Legislative support is needed to continue progress with cleaning up the Bay through the Maryland’s plan to meet new pollution limits (also called the Bay Total Maxiumum Daily Load, or TMDL).  “Maryland has crafted a good plan to sustain our momentum.  Now lawmakers must do the right thing to ensure the plan goes into action,” said Kim Coble, Vice President for Policy and Restoration of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. 

Chesapeake Bay Foundation President Will Baker is scheduled to speak at the event in the Miller Senate Building in Annapolis; as is Senate President Mike Miller; Senators Brian Frosh and Joan Carter Conway; House Environmental Matters Committee Chair Maggie McIntosh; Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin; and representatives of the South River Federation; the West/Rhode Riverkeeper; the Sierra Club; the Anacostia Watershed Society; and the Ancostia Watershed Society.

Afterwards, advocates will continue the conservation at a Green Drinks event at 6:30 p.m. at the Loews Annapolis Hotel at 128 West Street in Annapolis.  Everyone is welcome!

For details and an agenda for the meeting, click here or here.   

By Tom Pelton

Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Last winter, police found more than five miles of illegal nets filled with more than 12 tons of striped bass.

“It matters because the striped bass are a protected resource,” said Corporal Roy Rafter, as he stood in the patrol boat, near a screen with electronic images of the Bay’s bottom.  “Striped bass are a migratory fish, and this happens to be their spawning ground.  We have an obligation to make sure that this fish gets safely through this area and into other areas.”

The poaching incidents last January and February sparked heightened vigilance among Maryland officials, who purchased new side-scan sonar systems for police boats to detect illegal nets.  The Maryland General Assembly passed laws last year that increase penalties for poaching to $25,000; allow the state to revoke commercial fishing licenses more easily; and allow officers to search the cabins and compartments of fishing boats without probable cause. New regulations require commercial fishermen to put their license numbers on all nets.

Police are now using these powers for the first time.

The patrol boat pulls up to a fishing boat called the Shellfish 2. Officers leap aboard to conduct a surprise inspection.

The officers check the nets folded in wooden boxes, finding that each is properly numbered.  Waterman Leo James, 67, said he does not mind having his nets checked, because poachers steal from not only the Bay, but also from honest watermen.

“It don’t bother me.  I ain’t doing nothing wrong,” James said.  “This just stops people from doing things illegal, that’s all.”

Sgt. Art Windemuth said police are using cameras, radar, and other electric devices to make sure watermen don’t dredge for oysters in protected areas.  In 2009, Maryland more than doubled the size of its oyster sanctuaries, to more than 9,000 acres.  But these expanded sanctuaries need to be protected, because in the past, at least 75 percent of oyster sanctuaries in Maryland have been victimized by poaching, according to one estimate by University of Maryland researcher.

“We don’t want to infringe on anyone’s rights,” Sgt. Windemuth said. “But when we have a public resource, a public treasure if you will, we take that responsibility very seriously.  And we must protect it for future generations.”

Larry Simns, president of the Maryland Watermen’s Association, said that he has no objections to the state’s use of the electronic equipment  to deter poaching.  “The fishermen were stealing from the other fishermen," Simns said. “If it will help the problem, we don’t have any problem with it.

Simns added, however, that the new laws passed by the General Assembly last spring make it clear that watermen working the Bay have zero privacy.

Natural Resource police say their use of the new laws and technology are ways of getting creative to protect 17,000 miles of waterways with a police force that has been trimmed by almost half over the last decade because of budget cuts.

Vigorous enforcement sends a message that limits need to be respected by everyone on the Bay, so that wildlife remains healthy and sustainable, and so that overzealous fishermen don’t fish themselves into extinction.

By Tom Pelton

Chesapeake Bay Foundation

In Virginia alone, hundreds of clean-water advocates are rolling up their sleeves and volunteering to help clean up local waterways themselves instead of waiting for local, state, or federal officials to decide what to do. It’s almost as if these “can do” citizens are weary of “can’t do” politicians who say the time isn't right to clean up the Bay.

More than 100 volunteers, for example, turned out last weekend to pick up litter and debris swept by stormwater runoff into Richmond’s Bryan Park, a city green space where three urban streams converge to form Upham Brook, a tributary of the Chickahominy River and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay.

Luke Garcia, a sixth-grader at Seven Hills School in Richmond, and his dad, Felix, were among the volunteers who filled scores of bags with trash, plastic bottles, cups, cigarette butts, and other urban flotsam and jetsam. Here’s how Luke described the experience in a school report:

“There are 3 streams that connect…in Bryan Park. I hit the jackpot (a lot of debris) when I was following someone. It was huge, I mean huge. You think you saw a lot of debris in one place (but) this was as big as 1/5th or 1/6th of this room. I have never seen this much debris in one place; everywhere I looked I saw more debris. Even though we thought we cleaned all of it we didn’t; that was how bad it was. It probably took us about 3 hours to clean all this.”

The stream cleanup was a partnership effort by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), the Friends of Bryan Park, and REI Inc. and is part of a larger Upham Brook restoration project that will involve community residents in other cleanups, streambank restorations, tree plantings, and education activities in the coming months. It’s just the kind of whole-community project that can serve as a model for citizen involvement across the Bay watershed.

Another example of a community seizing the initiative for clean water: Given the opportunity to learn more about local Bay restoration plans, more than 70 citizens packed a conference room in downtown Norfolk recently for an early-morning breakfast symposium to discuss ways they can ensure their local waters are cleaned up.

The diverse crowd heard presentations by local experts, asked questions, and left armed with ways they can become directly involved in the clean water decisions being made in their Hampton Roads localities. Many pledged to involve their friends and neighbors and further engage the community.

And hundreds of miles from Hampton Roads in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, 70 volunteers of all ages came out on recent Saturday morning to help plant 1,200 trees on a neighbor’s farm. The objective: provide some old-fashioned stoop-labor to help a local farmer in his efforts to reduce runoff and protect water quality in a local creek, one of the Chesapeake Bay’s headwater streams. See a video of the project here.

These citizen actions send a very different message than one heard from some local, state, and federal politicians about Chesapeake Bay restoration. While most of these officials proclaim they’re for a clean Bay, some are calling to halt or delay further cleanup efforts because Bay restoration (pick one) costs too much, shouldn’t be done in a weak economy, is based on bad science, will kill jobs, or is unconstitutional.

While perhaps not surprising, this pushback is lamentable, given that Virginia and the Bay region have been saying for three decades the Bay must be cleaned up, the Clean Water Act and state law require it, voters consistently demand it, and -- political rhetoric notwithstanding -- Bay cleanup (and environmental restoration generally) boosts jobs and the economy, especially in recessionary times like these.

As in other arenas of life, it seems citizens are out in front of many politicians when it comes to environmental protection. It’s encouraging that so many residents are not waiting for our leaders to act (or not act) but in true American fashion are taking responsibility for their own communities and futures.

Are you tired of waiting? Click here to learn ways you can take the initiative for clean water.

Chuck Epes
Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Photo credits (top to bottom): Mandy Yarnell/CBF; Felix Garcia; Mandy Yarnell/CBF; Andrea Moran/CBF.

Building these stormwater control projects to meet Bay pollution limits is expected to create 178,000 construction jobs, according to a new Chesapeake Bay Foundation report.  But still, for these construction workers to start working, polluters (that means me and you) need to pay our fair share for cleaning up our waste.
 
Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, to his credit, unveiled a proposed budget yesterday that would double the Bay Restoration Fund.  (Residents on septic systems would see their monthly "flush fee" double from $2.50 to $5, according to The Baltimore Sun. Customers on metered water systems would pay a rate based on usage — meaning some would see their fee double and others could actually pay less.)

This is a good start, because this increase is absolutely needed for clean water.  But even one of Governor O’Malley’s own advisory comittees, the “Task Force on Sustainable Growth and Wastewater Disposal” last year advised that a tripling of the “flush fee” would be necessary.
 
And, truth be told, even a tripling might not be enough.  A coalition of environmental groups in the Clean Water, Healthy Families Coalition (including the Chesapeake Bay Foundation) is urging the governor and Maryland General Assembly to be even more realistic still about the investments that will be necessary to clean up the Bay and restore the region’s Bay-related economy. 
 
“We urge lawmakers and the Administration to put in place additional funding for runoff treatment, either through a larger increase in the flush fee, or the establishment of a required stormwater utility fee,” said the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's new Maryland Executive Director, Alison Prost.
 
“We have made progress,” Prost said.  “But closed swimming beaches, dead zones, and other signs indicate the Chesapeake Bay still is a system dangerously out of balance.”

Even if the "flush fee" were quadrupled, we'd still only be talking about an additonal $7.50 per month per household to finish the job of cleaning up the Bay. Think of it as investing the money you might have spent on one sandwhich and Coke at Subway on creating jobs for local construction workers, so they can keep sewage and filth off of you or your child when you swim. That's not too much.

By Tom Pelton

Chesapeake Bay Foundation

(Photo: NASA)
 

 
 

 “Endangered species soup,” was how one conservationist described it.

The report, by a nonprofit organization called Shark Savers, describes what makes rays -– in the Pacific Ocean or here in the Chesapeake Bay -- so vulnerable to overharvesting:  This primitive shark-like creatures with their kite-shaped bodies reproduce very slowly, with each female only giving birth to a few pups.   Killing manta rays (and their cousins, mobula rays) for their gills is a double tragedy, because there is no evidence that their soup actually has any medicinal value, and because rays are more valuable left in the wild. They are not only ecologically valuable, but also economically valuable, because their beauty is attractive to divers, and helps boost the diving and ecotourism industries, according to the Shark Savers report.

Here in the Chesapeake Bay, our dominant ray species -– the cownose ray, also called the “Chesapeake Stingray” -– is not endangered.  Indeed, cownose rays are so populous that some oyster farmers and others have been trying to encourage a local market for fishermen to catch them, because cownose rays eat oysters and can disrupt oyster restoration projects.  “Eat a ray, save the Bay,” say some advocates of reducing cownose ray populations.

But aggressive targeting of cownose rays could quickly decimate local ray populations, just as the market for manta ray gills for “endangered species soup” has killed off rays in the Pacific. 

Caution and careful scientific study are needed before any widespread harvesting of cownose rays begins.

To learn more about the “Chesapeake stingrays,” read this article on the subject on page 15 of CBF's “Save the Bay” magazine.

By Tom Pelton

Chesapeake Bay Foundation

(Photo at top of manta rays by Mary O'Malley/Shark Savers) 

It features a Shenandoah Valley (Virginia) farmer with a problem creek running through his farm, a couple of Chesapeake Bay Foundation conservation experts, and scores of community volunteers pitching in to make a difference.

Like every story, of course, this one is more complex and involves many more players than this video snippet can show, but the basic message is simple: farmers, conservationists, government, and citizens can work together to improve their communities.

(I believe most Americans are weary of divisive politics and partisan bickering and are ready to roll up their sleeves and tackle the nation’s problems, even tough ones like widespread water pollution. Most “get it” that we all have a responsibility and a role to play. Indeed, most are earnestly seeking positive ways to contribute; witness the 70 volunteers in this video who came out on a Saturday morning to help plant trees on a neighbor’s farm.)

Another big benefit of clean water projects like the one featured in the video: jobs and the economy. Numerous studies and historical experience demonstrate that dollars invested in farm conservation and other environmental cleanup projects create new jobs and generate more business as they ripple through local economies. This is one of those deals where both the means and the ends are good.

Working together, we can clean up our streams, rivers, and the Bay AND have a robust economy. Don’t let divisive rhetoric and those politicians and special interests with other agendas persuade you otherwise. 

Chuck Epes
Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Do you enjoy working with others to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay? Do you have a few hours to spare? Become a CBF volunteer.

On Wednesday, both the Virginia and Maryland General Assemblies opened session for 2012.  In Maryland, the top priorities for the Clean Water Healthy Families Coalition include funding for sewage plant upgrades and stormwater system improvements.  In addition, limiting pollution from septic systems is critical.  All these steps will help Maryland meet the new Chesapeake pollution limits, also known as the TMDL.  To learn more, click here.

To read about key issues in Virginia, click here. 

In other Bay news…  

• Due to harvest restrictions put in place in 2008, female crabs outnumber male crabs 3 to 1 in the Chesapeake population.  The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center will be conducting research to see what, if any, are the effects from this new gender distribution. 
• The Army Corps of Engineers revealed its plan to restore the Lynnhaven River in Virginia Beach, VA.  The $28.5 million effort includes artificial oyster reefs, wetland construction, and underwater grass replanting.
• Even though the Chesapeake is highly studied by many scientists, there are still some mysteries that remain.  With a new $500,000 grant from NOAA, researchers in Maryland will be able to pursue these questions further while maintaining their comprehensive Bay-wide monitoring to track the Bay’s health. 
• An oyster aquaculture training program in Shadyside, MD is helping local watermen transition from a wild catch oyster fishery to a farming operation. 
• In Pennsylvania, the Annual Farm Show is underway.  David Wise from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation will have a display detailing how farmers can reduce pollution into rivers and streams by planting forested buffers. 

Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities for the Bay

January 13

• Join the Chesapeake Bay Foundation for a Clean Water Breakfast at Dominion Enterprises in Norfolk, VA.  In addition to a light morning meal, participants will have the chance to ask questions about the new Bay clean-up plans, otherwise known as the TMDL.  Free and open to the public!

January 14

• Attend the 13^th Annual Future Harvest Conference in Landsdowne, VA.  Join fellow farm enthusiasts for a frank discussion on making local food economies a reality. 

January 15

• Join CBF and REI for a Martin Luther King Service Project on Jordan’s Run in Bryan Park in Richmond, VA.  Volunteers will collect trash brought to the stream by stormwater.  Trash bags and gloves will be provided, as well as lunch. 

January 17

• Come learn about the Severn River Association’s new program to mitigate stormwater in the Severn’s watershed.  There will be a meeting at 7 pm at Arlington Echo in Millersville, MD (975 Indian Landing Rd) to discuss this new watershed audit.  Please contact Duane Wilding (president@servernriver.org) to reserve a spot. 

—Adam Wickline

 Photo by CBF Staff

If you have an upcoming Bay-related restoration event and you need volunteers, please let us know: awickline@cbf.org. Do you enjoy working with fellow Bay Lovers to help save the Chesapeake? Become a CBF Volunteer to receive notifications about upcoming volunteer opportunities.  

The question of whether Maryland’s utilities should help subsidize the construction of a billion-dollar-plus offshore wind farm will be one of the subjects debated in the General Assembly session that starts today in Annapolis.

Although public support for offshore wind appears strong, the economics of this kind of development  -– which would be the first offshore wind farm in America –- is fragile, in part because of competition from natural gas.

More than 3,000 gas wells have been drilled over the last five years in the Marcellus Shale formation in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

The economic waves from this second source of energy could sink potentially Maryland’s offshore wind farm before it is even built, according to Matt DaPrato, an analyst with IHS Emerging Energy Research.  DaPrato said the flood of increasingly cheap natural gas from the Marcellus has driven down the price of electricity over the last three years.

These lower prices and the scheduled expiration of federal tax incentives for wind are making it harder for proposed wind farms to secure financial backing, because wind is increasingly expensive by comparison to natural gas, DaPrato said.

“Alternative energy, like offshore wind right now in particular, is a little bit at a price premium,” DaPrato said.  “And when the cost of electricity goes down, fuelled by the decline in cost of natural gas, what you see is that premium gap widen. And especially in these hard economic times, it can be a little bit harder for rate payers and tax payers to handle.”

Malcolm Woolfe, Director of the Maryland Energy Administration, said Governor Martin O’Malley intends to keep pushing for offshore wind, even if it costs consumers a dollar or two more per month than fossil fuels.

  “This is a long-term vision for how do we make Maryland a more competitive, prosperous place,” Woolfe said. ”And having a greater fuel diversity, greater fuel security, a cleaner future, not only helps the environment, but it helps Maryland’s long-term economy.”

Wind advocates want lawmakers to essentially require power companies to help pay to build wind turbines because a 2004 state law requires the utilities to buy 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2022.

Maryland State Senator Paul Pinsky, co-chairman of the senate environmental matters subcommittee, said it would be a tragedy if Maryland’s offshore wind proposal was torpedoed by hydraulic

fracturing for gas in the Marcellus shale.  EPA is investigating possible links between drilling and drinking water contamination.

“If we just rely on fracking and the Marcellus shale, we do two things: We might harm the drinking water of Maryland residents, as well as undercut the ability to start to shift to clean energy,” Pinsky said.

Katherine Klaber, president of a gas industry group called the Marcellus Shale Coalition, argued that electricity customers and businesses benefit more from drilling than from more expensive wind farms.

“ For us as Americans to be pitting one industry against another, or one energy source against another, is not going to make us stronger,” Klaber said.

Over the long term, the cheapness of natural gas may be temporary and superficial, experts warn.   The price of gas does not take into account the costs of water or air pollution or global warming; or the cost of ripping up rural roads and landscape for drilling.

There is also a cost of inaction.  All fossil fuels –- including natural gas -– will eventually run out.  This limit is as sure as the winds blowing over the Atlantic Ocean.  If our economy does not  transition to renewable energy -– wind, solar, or something else -– it will be lights out for everyone, sooner or later.

By Tom Pelton

Chesapeake Bay Foundation

I bring these up as debate heats up in the news media over the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s new report, “Debunking the Job Killer Myth: How Pollution Limits Encourage Jobs in the Chesapeake Bay Region.”

In response to the report, Don Parrish, senior director of government relations at the American Farm Bureau Federation, said: "If regulations created jobs, then the Obama administration would have created an economic tidal wave and we'd have full employment right now. Any time you force people to spend money, the impact new regulations have is going to have a dramatically negative impact on the economy."

Fact One: Despite claims that the Obama Administration has unleashed a “tidal wave” of new regulations, Obama has not introduced an unusual number of new regulations, according to an analysis by Bloomberg News.

In reality, Obama’s White House approved 613 federal rules during the first 33 months of his term, about 5 percent fewer than the 643 cleared by President George W. Bush’s administration in the same time frame, according to an Office of Management and Budget statistical database reviewed by Bloomberg.

The record number of new regulations came under Bush’s father, in the early 1990s, according to Bloomberg.

Fact Two: History and peer-reviewed economic research clearly show that environmental regulations do not harm the economy, and during economic downturns, they can actually create jobs, according to a study performed by Dr. Eban Goodstein, an economist and Director of the Center for Environmental Policy at Bard College.

Even the second Bush administration found this to be true about allegedly “job killing” federal Clean Air Act amendments signed in 1990 by the first President Bush. At the time, anti-government activists claimed the clean air rules would mean a “quiet death for businesses across the country.”

This turned out to be crying wolf over environmental rules designed to improve the public health -– as has happened repeatedly over the last 40 years, and is happening again now over the new Chesapeake Bay pollution limits.

In reality, the Clean Air Act amendments did not shut down hospitals or shopping malls or cause economic ruin. In fact, the regulations produced a benefit-to-cost ratio of more than 40 to 1, including over $70 billion in human health benefits annually and a significant reduction in acid-rain pollution, according to EPA.

If you want to learn more facts about environmental regulations and jobs, read CBF’s report here.

By Tom Pelton

Chesapeake Bay Foundation