industry's benign environmental footprint.  Pelton reports that the facility reported to the Maryland Department of the Environment that it released 1,038 tons of methane in 2010, more than double the 483 tons of methane it reported releasing in 2009.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

Feeling the heat from farmers and environmentalists alike, the O'Malley administration has put on hold new rules on how and when farmers can fertilizer their fields.

The Maryland Department of Agriculture had planned to publish new "nutrient management" regulations on Dec. 2, but has now postponed them in order to meet with critics, including municipal officials.

"We were contacted by stakeholders on all sides (ag, enviros, locals) and asked to discuss a little more the draft regulations," MDA spokeswoman Julianne Oberg said in an email. "We're affording that opportunity, and will be resubmitting soon."

The new rules, aimed at reducing nutrient pollution of Chesapeake Bay, have been stirring furor since they were first floated last summer. Farmers complained about proposed limitations on putting animal manure in their fields in fall and winter, and about another provision essentially requiring fencing livestock out of streams. Municipal and county officials, meanwhile, objected to another provision barring the spreading of sewage sludge on fields in winter, which they said would require costly storage facilities.

Environmentalists joined the critics a few weeks ago, charging that agriculture officials had watered the rules down unacceptably in an attempt to mollify other critics.

Jen Brock-Cancellieri, deputy director of the Maryland League of Conservation Voters, emailed that she was "encouraged" the administration had pulled the regulations for further consideration.  Environmentalists had complained especially about a recent change that would let farmers keep spreading animal manure or sludge in the late fall, when it's likely to pollute streams and ground water.

The Dagger, a Harford County news site, had reported that MDA indicated it would try to hammer out some consensus among the various disputants over the next two months.  But Oberg said officials have set no time frame for the consultations.

Sen. Barry Glassman, a Harford County Republican who's complained the rules could hasten the demise of farming in Maryland, has said he's mulling introducing legislation to head off some of the provisions farmers most object to. 

He's focused in particular on the proposed ban on livestock in streams, which he contends would require that all water ways be fenced. That would amount to a regulatory "taking" of private property, Glassman argues, because farmers couldn't use the fenced-off stream buffer and couldn't get paid for it either under federal farm conservation programs.

(Photo: Barley blowing in wind near Hillsboro.  2008 Baltimore Sun photo by Glenn Fawcett)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 3:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Under pressure from conservative lawmakers, state planners have agreed to delay their disputed blueprint for Maryland growth until after they get a little more feedback on it in Annapolis.

Planning Secretary Richard E. Hall confirmed a report in The Washington Times that he's agreed to hold off delivering PlanMaryland to Gov. Martin O'Malley until after he's met with the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee on Dec. 12.

Hall said his staff has been working for months to generate a third "full draft" of the statewide growth plan that incorporates or responds to the outpouring of comments and criticism of it from rural and suburban officials.  That's still on track, Hall indicated in an email, but added that a brief postponement to brief lawmakers one more time would be "fine."

Administration officials have said the document is merely the long-delayed fulfillment of a 1974 law calling for a state growth plan, so does not require legislative approval.  They've said it won't usurp local planning authority, just better coordinate state spending on roads and other infrastructure under Maryland's longstanding Smart Growth policies, which call for preserving open space by encouraging development in and around existing communities. 

Local officials contend, though, that PlanMaryland may effectively take away their traditional control over development decisions if the state does deny funding or permits for projects that don't mesh with the plan.  State Sen. E.J. Pipkin, a Republican representing the upper Eastern Shore who's accused O'Malley of waging "war" on rural Maryland, has said he'll introduce a bill that would require legislative approval of the plan - though administration officials have insisted they're not waiting for the General Assembly to act before putting the finishing touches on the plan.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Feeling like playing Johnny Appleseed?  Blue Water Baltimore needs volunteers to help plant heirloom apple trees Friday (Dec. 2) in Carroll Park, at 1500 Washington Blvd.

The area watershed group will be working with elementary school students from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to put the trees in the ground.

Assistance welcomed. Gloves, tools and training will be provided.

For more info, contact Suzie at slmerryman1@yahoo.com

(Photo:  Students from Baltimore Talent Development High School plant fruit trees in Carroll Park, 2006.  Baltimore Sun photo by Kim Hairston)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Gearing up for another push in Annapolis to get legislation subsidizing offshore wind development, environmental and labor groups are staging public forums over the next few weeks to tout the economic and health benefits of building the giant electricity-generating turbines off Ocean City.

There's an offshore wind "town hall" planned in Baltimore Wednesday (Nov. 30) from 7 - 8:30 p.m. in the fellowship room at St. Mark's Lutheran Church. 1900 St. Paul St.  Details here. Other forums are planned in Salisbury Dec. 5 and in Rosedale in Baltimore County on Dec. 13.

Despite backing from greens, unions and some businesses, Gov. Martin O'Malley's bid earlier this year to help offshore wind developers failed to win General Assembly approval.  Lawmakers balked at the potential cost to ratepayers of an administration bill that would have required utilities to sign long-term deals to buy power from the projects.

The administration has been working since spring with legislative committees studying the issue and appears leaning toward trying again in January with a different approach - this time geared towards requiring state electricity suppliers to get a certain share of their power from offshore wind projects.  Supporters are touting the jobs the projects will support, the relatively pollution-free nature of wind-generated electricity and the potential for stable (if higher) power prices in a potentially volatile future.

For more info, go here or contact Keith Harrington at keith@chesapeakeclimate.org

(Wind turbines off the Dutch coast, 2007. Reuters photo)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The task force Gov. Martin O'Malley formed to revive his failed attempt to curb septic systems in Maryland has come up with something far more sweeping - a "roadmap" to future growth in the state that attempts to rein in the metastasis of sprawl into the countryside.

Whether the panel's new "tiered" approach to development will win over the builders, farmers and local pols who blocked O'Malley's septic restrictions remains to be seen. Likewise for whether it will work, even if it becomes law.

The 28-member panel, meeting Tuesday in Annapolis, sidestepped O'Malley's contentious proposal to ban large new housing projects on septic and voted instead to recommend putting all state land into one of four growth "tiers," with varying degrees of incentives or hurdles for new septic-dependent development in each. 

The impetus for change comes as the state struggles to meet its federally set targets for reducing the nutrient pollution fouling the Chesapeake Bay.  Per household, officials say, septic systems release far more nitrogen into ground water and nearby streams than do properly functioning wastewater treatment plants.

Growth would continue to be encouraged in cities, towns and "priority funding areas" previously designated for intense development under Maryland's 14-year-old Smart Growth laws. The vast majority of those already are served by water and sewer systems, though the plan does not preclude septic systems in places not now hooked up.

A second tier of more limited development would be allowed around existing municipalities and unincorporated growth areas. Septic systems would only be allowed there if local officials could demonstrate to state officials that connecting to sewer was out of the question. Moreover, the impacts on ground water and nearby streams of the water-fouling nitrogen from those septic systems would have to be offset somehow, say by curbing polluted runoff from nearby farms or other existing development.

New construction would be even more limited in a third "tier" consisting of rural villages and crossroads already on septic systems, but it would be largely restricted to "filling out" the existing boundaries of those small communities.

Finally, almost no septic-based construction would be allowed on lands targeted for rural or environmental preservation, including much of the state's farmland.

"This approach works harder to deal with what's in place," said Richard E. Hall, state planning secretary. Rural officials had complained that the septic curbs O'Malley had pushed earlier this year were too rigid and didn't recognize the different circumstances of various parts of the state.

"Bottom line, it will change the way we hope counties and municipalities look at planning growth," said Del. Maggie McIntosh, the Baltimore Democrat who co-chaired the 28-member task force, along with Baltimore real estate lawyer Jon Laria.

Details remain to be worked out before submitting the plan to O'Malley, who will then decide whether to seek legislative approval for it. But McIntosh said she was glad the group had gotten beyond the bitter debate of last winter over septic curbs and tackled the broader issue of how to reform Maryland's spotty Smart Growth law.

McIntosh, who heads the House Environmental Matters Committee, acknowledged the new plan is likely to face similar opposition from at least some rural and suburban officials, as well as from builders.

"We've got a long way to go on this," she said. But she said she hoped the "roadmap," as she called it, would stop or at least curtail the spread of scattered housing across the state's remaining rural land, which critics say is both harmful to the environment and costly to taxpayers.

Conservationists praised the task force's work, which included a call for tripling the "flush fee" paid by every homeowner to raise funds for wastewater treatment plant upgrades and for projects to reduce urban and suburban storm-water pollution. The panel also agreed that wherever septic-based construction was permitted, less-polluting but more costly "best-available-technology" systems should always be required.

"We got real recognition by the task force that a different pattern of development has to occur," said Dru Schmidt-Perkins, executive director of 1000 Friends of Maryland. "Both for environmental and economic reasons, we just can't keep funding all the schools, roads, parking lots and everything else that goes with this dispersed, low-density, poorly planned development."

There were dissenters, however, notably Republican Sen. David R. Brinkley of Frederick. The Associated Press reported that he criticized the plan as an encroachment on local officials' traditional control over development.

"I think it's an attempt by the state to micromanage what's going on at the local level," he said, according to AP.

For more on the task force and its recommendations, go here.

(Septic system for new home being built in Baltimore County.  Baltimore Sun photo by Kim Hairston)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

As we Marylanders sit down Thursday to our Thanksgiving feasts, here's food for thought - less than half the traditional holiday meal we'll consume that day was grown locally. Not exactly what the Pilgrims had to be thankful for. And if the state's farmland keeps getting gobbled up by sprawl, even less of our sustenance will be coming from around here.

According to a survey by the land preservation group 1000 Friends of Maryland, 48 percent of our Thanksgiving staples overall are produced in-state.  Just 44 percent of the turkeys eaten are raised here, 41 percent of the potatoes (that seems high to me, frankly), 32 percent of the apples, 17 percent of the sweet potatoes and only one-half of 1 percent of the carrots.

The only produce in which Maryland is self-sufficient, or nearly so, according to the group, are snap beans, squash and pumpkins.  But if you think about all the pumpkin pies baked and eaten, I'll wager the vast majority of those rely on canned products raised elsewhere as well.

The geographical gap between production and consumption is not unusual.  Nationally, most produce travels 1,500 miles on average before being sold, according to the group's report.  And about 40% of our fruit and 9% of our red meat is imported from other countries.

Some might think relying on locally produced food is an anachronism.  But there's some comfort in knowing where your food comes from, and I've found some of the tastiest fruits, vegetables and seafood I've ever eaten had the shortest trip from harvest to my mouth.  This year, my family is dining on a locally raised turkey, but a lot of the farms in Maryland already had sold out by the time we started shopping for one.

To produce all of our Thanksgiving foods locally, nearly 13,800 more acres of land in Maryland would need to be planted in broccoli, potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes and apples, the group says. Another 2 million 12 lbs. turkeys would have to be raised somewhere, too.

It may be tough to achieve that. Although demand for locally produced food has increased some in recent years, the ability to grow more may be compromised by the shrinking supply of farmland in the state, 1000 Friends warns. Current development trends could see the loss of 225,000 acres - about the size of Cecil County - in the next 25 years, it says.

“A strong farming community is critical for smart growth and a strong economy,” said Dru Schmidt-Perkins, executive director of 1000 Friends. “We must do more to help our farmers and protect our farmland from sprawl development."

The group advocates buying locally produced food whenever possible, eliminating the estate tax on family farms kept in farming and providing government help for farmers to diversify their businesses.

(Heritage turkey at Carriage House Farms in Stevenson, Baltimore County. 2010 Baltimore Sun photo by Amy Davis)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Marylanders would breathe easier if the federal government ordered a reduction in the sulfur content of gasoline, according to a new study.  And the Chesapeake Bay likely would be cleaner as well.

A report released today by a group of state air-quality regulators in New England plus New Jersey and New York finds that lowering the sulfur in gasoline would significantly reduce  ozone pollution, or smog, from Virginia north to Maine. 

Sulfur in gas contributes to emissions of nitrogen oxides, or NOX, in car and light truck exhaust. Those oxides are a major ingredient in the ozone pollution, or smog that fouls the summer air, and they also enable fine-particle pollution, which can affect breathing year-round. 

Some of that NOX also falls out of the air, and the nitrogen in it worsens the nutrient pollution of rivers, lakes and marine ecosystems like the bay. Airborne deposition of nitrogen from cars, trucks and power plants is estimated to be nearly 20 percent of all the nitrogen affecting the Chesapeake from all sources, including sewage and farm and urban runoff.

Motor vehicles are the source of 29 percent of all the NOX affecting air quality in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, estimates the report by the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Management. Reducing the sulfur content of gasoline 25 percent to 10 parts per million could reduce nitrogen oxide emissions in the eastern US by nearly 180,000 tons per year, or almost 500 tons per day, the group says.

Maryland alone would see an annual reduction of 5,000 tons of NOX emissions, but that's just part of the benefit the study foresees. A nationwide change in gasoline would help because up to 70 percent of the smog-forming emissions affecting Maryland waft in from out of state, according to the state Department of the Environment.

The Environmental Protection Agency is considering proposing to lower the sulfur content of gas in conjunction with new "Tier 3" tailpipe pollution standards for new cars. But the agency is reportedly getting pushback from the oil industry, which argues that the requirement would drive up refining costs and even force some refineries to close, creating fuel shortages.

This report counters that previous reductions in sulfur content cost less than the industry forecast. It predicts that this reduction would increase fuel costs by 0.5 to 1.4 cents per gallon, or $143 million to $400 million overall. By comparison, the group projects the benefits in fewer hospitalizations, sick days and premature deaths range from $234 million to nearly $1.2 billion. And that's not counting what benefits it might have for cleaning up the bay or other waters.

(Downtown Baltimore, summer 2007.  Baltimore Sun photo by Karl Merton Ferron)

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

Maryland's attorney general may be pushing for tighter federal air pollution regulations (see previous post), but freshman Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md, is pushing back.

Harris, chairman of the House Science committee's energy and environment subcommittee, and Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga, who heads the investigations and oversight subcommittee are challenging the scientific as well as the economic justification for new air-quality limits the Environmental Protection Agency is proposing. New rules are due by mid-December requiring tighter controls on mercury and toxic pollution emissions from power plants, which have drawn fire from the coal and utility industries, among others. The White House, at OMB's behest, postponed recently a move by EPA to tighten limits on ozone pollution, or smog, but others are still pending.

In a letter to the head of the Obama Administration's Office of Management and Budget, Harris and Broun - both physicians - accuse EPA's leadership of "press release science" in overstating the benefits and low-balling the costs of new air pollution regulations. They ask OMB head Cass Sunstein to take a critical look at the basis for EPA's air quality regulations and demand the underlying data behind studies linking soot pollution with premature deaths.

The pair contend EPA's leaders have been making "baseless and irresponsible statements" about how many lives could be saved by tightening limits on fine particle pollution, cross-state pollution and ozone pollution.

“In many cases, these required cost-benefit analyses appear designed to provide political cover for a more stringent regulatory agenda rather than objectively inform policy decisions,” Harris and Broun wrote.

Harris and Broun contend EPA is ignoring the negative health effects of regulations, which they say could increase joblessness because businesses would have to spend money on complying with them rather than hiring new workers. They also question why EPA calculates the same ecnomic benefit for every premature death prevented, noting that most of those who die from inhaling soot are elderly.

To read the letter, go here.

(Rep. Andy Harris speaking at town hall meeting in Elkton, April 2011 Baltimore Sun photo by Kim Hairston)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

While government regulations often get branded as "job killers" these days, a group of states - including Maryland - have gone to court to get the government to crank down on fine-particle air pollution, which they contend is a real killer.

Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler has joined the top lawyers of  nine other states in asking the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals to force the Environmental Protection Agency to follow the recommendations of health experts, its staff and independent science advisors to tighten the legal limit on fine particulates in the air.  To read it, go here.

Fine particulates, more commonly called soot, are emitted by diesel engines, coal-fired power plants and other fuel-burning equipment. PM2.5, as fine particles are known, are so tiny they're 1/30th the width of a human hair. They've been linked in study after study with increased rates of breathing impairments, cardiovascular disease and premature death. 

EPA is legally required to review its air quality standards every five years.  But according to the states' petition, in 2006 the agency opted not to change the longstanding limit of 15 micrograms per cubic meter of air. In doing so, it rejected the recommendations of health groups and its own scientific review committee to lower the limit in order to protect children, the elderly and infirm. Various groups sued, and a federal court in 2009 ordered EPA to reconsider.

Last year, the agency staff recommended tightening the standard, pointing to new studies showing even stronger connections between soot and heart and breathing problems. One estimated more than 2,700 hospitalizations and more than 2,500 deaths nationwide from short-term exposure to particulates in the air at the threshold set by EPA.

Despite acknowleding new evidence the current limit of 15 parts per billion isn't sufficiently protective of health, the states contend that EPA has repeatedly put off proposing a new one. They're asking the court to give the agency a firm deadline for acting.

Power plant owners and other industries opposing tighter air-quality regulations generally contend they'll be incredibly costly to comply with, with little or no real health benefits. A report this week by Earthjustice, the American Lung Association and other groups contends that tightening limits on soot in the air could prevent 37,500 premature deaths and save $281 billion at the same time in health-care and lost-income costs.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The Obama administration has upped the ante on federal fuel economy standards, calling for cars and light trucks to get up to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson joined Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to announce the administration's proposal to set stronger fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas pollution standards for cars and light trucks made between 2017 and 2025.

Administration officials contend the higher mileage standards will reduce oil consumption by 4 billion barrels and cut 2 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas pollution over the lifetimes of the vehicles sold in those years.  But they said it also should save Americans $6,600 in fuel costs over the lifetime of a 2025 model year vehicle, or a net savigns of $4,400 after factoring in projected higher costs for more fuel-efficient vehicles.  For more, go here.

The announcement, which builds on the administration's earlier push to get the nation's vehicle fleet to 35.5 mpg by 2016, drew cheers from environmentalists and raspberries from auto dealers.

Sarah Bucci of Environment Maryland, for instance, predicted that in Maryland alone, the fuel-economy standards would save each family $365 on average, and nationally would create nearly 500,000 new jobs.

The National Auto Dealers Association, meanwhile, warned that the rule could add more than $3,200 to the cost of a new vehicle, which could depress sales and slow fleet turnover, thereby delaying the environmental gains forecast. The group also argued that the regulation would most discourage sales of the industry's most popular, if least fuel-efficient vehicles, such as SUVs and other trucks and vans.

Cars, SUVs, minivans, and pickup trucks account for nearly 60 percent of transportation-related petroleum use and greenhouse gas emissions, according to EPA.

(Traffic in Baltimore, 2010 Baltimore Sun photo by Amy Davis)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 4:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Who says the Ravens can't play a cleaner game?

Baltimore's professional football team is joining with Constellation Energy to promote renewable energy when it plays the San Francisco 49ers Thanksgiving day at M&T Bank Stadium.

Baltimore-based Constellation will retire "renewable energy certificates" that should cover the typical energy usage during the game. The certificates, which encourage wind, solar and other renewable power generation, will avoid about 30 tons of climate-altering carbon dioxide emissions - on a par with what would be produced by 1,200 tailgaters firing up propane grills.

To draw attention to the green partnership, Constellation Energy and the Ravens plan to stage a Facebook contest next week to test fans' football and energy knowledge.  They'll be giving away a pair of tickets and two pre-game hospitality passes to the Ravens final home game on Christmas Eve.  Look for it on Constellation's Facebook page.

(Baltimore Sun photo by Karl Merton Ferron)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The Army, which has been on a green offensive lately, is putting fuel cells in as backup power supplies for three buildings at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harford County.

The cells, which use hydrogen as a fuel, are more efficient than internal combustion engines and much quieter and cleaner, with little or no greenhouse gas emissions..

The three going in at APG's building operations command center, the snow removal center in the Edgewood area and the Test Center Range Control are among 24 fuel cells being installed at nine federal sites across the country.  A ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled today at APG to mark the project.

The $2.5 million installation is a joint venture of the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Department of Energy.  The Army Corps has been trying out wind, solar, geothermal, biogas, biofuel and waste-to-energy as part of a push by the Department of Defense to develop alternative energy sources to support military operations.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Three environmental groups and a group of residents have gone to court in an attempt to block Frederick County from rezoning nearly 200 properties to allow for greater development.

Friends of Frederick County, Audubon Society of Central Maryland, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and 29 county residents filed a lawsuit in Frederick County Circuit Court on Tuesday charging the county's rezoning move is illegal, would harm the environment and raise taxes to pay for the schools, roads and other infrastructure the additional development will need.

The county commissioners elected last year had vowed during the campaign to revisit comprehensive plan and zoning changes made in 2010 by the previous board of county commissioners.  Their predecessors had rezoned about 700 properties, according to Gazette.Net, shifting them from commercial or residential to agricultural or resource conservation zoning in order to scale back development and protect environmentally sensitive lands.  The newly elected board, contending those property owners had been deprived of their rights, invited applications this year for new zoning.

The groups contend the county is acting unawfully in selectively rezoning 193 properties whose owers have applied for a change - some of them unaffected by last year's down-zoning. If all the changes requested are granted, the environmental groups contend it would allow for 17,000 new homes.  Even before this move, planners now project the county of 243,000 people to grow by 20,000 households and roughly 80,000 people over the next two decades.

"No consideration is being given to adverse effects of such increased development on the environment or on public facilities," Janice Wiles, executive director of Friends of Frederick County, said in a statement.  She predicted taxes would have to be raised to cover the costs of building or expanding schools, roads and other facilities.

Jon Mueller, the bay foundation's vice president for litigation, called the rezoning an "illegal short cut to allow potentially substantial new sprawl development."  He warned that it would lead to increased runoff pollution of local waters.

County officials vowed to go ahead, according to the Frederick News-Post, while stressing they had yet to decide anything.  The county planning commission is set to begin hearing the zoning requests tonight.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 8:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Today is America Recycles Day, promoting reduction and reuse of waste rather than landfilling or burning it. 

There are events planned locally and across the country - a Severn school, for instance, is staging a contest  to see who can build the biggest tower with catalogs and magazines collected for recycling.

While Maryland's counties and municipalities are recycling 39 percent of their solid waste, according to the state Department of the Environment, there's still room to do more.  Howard County, for instance, recently launched a pilot program to compost food scraps, one of the first localities on the East Coast to do it, though it's established in some West Coast communities already.  The county estimates that nearly a quarter of its waste now consists of food scraps.

Baltimore city's not ready to go there yet, but it did kick off a new foam recycling effort just this month, targeting another big waste component, by volume if not weight. City residents are invited to collect clean #6 polystyrene foam plates, cups, egg cartons and the like and bring them to the dropoff center at 2840 Sisson St. from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. 

(Howard County family saves food scraps for composting.  Baltimore Sun photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 8:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The new Ford Focus Electric will be in town today (Tuesday) to see and test drive at Johns Hopkins University.  It's not due on the market until early next year, but it'll be one of five Ford vehicles on display at an event examining the issues around electrification of travel and other fuel-efficient transportation.

There'll be a presentation and discussion from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., followed by demonstrations and vehicle test drives until 1:30 p.m.   The event, part of a nationwide Ford tour touting its products, is cosponsored by the Baltimore Electric Vehicle Initiative and the Hopkins Office of Sustainability.

Hopkins has hosted a trot-out of the Chevy Volt in advance of its going on sale as well. The school also recently installed five EV charging stations on campus.

The event will be at Hopkins' Visitor Center in Mason Hall, 3100 Wyman Park Drive. Visitor parking is available nearby.  For a map, go here.  Those interested in a test drive or attending are asked to RSVP to Michael Phillips at michael@alliancegroupltd.com or 434.760.4485.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Maryland and other Northeastern states have helped rather than hurt their economies with “cap-and-trade” regulation of their power plants’ carbon dioxide emissions, a new study finds.

In the past three years, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative produced a combined economic gain for the 10 participating states of more than $1.6 billion, or about $33 for every person living in the region, according to a report by the economic consulting firm Analysis Group. The ripple effects of making power plants buy permits to release carbon dioxide also created a total of 16,000 jobs, the consultants estimate.

“The program’s working,” said Paul J. Hibbard, a lead author of the study, which tracked the impacts of the carbon auctions through the economy. The research was funded by four foundations.

Consumers across the region are expected to save nearly $1.3 billion on their energy bills over the next decade, the study projects, through government-subsidized investments in home weatherization, energy-efficient appliances and other measures that should reduce demand for power below what it otherwise would be.

The study appears to counter some of the criticism leveled at the regional carbon compact, and at “cap-and-trade” limits in general. New Jersey withdrew from the greenhouse gas initiative this year amid charges that it’s ineffective, while earlier the Senate balked at passing a national carbon auction plan after critics blasted it as a potential job killer.

While results might vary in regulating carbon dioxide nationwide, Hibbard said, “There’s no evidence yet that a program like that would kill the economy or kill jobs.” The 10 participating northeastern states include one-sixth of the nation’s population and one-fifth of its economic output, he noted.

The carbon allowances cost power plant owners about $912 million over the three-year period, the study notes.  Plant owners were able to make up the expense through higher electricity prices over that time, but the study projects that because of power consumption will go down as a result of energy-efficiency investments, so they'll ultimately lose $1.6 billion - roughly the same amount the states' economies are projected to net.

Every state benefited from the sale of carbon dioxide allowances, Hibbard said, but the states that saw the greatest return in jobs and savings were those that spent more of their auction revenues on helping homeowners and businesses to reduce their energy consumption.

Maryland got a smaller boost to its economy, for instance, than did states in New England, where 86 percent of the auction proceeds were invested in energy-efficiency incentives for consumers and businesses. In Maryland, the share earmarked for efficiency incentives went from 46 percent to 17.5 percent, as lawmakers diverted most of the revenues to lowering electric bills for consumers, particularly the poor. This year 20 percent is being spent on energy efficiency and 20 percent on encouraging “clean” energy.

Even so, Maryland has put $20 million into energy effiency and renewable energy through 2010, helping more than 17,000 individuals and families.  More than 900 people also have received training for careers in energy efficiency, according to the state.  

"We should consistently prioritize efficiency," said Tommy Landers of Environment Maryland, "and keep in mind all its benefits - energy use reduction, lower energy bills for Maryland families and companies, job creation and global warming pollution reduction."

(Baltimore Sun Photos: Brandon Shores power plant near Baltimore, 2010, by Kenneth K. Lam; Home energy audit in Lauraville, 2009, by Amy Davis.) 

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 10:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Air Pollution, Climate change, News
        

The oyster die-off this year in the Chesapeake Bay may have been limited to its northern reaches, but it's had  a severe impact on at least one waterman who worked there.

Capt. Barry Sweitzer has laid off his crew and put his 106-year-old skipjack, the Hilda M. Willing, up for sale after managing to find just a couple dozen live oysters in his first day of dredging for them, the Washington Post reports.

The state Department of Natural Resources reported last week that 74 to 79 percent of the oysters had died in two areas north of the Bay Bridge.  Record-high fresh-water flows from heavy spring rains killed most of them, state officials said, with another fresh-water influx from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee probably adding to the mortality.

Only about 2 percent of Maryland's commercial oyster harvest comes from those areas, according to DNR.  But for an estimated 30 watermen who worked those bars, the loss is a major blow to their livelihood. Oyster bars down the bay apparently didn't suffer similar die-offs, but many northern bay watermen probably can't make enough money oystering to cover the added costs of taking their boats down there and either making long commutes or staying far from home while they work those distant bars.

It's a sad end for Sweitzer, 50, who acquired the skipjack from his father and dredged for oysters two days a week.  Let's hope it's not the end of the line for the Hilda M. Willing.  Built in 1905, it's one of a handful of survivors from the hundreds of skipjacks that worked the bay in the heyday of sail-powered dredging around the beginning of the 20th century.  Sweitzer told the Post he hopes to sell the vessel to another commercial waterman who'll take it down the bay to harvest oysters there. 

(Skipjacks dredge the Choptank River for oysters at dawn in 1988.  Baltimore Sun photo by Jed Kirschbaum)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 8:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Raccoons, deer, cats, birds, turtles, even humans - all will make tracks under busy highways when they can, or must.

That's the upshot of a fun but practical new study from the Appalachian laboratory of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.

Researchers spent more than two years capturing critters on infra-red cameras as they moved through 265 different road and highway culverts around the state. They tallied up 57 different species using the underground structures, many of them put in when the road was built merely to channel a stream from one side to the other.

“I was surprised at the sheer number of species using these culverts, from birds to reptiles to mammals,” study author Ed Gates said in a release. 

The critter caught most frequently by far on the cameras was the northern raccoon, followed by common house cats and then white-tailed deer.  But barn swallows, mallards and great blue heron were up there, too. So were humans, oddly or naturally enough.

The study was done for the State Highway Administration so they can figure out how to get more animals to use the culverts. It enables wildlife to move about in habitat increasingly carved up by pavement and avoid becoming roadkill - or worse, killing or maiming motorists.

I wrote about this effort a year ago in the Baltimore Sun.  You can read that story here.  And to see some more "wildlife candid camera," check out UMCES on Facebook.

(Photos courtesy University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: News
        

The Chesapeake Bay's 'dead zone' has set another record - reappearing this fall after Tropical Storm Lee washed millions of tons of nutrients and sediment into the estuary. 

State officials and scientists with the University of Maryland say the expanse of oxygen-starved water in the bay, which had virtually disappeared by the end of August, re-formed in September and was still growing in late October. 

"It's surprising we're seeing it this late," said Tom Parham, director of tidewater ecosystem assessment for the state Department of Natural Resources. 

The dead zone reached record size earlier in the summer, spreading to cover 40 percent of the bay from the mouth of the Patapsco River practically to the Virginia line. At the time, scientists blamed that on an unprecedented influx of fresh-water into the bay in spring.  With it came an extra-heavy load of fertlizer, sewage and other pollutants, which feed massive algae blooms and ultimately consume the oxygen in the water that fish need to breathe.

The winds of Hurricane Irene in late August stirred up the bay, breaking up the dead zone by reintroducing dissolved oxygen into deeper waters. Scientists and others breathed a sigh of rellief after the rough summer.

But the torrential rains of Tropical Storm Lee in early September flooded the bay with more water-fouling nutrients, in addition to millions of tons of sediment that turned the water brown.  Scientists predicted the influx could revive the dead zone, and by the end of September, water monitors were detecting its reformation.

When scientists went out again to check in late October, oxygen-starved water covered the bottom in the deep waters down the middle of the bay.  The 'dead zone' stretched from the Bay Bridge south to the mouth of the Patuxent River, according to marine ecologist Diane Stoecker of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. About 10 percent of the bay was plagued with extremely low oxygen levels, DNR's Parham estimates, when by this time of year the zone normally covers no more than 2 percent.

"It's probably the worst we've seen in October," said Bruce D. Michael, DNR's director of resource assessment.  To see the October extent of the 'dead zone,' go here.

Another odd thing about this dead zone - it didn't appear to form the typical way, after massive algae blooms spread across the bay. Scientists say they didn't detect any spikes in chlorophyll in the water indicative of algae's presence.  The murkiness of the water - from all the sediment washed into the bay - may well have prevented sunlight from penetrating the water to stimulate algae growth, they say.  Instead, they think oxygen in the water may have been consumed by the breakdown of all the organic matter washed into the bay by the storm.

"It's just another indication of how much impact storms, and particularly tropical storms, have," says Parham. 

It's also a reminder of how nature can play havoc with efforts to restore the bay. A recent study by Johns Hopkins and UM scientists found that despite natural variations, the dead zone has gradually shrunk in size and duration since the late 1980s - evidence, they said, that efforts to reduce the flow of nutrients into the bay was beginning to work.

But the analysis only covered conditions through 2008. Scientists say they think the record fresh-water flows this year and the accompanying pollution have set the bay back, but they don't know yet how much. 

DNR this week confirmed watermen's reports of a die-off of most of the oysters in the upper bay, apparently from heavy spring flows of fresh water that the bivalves could not survive.  Bay grass beds in the Susquehanna Flats also were ripped out by the late-summer storm flooding, but researchers say it won't be clear until next spring the extent of impacts on all the bay's underwater grasses, which serve as nursery, food source and shelter for crabs, fish and other wildlife.

Parham says he expects the dead zone has dissiipated by now or at least started to shrink, as falling temperatures tend to mix the water and restore oxygen levels.  DNR will be doing water sampling next week to check.

But he and others are wondering whether the nutrients washed into the bay in late summer will get flushed out over the winter - or hang around to feed massive algae blooms and another severe dead zone next year. 

"That's kind of the million-dollar question - what are we going to see next spring?" Parham said.

To keep tabs on water quality in the Chesapeake, check out DNR's "Eyes on the Bay."

(Debris and sediment in the Chesapeake Bay the week after Tropical Storm Lee; DNR biologists Zofia Noe and Jamie Strong sample water conditions in wake of storm, September 2011.  Baltimore Sun photos by Kim Hairston)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The Obama administration shored up its support this week in the environmental community by delaying a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, which was to carry crude oil from Canada's tar sands region through the US Midwest to the Gulf of Mexico.

Among those relishing the White House's decision to postpone (and possibly kill) the pipeline is Del. Heather R. Mizeur, a Montgomery County Democrat who'd become an outspoken opponent of the project.

Mizeur is one of the leading environmental advocates in the General Assembly. In Annapolis, she's pushed to put the brakes on natural gas drilling in western Maryland using the controversial hydraulic fracturing technique.She ventured well beyond the state to jump into the growing pipeline furor last summer.

The $7 billion, 1,700-mile pipeline has been pushed by the oil industry and labor unions hungry for the construction jobs.  But it stirred a firestorm of resistance from environmentalists upset about the impacts in Canada of tar sands oil extraction, and the impact on climate of enabling that much more oil to get consumed. Greens were joined, though, by cattle ranchers and midwestern farmers upset about the line crossing their lands and potentially contaminating their wells and water ways. (Bloomberg Businessweek published a good review of the issues just before the White House put it on hold.)

"I decided it was time to put pressure on the Obama administration from inside the Democratic party," Mizeur said."We are the Democrats who elected him in 2008.  We expected him to listen to us." 

Mizeur had a platform for putting pressure on the White House. She's a member of the Democratic National Committee, which governs the party. She voiced her concerns about the pipeline project at a DNC meeting in August and followed that up by proposing a resolution that the DNC take a formal position against the pipeline.

Some Dems didn't agree with Mizeur's approach, wanting to avoid any appearance of conflict between the party and its standard-bearer.  She countered that by doing so, the DNC could provide "political cover for him to be courageous and do the right thing for the environment."

Last Sunday, when pipeline opponents rallied outside the White House to demonstrate their opposition to the pipeline, Mizeur was one of 10 speakers to address the crowd. And so this week, the Maryland delegate got a call from the administration to let her know the president had decided to extend its review of the project for another year.

Mizeur downplays her role in pressuring the White House, saying "I'm one of many."  But Mike Tidwell of Chesapeake Climate Action Network says he's convinced she helped sway the decision.

(Pipeline protesters at the White House Nov. 6/MCT photo; Del.Heather Mizeur in Annapolis/2011 Baltimore Sun photo by Lloyd Fox)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Seafood is getting increasing scrutiny these days, and it's not reassuring.

Researchers with the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future found that testing of imported seafood by the U S. Food and Drug Administration isn't good enough to say it's safe or to identify whether there are any health risks to consumers.  That's a big deal, because about 85 percent of seafood consumed in the United States comes from other countries.

Based on a review of government data, David Love and others at the center found that the FDA only tests about 2 percent of all seafood imported into the US.  The European Union, by comparison checks 50 percent; Japan 18 percent and Canada 15 percent.

One reason to test: farmed fish and shellfish, a growing share of all seafood, may contain residues of veterinary drugs. Those drugs, given to prevent and treat diseases in the fish, could be harmful to humans at high enough concentrations, or they could cause other unintended consequences, such as antibiotic resistance.

The study found that inspectors detected more drug residues in imported seafood the more they inspected. Drugs showed up more often in Asian farm-raised shrimp and prawns, catfish, crab, tilapia and Chilean salmon than in other seafood products,  according to researchers. Imports from Vietnam had the greatest number of veterinary drug violations among exporting countries, they noted.

The US and the other countries tested all have set limits on the acceptable levels of drug residues in seafood.  But the US, besides checking a smaller percentage of its seafood imports, also tests for fewer different drugs than the EU, Japan and Canada, researchers point out.

In the end, the researchers concluded that the amount of data publicly available from the FDA isn't sufficient to tell whether consumers face any health risks from eating imported seafood.  FDA records, for instance, don't show when fish pass inspection or whether the samples tested were chosen at random or targeted for some reason.

(2007 Baltimore Sun file photo)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 8:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Fisheries regulators meeting in Boston have decided to increase protection for menhaden, a small silvery fish that's widely regarded as ''the most important fish in the sea''' because it's a key food source for birds and other fish in the Chesapeake Bay and elsewhere along the Atlantic coast.

Before a crowd of onlookers, many of them concerned recreational fishermen, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted overwhelmingly to set new population threshold and harvest targets for menhaden, effectively reducing the catch for now by about 37 percent, starting next year, according to my colleague, Candus Thomson, who's there reporting for The Baltimore Sun. The commission, which oversees all in-shore fishing along the coast, represents all the states from Maine to Florida. 

Biologists, conservationists and recreational fishing groups had pressed the commission to act, pointing to signs menhaden are in trouble. They've noted, for instance, that menhaden are a shrinking source of food for Chesapeake striped bass, going from 70 percent to about 8 percent of their diet.  Most stripers, or rockfish as they're known locally, are infected with a bacterial disease which scientists have said could be aggravated by not getting enough to eat.

There was pushback, though, from commercial fishermen, who catch menhaden for crab and lobster bait, and from Omega Protein, based in Reedville, VA., which harvests the fish on a grand scale for processing into animal feed and heart-healthy diet supplements.  The Omega Protein Corp.'s fishing fleet hauls in 80 percent of all menhaden caught along the coast, making the port of Reedville, Va., the second busiest for fish landings in the United States.

The harvest reduction agreed to was short of the 45 percent cutback some anglers wanted, but still steeper than what Omega's spokesman had indicated the company could live with.  The company's supporters had urged the commision to leave harvest limits alone, for the sake of its 300 employees. Other commercial fishermen also had argued they have no other bait they could use.  The commission vote was 14 to 3, with Maryland in the majority.  Virginia, New Jersey and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission opposed major changes.

The decision heartened conservationists, though, and Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, who issued a statement saying the commission's move helps ensure "a sustainable future" for menhaden and all the fish and wildlife that depend on them for food.

Jay Odell of the Nature Conservancy called it "a great day" for menhaden and for all the other species and people who depend on them remaining abundant.  He stressed that the harvest cutback agreed to is "not a permanent throttle on fishing, but an investment in the future." If, as expected, the population rebounds, the size of the catch will come back as well, he said.

“We’ve learned from other fisheries, such as striped bass and crab, that easing harvest pressures can dramatically replenish a stock," said Bill Goldsborough, senior fishieries scientist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and a member of the fisheries commission. "This decision will spur menhaden abundance and begin the rebuilding process.” 

(Menhaden caught in Chesapeake Bay. 2011 Baltimore Sun photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor) 

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 3:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Chesapeake Bay, News
        

State officials and developers gathered Tuesday atop Maryland's highest mountain near Oakland to celebrate the recent completion of the state's second commercial wind power project, even as controversy continues about such ridgetop facilities' impacts on birds and bats. 

With 20 2.5-megawatt turbines strung along Backbone Mountain, the Roth Rock wind "farm" is expected to generate enough electricity to power all the homes in Garrett County, according to the Maryland Energy Administration.   It began operating in August, with Delmarva Power buying 80 percent of its output and the University System of Maryland and the state Department of General Services purchasing the rest.  The state's first wind farm owned by Constellation Energy, built nearby on the same mountain, began producing power last winter.

The Roth Rock project, developed by Synergics of Annapolis, has had a long and controversial history.  Its ridgetop siting was fought by conservationists worried that the turbines would kill migratory songbirds and bats, some of them already endangered.  At wind developers' behest, the General Assembly then limited state regulators review of wind projects' environmental impacts, prompting conservationists to cry foul. 

State environmental regulators did temporarily halt work on the project at one point last year over sediment and erosion problems at the construction site.  Synergics last year sold the project to Gestamp Wind North America, part of a European multinational corporation. 

Wind developers contend there are few birds and bats harmed by the towering turbines. But wildlife concerns about this wind project and others linger.  The American Bird Conservancy contends there have been sizable bird kills over the past eight years at wind projects in neighboring West Virginia. Nearly 500 were killed last month alone at one facility, the group said recenltly, not from being hit by the spinning turbine blades but from lights left on overnight at the facility's mountaintop electrical substation.  Lighting can be a fatal attraction for birds at night, advocates say, leading them to fly into the illuminated structure or to circle it in confusion until they drop from exhaustion.

Conservationists threatened last year to sue to stop the Roth Rock project over concerns its turbines would kill rare Indiana and Virginia big-eared bats.  The company denied its turbines posed a threat to bats, and no legal action was taken. Conservationists did sue Constellation over the impac ton bats of its turbines; federal court records indicate that case is on hold for now as the parties discuss a settlement.

(Roth Rock turbines, photo courtesy Frank Maisano)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

State biologists have found "concentrated pockets" of dead oysters in the upper Chesapeake Bay, which they attribute to record-high flows of fresh water into the estuary this year. But according to the Department of Natural Resources, the die-off appears so far to be limited to two areas north of the Bay Bridge, which together account for just 2 percent of Maryland's overall oyster harvest.

Watermen have reported finding relatively few live oysters north of the Bay Bridge since the harvest season began Oct. 1, less than a month after Tropical Storm Lee flooded the upper bay with fresh water and sediment.

DNR reported preliminary findings today from the upper bay of its annual fall survey of oyster bars, which show 79 percent mortality on four bars north of Rock Hall and 74 percent mortality on six bars between the Patapsco and Magothy rivers.  Mike Naylor, DNR's chief of shellfish programs, said that from the barnacles and other fouling organisms found inside their gaping shells, it appeared many of the dead oysters had died before the storm, probably as a result of the record high fresh-water flows from March to May.  For more, read my story in The Baltimore Sun here.

(2008 Baltimore Sun photo by Doug Kapustin)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

As pressure mounts on local governments to tackle polluted storm-water washing off their streets and parking lots, politicians are grappling with how to pay for it.

Anne Arundel County Council member Chris Trumbauer - whose day job is as the Riverkeeper for the West and Rhode rivers - has decided to make another run at financing the needed pollution controls through a fee levied on all property owners.

Trumbauer introduced a bill Monday night that would tack a $35 annual fee on every homeowner's property tax bill ($25 for condo and townhome owners) to pay for reducing storm-water runoff.  Nonresidential properties would be assessed a fee based on the amount of pavement and rootfops they have.

The fees would go into a dedicated fund that can only be spent on storm-water controls, and could not be raided or diverted, according to Trumbauer.  They'd be spent on retrofitting storm drains, replacing pavement with porous pavers and creating rain and roof gardens, among other things.

"This bill is a much-needed investment in Anne Arundel County,” Trumbauer said in a statement announcing the bill. “The money from this dedicated fund will go directly back into our communities, creating local jobs and cleaning up our waterways."  The bill, 79-11, is due for a public hearing Dec. 5.

Nearly one-third of the nitrogen pollution getting into the Chesapeake Bay from Anne Arundel County is estimated to come from urban and suburban storm-water runoff washing fertilizer, pet waste and other organic debris into local streams and coves. 

The County Council narrowly rejected a similar fee proposal four years ago, but Trumbauer points out that five of the seven council seats (including his) have turned over since then. The president of the council, Dick Ladd, who represents the Broadneck Peninsula, is a cosponsor of Trumbauer's bill. It also has the backing of the Annapolis and Arundel chamber of commerce.

The other thing that's changed is that Arundel and the rest of the state's localities are being pushed by the state to reduce storm-water runoff to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency's "pollution diet" for the Chesapeake Bay. County officials projected their "watershed implementation plan" - which would include fixing leaking septic systems and upgrading sewage plants, in addition to storm-water controls - could cost a whopping $2 billion.

Every locality is, or will be, wrestling with similar funding challenges. DelmarvaNow.com reports that Ocean City's town council heard a proposal to start charging a storm-water utility fee to raise $10 million the Atlantic beach resort is projected to need over the next decade to deal with its storm-water issues.

A task force appointed by Gov. Martin O'Malley to tackle septic and wastewater treatment issues is mulling recommending doubling or even tripling the "flush" fee now paid by every homeowner and business. The task force meets again this morning in Annapolis to weigh its recommendations for action in the next General Assembly session. Doubling the current $2.50 monthly fee is said to be needed to cover a shortfall in funds needed to upgrade the state's largest sewage treatment plants; tripling it to $90 a year has been proposed to help localities pay for storm-water controls. But even if that flies, it would only cover about half the estimated costs Arundel, Ocean City and the rest of the state's cities, towns and counties face.

(Baltimore Sun file photos)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

It appears the recent criminal fraud case brought against a Baltimore biodiesel business owner for allegedly peddling phony renewable fuel credits is not an isolated one.

Federal investigators raided another biodiesel firm in Lubbock, Texas, a couple weeks ago, the Avalanche-Journal reported.  In a story last week, the newspaper quoted from unsealed search-warrant affidavits that authorities contend the company, Absolute Fuel, sold $40 million worth of renewable fuel credits without producing the 36 million gallons of biodiesel they were supposed to represent. 

The owner has not been charged, but federal agents seized records and $4.5 million in cash and property, including a Gulfstream jet, luxury cars and jewelry, the paper reported.   Authorities identified another $5 million in real estate held by the business owner.

The Texas case echoes the wire fraud, money laundering and air pollution charges brought by the U.S attorney in Baltimore a month ago against Rodney R. Hailey, president of Clean Green Fuel.  Hailey, 33, of Perry Hall stands accused of generating "renewable identification numbers," as the fuel credits are known, for 21 million gallons of fuel his company never produced.  Hailey's firm made $9 million on the sale of RINs for nonexistent fuel, according to the charges, and spent much of it on a fleet of luxury cars and jewelry, plus a new home.

Agents seized the cars and froze Hailey's bank accounts, but a prosecutor said they'd only been able to account for about a third of the allegedly fraudulent proceeds. Authorites now are seeking to sell Hailey's home, the cars and other property.  He backed out at the last moment last month on a plea agreement and is now scheduled to be tried Dec. 19.

Shortly after that case broke, I reported in The Baltimore Sun that it appeared to be the beginning of a crackdown by federal officials on the lucrative - and until recently, loosely regulated - market in RINs.  Industry insiders said they'd grown increasingly concerned that lax federal oversight of trading in the credits encouraged scams.  An industry group even set up a link on its website for members to report suspicious activity.  It appears that the Texas firm came to authorties' attention through a tip from a suspicious broker. 

The Environmental Protection Agency did move last year to tighten its record-keeping and reporting requirements for the renewable credits. Some in the industry, however, still question whether the feds have done enough.

(Locked office of Clean Green Fuel and related business.  Baltimore Sun photo by Tim Wheeler)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

State biologists are investigating watermen's reports of a major die-off of oysters in the upper Chesapeake Bay that may have been caused by Tropical Storm Lee, a spokesman said today.

"They’re out there on the bars checking to see if the reports are true, and what’s the cause," said Josh Davidsburg with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. He said officials hoped to have information later this week.

The Annapolis Capital reported Sunday that watermen who've been working in the South River and other local Western Shore waters say their oyster tongs and dredges are coming up full of empty shells.

The early September storm dumped nearly 29 trillion gallons of rain on the mid-Atlantic region, by one estimate, flooding the upper Bay with fresh water and flushing an estimated 4 million tons of sediment into it from the Susquehanna River alone.   The dirt and debris turned the water a chocolate brown, and the surge of fresh water from rivers lowered salinity levels to near zero for weeks after the storm.   Oysters don't grow or reproduce well in water with low salinity, and can even die if trapped in fresh water for extended periods of time.

UPDATE:Davidsburg called back to say DNR biologists are in the midst of checking the upper bay as part of an annual survey of 400 oyster bars in state waters. While not willing to describe the extent or severity of the mortality yet, Davidsburg said, "Preliminary reports show that it's a salinity event."

Larry Simns, president of the Maryland Watermen's Association, said his members say 95 to 100 percent of the oysters are dead along the western Shore as far south as the Bay Bridge.   The Chester River, Eastern Bay and other areas along the Eastern Shore were not hit as badly.  Oysters can only survive about 10 days in fresh water, Simns said.

Oysters farther down the bay appear not to have been greatly affected, if at all.  At the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum Oyster Fest in St. Michaels on Saturday, Southern Maryland oyster grower Jon Farrington of Johnny Oyster Seed Co.  told me that salinity levels had dropped alarmingly in the lower Patuxent River after Hurricane Irene in late August, which produced locally intense rainfall.  But the freshet did not last, and his oysters survived, he said.  I noticed that many of the oysters served on the half-shell at the fest came from the Choptank Oyster Co., which raises them in floats near Cambridge. (CORRECTION: Those were being served at one tent - museum spokeswoman Tracey Munson reports the bulk of the oysters served at the fest were wild-caught by members of the Talbot County Watermen's Association. Apologies to them.)

A Deal Island waterman who works Tangier Sound told me there appeared to be a good supply of oysters there, but he was worried about added fishing pressure on them because watermen from up the bay are coming down to harvest there.

(Oysters in tongs; 2008 Baltimore Sun photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Chesapeake Bay, News
        

After years of back and forth, Maryland regulators have finally turned thumbs down on a highway in Charles County that environmentalists feared would devastate Mattowman Creek, one of the Chesapeake Bay's most productive nurseries for migratory fish.

The state Department of the Environment notified Charles officials by letter on Tuesday that it had decided to deny a wetlands permit to build the Cross County Connector, a four-lane highway that county officials have long sought to improve east-west traffic. The project as proposed called for filling in more than seven acres of fresh-water wetlands, disturbing more than 2,000 feet of stream and clearing nearly 74 acres of forest. 

Environmentalists argued that the Mattawoman, which flows into the Potomac River, was too valuable ecologically and already suffering degradation from development occurring in its watershed.  Two years ago, American Rivers named Mattawoman its fourth most endangered US waterway because of the threats it feared from the highway and the development it would encourage in areas of the creek watershed now relatively untouched.

Their concerns were echoed by state and federal environmental agencies,  Last year the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service weighed in urging regulators to deny the permit and require more study of alternative routes or ways to reduce the highway's impact.  Extremely popular with anglers, the creek is a prime spawning area for shad, blueback herring and striped bass.

The county originally sought state approval in 2004, but MDE repeatedly extended its review of the project and kept requesting more information of the county.  The issue apparently came to a head recently, when the Charles commissioners voted last month not to spend any more money on the project, including on studies of its potential environmental impact.  The MDE letter details four areas where state regulators contend the county never provided requested information or studies.

In addition, state planning Secretary Richard E. Hall wrote Candice Quinn Kelly, the president of the Charles board of commissioners, to say the road project did not square with the state's Smart Growth policies because it would have facilitated development in areas not designated for growth. He pointed out that 215 homes had already been built on nearly 1,300 acres of land outside growth zones.

Environmentalists welcomed the denial, with the Sierra Club's Bonnie Bick calling it a "victory for Smart Growth." In a press release, Terry Cummings of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation said: "If we are going to save the Bay, we must save her rivers and streams." 

Jim Long, head of the Mattawoman Watershed Society, said local activists hoped the county would finally drop the highway from its growth plan.  The county is in the process of rewriting its comprehensive plan, and the highway is still in one of the final growth scenarios under consideration.

Kelly, head of the five-member board of commissioners, said the state's denial was not unexpected.  Newly elected last year, she said the project has been languishing for years, and she faulted the previous board of commissioners for not funding the studies state regulators had requested on the highway's impact. Meanwhile, she said, the highway has pushed other needs in the county to the rear, including demand for a senior center, better storm water management and more affordable housing.

She said the commissioners would consult the county attorney Tuesday and talk about how to respond to the state denial.  The county has 30 days to appeal, or it could file a brand new application for the needed permit, though under state rules it would have to wait six months to do so.

Better transportation is still a crying need in Charles, Kelly said, with 62 percent of its workers commuting out of the county to jobs elsewhere.  She said she's personally intersted in pursuing construction of light rail to serve Charles and neighboring Prince George's, but to have any hope of getting needed funding from state and federal governments Charles would need to present itself as a model of Smart Growth.  She said she hopes to work with state planners and other officials to explore that. 

"In many respects, they've done us a favor," she said of state regulators.  "They've given us an opportunity to reevaluate."

(Mattawoman Creek.  2008 aerial photograph courtesy David Bick)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

Marylanders will be taking part in a variety of green activities this weekend. 

TIDY UP: Volunteers will be helping to spruce up the city, as the 9th annual James W. Rouse Community Service Day, organized by the Parks & People Foundation, has been rescheduled to Saturday, Nov. 5, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Work will be done on a pair of projects - beautifying Dr. Rayner W. Browne Elementary School in East Baltimore, or tidying up some parks, a community garden and a vacant lot along Lombard Street in West Baltimore.  Breakfast, lunch and a T-shirt will be provided.  For more information, and to sign up, go here.

GREEN UP: Those looking to dig into going green at home can stop by Cylburn Arboretum, where they've extended their sale of spring-flowering bulbs for planting this fall.  They have a special "deer proof" collection, plus lilies, crocuses, alliums, muscari and daffodils. That's from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 5. at the Vollmer Center.  For directions, go here.

SPEAK UP: There's a big protest planned at 2 p.m. in Washington on Sunday, Nov. 6 at the White House. Environmentalists are hoping to persuade President Obama to deny US permits for a pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico to facilitate the export of oil from tar sands deposits in Alberta.  They contend the extraction is environmentally destructive and would prolong dependence on climate-warming fossil fuels. 

Maryland-based Chesaspeake Climate Action Network is helping to organize the rally, and Del. Heather Mizeur, a Montgomery County Democrat, is among the scheduled speakers.  For more info, go here.

CLEAN UP: Sunday also is household hazardous-waste collection day in Baltimore County.  From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., county residents can bring everything from paint thinner and gasoline to old pool chemicals to unused prescription medicine and fluorescent bulbs to the Western Acceptance Facility at 3310 Transway Road in Halethorpe. No trash will be accepted that day.  For more information about this and other drop-off centers, go here. 

(Autumn scene, 2010 Baltimore Sun photo by Kim Hairston)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The decision by St. Mary's College in southern Maryland to house some of its students on a docked cruise ship has prompted the state to close that area of the St. Mary's River to shellfish harvesting.

The move announced today puts off limits a portion of an oyster bar on the bottom of the river that is commercially harvested by local watermen. The Maryland Department of the Environment's release notes that a larger portion of the Seminary bar is already closed to harvesting because it's been declared an oyster sanctuary.

The college moved 250 students to a rented cruise ship, the Sea Voyager, while working to remove mold from their dormitories.  School officials have told state regulators they plan to collect wastewater in a holding tank onboard the rented 268-foot ship and periodically pump it to a wastewater treatment plant.  But MDE said it's closing nearby waters to shellfish harvesting because of the potential health risk from any spill or accidental discharge from the vessel.

The closure took effect Tuesday and will remain in effect until the cruise ship departs, according to MDE.

(Sea Voyager docked in St. Mary's River.  Washington Post photo)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Chesapeake Bay, News
        

Republican (Correction: and Democratic) lawmakers in Washington questioned federally ordered Chesapeake Bay pollution reductions on Thursday, even as scientists in Maryland were reporting signs the long-running cleanup effort has been making progress after all.

The House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Energy and Forestry grilled an Environmental Protection Agency official, complaining about the costs of meeting the agency's bay restoration targets and questioning the accuracy of its computer model for setting them.

"We are in the midst of a process that could cost individual states like Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania more than 10 billion dollars per state," Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., said, according to a report in Agri-Pulse. "What's most problematic is that no one can say with certainty whether the cost is worth the effort, as we still do not have a cost-benefit analysis of this process."

Shawn Garvin, EPA's mid-Atlantic regional administrator, told lawmakers the agency hope to have by 2013 an analysis of the costs and benefits of pollution reductions undertaken by the states to comply with the Total Maximum Daily Load, commonly called a "pollution diet," the agency has set for the bay.  And he said the agency is working to refine its computer model and plans a full reevaluation of cleanup targets and methods by 2017, midway to the 2025 deadline for having all restoration measures in place.

Meanwhile, scientists at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science said that after taking a new look at 60 years' worth of water monitoring data, they've found that the "dead zone" that forms each year in the bay has actually been shrinking in late summer since the late 1980s, tracking declines in nitrogen levels measured in the Susquehanna River, the bay's largest tributary.

As I reported today in The Baltimore Sun, the researchers said that they were encouraged by the finding. In an ecosystem as large (64,000 square miles) and complex as the bay is, it's been hard to find clear evidence whether it's getting better or worse amid weather-driven annual variations.  The scientists said their new analysis shows that pollution reductions made to date have improved water quality some, though still far from enough to declare the bay restored to health.

(Sandy Point State Park. 2009 Baltimore Sun photo by Jed Kirschbaum)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

Under assault from conservatives and the business community, the Environmental Protection Agency is showing its "flexibility" these days on a variety of regulatory fronts.  Could they  portend slower or delayed cleanups of polluted waters in Baltimore harbor and the Chesapeake Bay?

Case in point: EPA has been pressing for years to get cities to fix chronic sewer overflows that routinely foul rivers and streams with raw human waste whenever it rains.  Baltimore, one of the early targets of the federal crackdown, is still working through a 9-year-old consent decree requiring $1 billion worth of repairs to clogged and leaky sewer lines. The job is far from done, either in the city or in neighboring Baltimore County - remember the 100 million gallons of diluted but unreated sewage washed into the Patapsco River after Hurricane Irene?

The agency released new guidance last week at a U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington instructing regulators to show some "flexibility" in setting compliance schedules and allow for "innovative solutions" to pollution problems.

Cash-strapped local officials who've been pressing EPA for relief welcomed the move, including Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who is co-chair of the mayors group's water council.  In a statement issued by the mayors' group, Rawlings-Blake said: "While we share the goal of clean water, mayors must also safeguard the fiscal health of their cities. EPA is demonstrating that they are serious about moving forward in a true partnership with mayors across the country."

It's understandable Rawlings-Blake would be among those cheering EPA's new-found sensitivity to cities' fiscal straits.  In addition to the ongoing sewer overflow work, the city is waiting for a new storm-water permit that's likely to require major reductions in polluted runoff from streets and parkings.  And the city also faces marching orders in the next few years to curtail trash flowing into the harbor and to clean up sources of unsafe bacteria levels that make the harbor unsafe in places for human contact, including kayaking, rowing and swimming. 

The costs of fixing those problems could run to tens of millions of dollars, which the city plainly doesn't have.  Rawlings-Blake has been urged to raise revenue by imposing a storm-water fee on all property owners, but in the current anti-tax climate has yet to propose one.  Baltimore County also is under a similar order from EPA issued in 2005 to fix chronic overflows in its aging sewer lines as well.

Some have been open in their challenge of EPA.  The general manager of the District of Columbia's water authority, George Hawkins, recently complained to Congress about how the municipality has been required to make ever-more-costly upgrades to Blue Plains sewage treatment plant and its sewer infrastructure for progressively smaller reductions in pollution.

EPA's guidance says it's not lowering its regulatory standards, just planning to work with local officials on achieving "cost-effective solutions."  The memo particularly encourages "green infrastructure."  such as planting trees, creating roof gardens and laying down porous pavement to capture polluted rainfall runoff that would otherwise flush down storm drains into nearby streams.  Those are often less expensive than digging up and replacing leaky and overloaded sewer lines - the question is, are they really as effective, or just less costly?

Environmental groups, who've pressed EPA to get tough on sewage overflows and leaks, are muted in their reaction to the guidance - in part because they're waiting for details the agency has promised on how it plans to carry out this new approach.  "The key will be to see that the agency does so in a way that doesn't sacrifice environmental quality," Larry Levine, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, told Greenwire.

EPA's also trying to patch things up in Florida, where it's been under a sustained assault by farm, development and local government interests for its move to set strict numeric limits on nutrient pollution in the state's rivers, lakes and coastal waters.  The agency only acted after being sued by environmental groups for tolerating state inaction on algae blooms caused by excess nutrients, but Florida government and business officials have complained the federal limits are too rigid and costly.

The agency has been in talks with Florida officials to resolve the dispute for weeks, and yesterday the state announced it was moving ahead to set its own numeric nutrient limits, which it said would be stringent but more flexible than the federal approach.  The Miami Herald reports that EPA's regional administrator issued a statement endorsing the state's action, while reserving final judgment until it sees the details.  But environmentalists accused the Obama administration of caving to local pressure and threatened to go back to court.

None of this automatically leads to EPA relaxing its push to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, but it's under political and legal assault for its "pollution diet" here requiring sharp reductiosn in nutrient and sediment pollution.  Counties and municipalities are complaining about the costs, farm groups and their supporters are accusing the agency of using bad science and a flawed computer model.  So far, the biggest concession from EPA seems to have been to grant state and local governments a little more time to come up with plans for accomplishing their share of the cleanup.  But, to borrow an overused phrase from the pundits, this bears watching.

(Broken sewer pipes removed along lower Patapsco River after Hurricane Irene, Baltimore Sun photo by Kenneth K. Lam)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Maryland's effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent by the end of the decade shouldn't cost the state any jobs, and may actually trigger new "green" employment, a pair of new studies say.

The two reports by the University of Maryland Center for Integrative Environmental Research were commissioned by the state Department of the Environment, which is required under the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act to produce a draft plan by the end of this year for how to curb climate-altering carbon dioxide and other gases.

The legislature, in approving the law nearly three years ago, ordered the administration to show through independent studies that the effort wouldn't hurt the reliability of the state's electricity supply or hurt manufacturing.  Since then, the economy has tanked, Congress balked at adopting any climate-change legislation, and federal regulatory efforts to deal with greenhouse gases have slowed under fire from those who contend they'll hurt an already slumping economy.

The two UM reports conclude that in Maryland, at least, the effort to cut back climate-harming emissions would improve the availability of power, if anything, and that there would be no significant harm done to manufacturing or to the economy in general.

"We've tried really hard to find all kinds of ways in which, especially during this downturn in the economy, we could take a serious look at this and say, 'Where can it hurt us?'" said Matthias Ruth, director of the UM center.  "And we couldn't find it."

MDE is still working on its draft plan for reducing greenhouse gases, according to spokesman Jay Apperson.  A commission appointed by Gov. Martin O'Malley three years ago proposed a menu of 42 different actions the state could take to mitigate its impact on global climate change. 

UM researchers, in partnership with scholars from Towson University's Regional Economic Studies Institute and Johns Hopkins University, focused on three initiatives already under way - the legislated mandate to produce 20 percent of the state's power using sources other than fossil fuels; the Norheast's interstate compact to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and the state's incentives promoting energy efficiency in homes and businesses.

"We expect some jobs to be created," Ruth said, in "green" businesses like building weatherization and even in manufacturing of wind turbine components.  And while electricity costs are expected to go up at least a little at first as a result of regulations on coal-burning power plants and to suport wind and solar power, but the UM studies concluded those will not be significant drags on manufacturing, which has already been in a long-term decline.

Ruth said the climate effort "is just going to be a little blip in the overall trend" in manufacturing.

Whether that will satisfy climate skeptics or critics of government regulation remains to be seen.  Maryland lawmakers will have a chance to review and debate the draft plan next year.   New Jersey's Gov. Chris Christie recently pulled his state out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, saying he doubted its efficacy in dealing with a global climate change.  Maryland's O'Malley publicly differed with him over that, arguing that state action is called for, even in the absence of clear federal initiative.

"On the contrary, if you want to be bold," said Ruth, "this is the time to get ahead of the curve" even as some are holding back. The nation and the world ultimately are going to have to shift away from fossil fuels, for a variety of reasons, and nations and states that recognize that will come out ahead, he argued.

"We'll build an industry and an infrastructure that's more in tune with the world in which we'll live than the one we come out from," Ruth said.

Sen. Paul Pinsky, a Prince George's County Democrat who was chief sponsor of the law, said he wasn't surprised by the studies' findings.

"We can start to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and still grow the economy," he said, contrary to critics who've contended it will cost jobs.  He acknowledged that Maryland acting alone won't move the needle on climate change, but "at least we make a dent in it."  He said he still hopes a new Congress or other states will follow Maryland's lead.

To read the reports, go here.  To see the plan proposed by the state Climate Action Commission, go here.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 1:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

"Take two walks and call me in the morning."  Could that be a new mantra from physicans for whatever ails us?

On Saturday, Nov. 12, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., local pediatricians will be at Herring Run Park in Baltimore to promote nature and outdoor exercise as prescriptions for fending off chronic diseases like diabetes and obesity.  Among them will be Dr. Maria Brown, of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, whose nature-therapy effort was featured last year in the Baltimore Sun.

The event is sponsored by the Greater Baltimore Child and Nature Collaborative.  Free and open to the public, it will feature nature hikes, bicycling tours, a healthy cooking demonstration, wildlife expo and more. Those families or individuals who complete a prescribed set of activities are eligible for a free prize while supplies last.

(Dr. Maria Brown; 2010 Baltimore Sun photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

After prolonged and "drastic" declines, Atlantic river herring - which have been fished for centuries - are now being eyed for federal protection as endangered species.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admnistration announced today that it willl review the status of river herring - alewives and blueback herring - which have been classified as "species of concern" since 2006.  NOAA's move comes in response to a petition filed in August by the Natural Resources Defense Council calling for the government to determine whether they should be classified as endangered or threatened.

Alewives and blueback herring both roam coastal waters from Canada to North Carolina, while blueback herring range as far south as Florida.  The two fish are found in the Chesapeake Bay and swim up its rivers to spawn.  But whether from overfishing, dams blocking access to their upriver spawning grounds or some other cause, their numbers have slid downward over the past several decades.

River herring, as they're collectively known, have been fished for 350 years, mainly in inshore waters. But the fishery shifted offshore in the 1960s, as foreign fishing fleets went after them off the Mid-Atlantic coast. They're also a bycatch taken accidentally in fishing for other species, including menhaden (also in decline, about which I wrote earlier this week in The Baltimore Sun).

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which regulates inshore fishing, has been conducting a stock assessment of river herring for the past three years, looking at the condition of fish that spawn in more than 50 rivers along the coast.  NOAA has a year to determine whether river herring should be listed.

For more information, go here and here.

(Blueback herring in Broadway Branch, tributary of the Choptank River, 2001 Baltimore Sun photo by Jerry Jackson)

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

Film maker Josh Fox will be on hand this evening (11/1) at the Enoch Pratt Free Library downtown for a free screening of his controversial documentary "Gasland" chronicling problems with "fracking," the widely used drilling technique for extracting natural gas.

The film, which came out in 2010, was nominated for an Oscar and won an Emmy and several other awards. The oil and gas industry contends the movie contains errors and distortions, assertions which Fox rebuts.

It will air at 6 p.m. in the 3rd floor Wheeler (no relation) auditorium at the library, 400 Cathedral Street.  Afterwards, there'll be a discussion led by Fox.  The event is sponsored by Baltimore Green Works.  For more information, go here.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)