Bay & Environment

Mr. Lewis and his island

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:49:11 -0500

Edwin Lewis, the millionaire who built hunting cabins on an Eastern Shore Island that were later declared to be illegal, STILL has not torn them down.

Here, the Salisbury times gives the details. Apparently, he was willing to tear them down, but ONLY if he could build a house there instead.

This was a landmark Critical Area violation case -- one of the biggest ones in history, before the Little Island lighthouse/gazebo/house situation.

Summer evening kayaking

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:24:48 -0500

Now here's a public service: free kayaking!

The West/Rhode Riverkeeper is sponsoring evenings of free kayaking every week between Aug. 7 and late September.

They provide the kayak, the lifejacket, even the band.

Besides being a great way to spend a summer evening, this really is also a great public benefit. If you don't have a kayak, how can you experience the water? There isn't always opportunity to rent one, especially if you have no roof rack. And even if you could find a kayak to rent, you need public access to put it in -- hard to come by when like, 98 percent of the shoreline is privately owned.

For more info, call Amy at the West/Rhode RIVERKEEPER, Inc. in Shady Side, (410) 533-9002.

Is there a crab problem?

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:22:14 -0500

This is the question Newport News reporter Patrick Lynch asks in a nice column for his paper, which you can read here.

Lynch went crabbing, or at least interviewed crabbers, in the Old Dominion state, who report they are having one of their best years yet. This was the case last year as well, at least in the Upper Bay and in parts of the lower Western Shore; crabbers were baffled by the DNR restrictions because they were actually catching more crabs than they had in previous years.

Great as the threat to crabbers seems to be from the most recent restrctions -- all aimed at getting a 34 percent reduction in harvest -- I think there is a greater threat. And that is market forces.

I went crabbing last week with Tommy Powley, a grandfatherly waterman who works out of Hoopers Island and crabs on the Western Shore. We were out from 4:30 a.m. until about 2. He caught 30 bushels of crabs in that time. And while I took a nap and chit-chatted with Powley and his crew, those three guys did not stop working for even a minute. They hoisted pots, pulled out crabs, re-baited the pots, threw them back, and culled out all the crabs that were too big and too small to keep.

Now, 30 bushels isn't a bad haul for a day's work, and Powley said that, the week before, he could have caught even more, but a mid-July size limit on males meant he had to throw back a lot of number ones.

But the problem is this: he was only getting $65 a bushel for the males, and $25 for females.

When you factor in what he has to pay two helpers, his bait, his fuel, he is making barely any money.

But someone IS making money. The question is, who?

When was the last time you bought a bushel of crabs for anything close to $65 a bushel?

A co-worker of mine said he had a crab feast last weekend and bought two dozen steamed jimmies for about $70 bucks. There are a lot mroe than 24 crabs in a bushel.

Fuel costs are a factor here. So are packing costs. Even Old Bay is probably more expensive than it was a year ago.

But still, how do we account for this huge discrepancy? How can prices in the city be more than twice what they are at the dock?

These are truly unfortunate times, when we are all strapped. Hey, I've even started bringing my lunch to work. Every little bit helps.

So, what's a middle-class person going to skimp on? Crabs. Charter boat fishing trips. Anything they can.

We might, collectively, be more inclined to buy crabs if the price dropped a bit. So, why isn't it happening?

Au revoir, Tom!

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 10:53:51 -0500

Sadly, one of the newsfolk taking the buyouts here at The Sun is none other than Tom Pelton, my deskmate and the paper's environmental beat reporter the past four years. He cleaned out his desk on Wednesday, one of the first of about 55 members of the news staff who are leaving through buyouts and layoffs to meet cost-cutting targets set by our corporate parent, Tribune Co.

Tom will be missed, especially on Bay & Environment, where he was a prolific poster. He broke a lot of good stories here at The Sun, and placed 2nd & 3rd, nationally, in successive years for the beat reporting award given by the Society of Environmental Journalists.

We'll still get to benefit from his reporting and insights, though, it seems. Tom said last week he's not at liberty yet to reveal his new job, but he plans to continue nature writing, as well as his environmental broadcast segments on WYPR.

Thanks, Tom, and good luck!

Nox facts

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:34:56 -0500

EPA has finally released its report on Nitrogen oxide.

Clever help for transit riders

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:30:30 -0500

As high gas prices drive more commuters to try public transit, riders are discovering (or rediscovering) the joys of waiting on the platform as the minutes tick by, wondering what's keeping their train.

Now, the digitally connected in the Baltimore-Washington corridor have a new way to keep track of whether their train is on track. It's called Clever Commute, an independent, "crowdsourced" (aka grassroots) network in which transit riders provide each other real-time alerts of delays and cancellations via e-mails and text-messaging.

Begun two years ago among a handful of New Jersey commuters, Clever Commute has grown to include thousands of transit riders in the New York area and has spread to Boston and Portland, Oregon - among the most transit-oriented cities in the country. The network is branching out now to Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and recently dipped its toe into the Baltimore-Washington area.

It's the brainchild of Josh Crandall, a 43-year-old IT specialist from Montclair, NJ, who says he got the idea one day while wondering where his train was. He initially enlisted a half-dozen buddies who regularly rode the same line. Since then, he said, it's grown like topsy.

"There was a spider-web effect. It just kind of fanned out," he said, to include more and more riders, jumping to other lines and then other communities.

Growing it may be, but Crandall still has his day job. Clever Commute is a sidelight for now, free to subscribers - though he hopes to be able to find other ways of marketing the transit updates. He recently partnered with Baristanet.com, a pioneering New Jersey "placeblog" (i.e., a hyperlocal news Web site) to provide real-time updates on its Web site of the New Jersey rail and bus lines serving the community. Perhaps it's a model for other electronic newspapers.

Today's "Train Alerts" on Baristanet.com carried no major disruptions, just a report of a lost wallet, according to Debbie Galant, the site's editor and co-owner (and, personal disclosure, a friend from college days).

"During regular days, if there's nothing big, it's kinda ho hum," Galant said. "But if there's a transit strike, or bad weather," she added, or a crisis, such as a crime or a natural or manmade disaster, that's when the service really shines. "Anything like that, you would have people instantly knowing about it."

Of course here, the Maryland Transit Administration Web site already reports any disruptions to MARC, commuter bus, light rail, subway, local bus and mobility services. MTA even offers email bulletins and updates, tailored to the servces you use and the dates you use them.

Crandall says he encourages commuters to subscribe to any update services provided by their transit agencies. But transit agencies are sometimes slow to report outages, or to give the real skinny for them. Clever Commute, he adds, provides an independent, "person-to-person" communication about what's happening on the trains and buses - and even on the way to them.

Clever Commute's Baltimore-Washington network is brand new, and awfully quiet so far. Are the Penn and Camden lines always on time?

Sustainable colleges

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:28:45 -0500

For those of us thinking about a new career, "college sustainability officer" might be just the ticket.

Across the country, schools are trying to figure out how to be more green. Students and their families are demanding it.

And these days, being green means more than having a receptacle for alumimum cans in the student union.

This report lays out the mulitple shades of green, then ranks a whole bunch of schools.

The only local one i noticed in a cursory glance was Johns Hokpins. It got a B-.

Peak Oil and Hunger

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:38:44 -0500

Diesel farming feeds the world. But what happens if the fuel becomes too expensive for the farmers?

Listen in to WYPR 88.1 FM public radio in Baltimore tomorrow morning (Wednesday, July 23) at 9:35 a.m. to hear my most recent "Environment in Focus" program. If you're not next to your radio, or you miss the segment, you can listen to a podcast on the WYPR web site.

Tomorrow's piece is about "peak oil" and world hunger. Back in the 1950's, Shell Oil's top petroleum geologist, M. King Hubbert, discovered that all oil production follows a bell curve, with a rising amount of new discovery of oil fields, a peak and then an inevitable decline. He correctly predicted years in advance that America's lower 48 states, then the world's largest producer of oil, would pass its peak production in 1970. And since then, 33 of the world's 48 largest producers of oil have also passed their peak, including perhaps Saudi Arabia. That means production will start slowly declining (some say the world passed its peak in 2005, others say 2015). Meanwhile, the world's population continues to grow -- and developing nations like China and India are buying more cars and trying to live American lifestyles.

The result of falling production and soaring demand will be continually soaring gasoline and diesel prices, according to researchers including Dr. Brian Schwartz and Dr. Cindy Parker of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Because so much of the world's food production is dependent on petroleum, this price acceleration could spark a collapse of our agricultural system -- and the starvation of millions of people, Schwartz and Parker warn. The professors say governments need to start planning for declining oil production as a possible public health and environmental crisis, just as they prepare for other worst-case scenarios like nuclear war and epidemics.

In the piece, I also interview a Maryland farmer about his operation's dependence on oil. We discuss how many manual laborers it would take to work his farm (hundreds) if he didn't have diesel-powered tractors and combines.

Hearing on wetlands destruction

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:47:44 -0500

Mattawoman Creek

People now have a chance to speak up about a highway project in Southern Maryland that could destroy one of the Chesapeake Bay's most important fish breeding grounds.

A public hearing has been scheduled to discuss whether federal and state officials should grant a permit to Charles County to allow it to destroy seven acres of wetlands around Mattawoman Creek to allow a highway.

The Charles County Cross County Connector would cross the stream -- one of the most fertile fish breeding grounds in the Chesapeake region -- and serve more than 8,000 homes planned in what is now a largely forested area.

The Army Corps of Engineers and Maryland Department of the Environment have scheduled the hearing for 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 31, in the Auditorium of the Charles County Government Building, 200 Baltimore Street in LaPlata.

I wrote a story in April about the road project's potentially devastating impact on the Mattawoman Creek's yellow perch and bass. Debate over the project has highlighted weaknesses in the state's sprawl control laws.

The Maryland "Smart Growth" laws, passed in 1997, allow local governments to have complete authority over where they want to designate growth areas -- even if the land targeted for development (as in this case) is largely rural and covered in trees and wetlands and fish breeding grounds and not next to an established city or town. In Charles County, the state has been buying up land all around the Mattawoman Creek in an effort to preserve its beauty and fertility as a fish-breeding grounds. But the county wants to accommodate suburban growth spreading southward from Washington. And this northern section of the county, nearest Washington, is where the developers want to build.

The Maryland Department of the Environment and Army Corps of Engineers will be considering whether to allow Charles County to destroy seven acres of wetlands to build the $60 million connector road. It's a major east-west highway that would replace 74 acres of forest with a strip of blacktop as it links proposed subdivisions in the Bryans Road area to the malls in Waldorf.

Before the state can approve the permit, the county must prove that runoff from the road won’t violate water quality standards in the Mattawoman Creek, which it would cross. The creek in the spring is filled with golden ribbons of yellow perch eggs and has been identified by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources as "the best, most productive tributary in the bay."

A preliminary report by the Army Corps in 2003 found that the road and the subdivisions that would spring up around it are likely to increase water pollution in the creek by 50 percent, creating a "severe" impact on fish habitat.

But Charles County officials have argued that the roadway won’t encourage the construction of more subdivisions, instead only serving new homes that would be built anyway. The county has targeted the whole northern section of the county around the creek as a development zone.

Written Comments can be sent to Ms. Judy Cole at the Maryland Department of the Environment jcole@mde.state.md.us. Or to Steven Harman at the Army Corps of Engineers at cross.county.connector@usace.army.mil.

Lynn Buhl, EPA

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:31:06 -0500

Remember Lynn Buhl?

She was the former Chrysler lawyer and one-time Michigan regulator who came to Maryland at the beginning of Robert L. Ehrlich Jr',s term, with hopes of becoming Secretary of the Environment.

The Democrat-controlled General Assembly had other ideas. In 2003, it blocked her nomination, the first time ever the legislature blocked a governor's choice.

But Buhl didn't go back to Michigan after the bruising defeat. Instead, she stuck around, and eventually Ehrlich made her the Number Two at the Department of Natural Resources.

There she quietly remained until about two years ago, when she resigned to pursue other projects in Washington.

Now we know where she's landed. Here's an EPA honcho memo from today:

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Lynn Buhl to serve as Region 5 Administrator. An attorney and a public servant for over twenty years, Lynn brings both leadership and experience in environmental regulation and enforcement to this position. Lynn's appointment will become effective in mid-August.

Since September 2006, Lynn has served as Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, where she works with Assistant Administrator Granta Nakayama to advise the Administrator on a wide range of environmental enforcement issues.

For those of you trying to sort through the government-speak at home, here's a translation: She was working in DC as an assistant; now she moved to the Midwest to become the chief.

Question: Do the taxpayers foot the bill to relocate her to the Midwest, only to have her possibly out of a job (again) after November? Don't these appointees serve at the pleasure?

(OK, I know that was more than one question, but I have a bonus round...

Whatever happened to Ron Guns, who was up there with Buhl at DNR? You may recall his appointment to the assistant secretary position riled environmentalists, who remember him weakeneing or vetoing most laws he came across on the House Environmental Matters Committee.

And whatever happened to Pete Jensen, who rounded out the triumvirate serving under Ron Franks? He resigned, picked up a nice consulting contract, then lost it when it was revealed he was also consulting for Omega Protein, which was trying to take more menhaden out of the bay while DNR was trying to get them to take out less, in a nutshell.

And finally, there is Franks himself. I assmumed he was back at his fishing shop, maybe booking a couple of patients for dental work, but if anyone knows for sure, please tell....

Driving to death?

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:46:46 -0500

Driving can be dangerous, we all know that. Now comes Men's Health magazine suggesting that cars are bad for our long-term personal health as well as the planet's.

In its Metrogrades feature, the self-styled "guide to men's health, fitness, weight loss, nutrition, sex, style and guy wisdom" has ranked America's cities by which has the "greenest drivers," aka the most environmentally conscious motorists.

It breaks the grading down by categories, with ratings of which cities' denizens drive the most fuel-guzzling vehicles, which ride transit the most and so on. Baltimore makes only one of the top 10 listings, with our residents driving the 10th fewest miles per capita of any city in the country. Overall, B'more ranks 42nd, two spots behind Washington.

The five greenest cities in the magazine's estimation, are: Seattle, Burlington, Vt., Portland, Ore., Madison, Wisc., and Fargo, N.D. The first three I follow, and Madison is kind of understandable, as home to the University of Wisconsin and a lot of students without cars. But what's up with Fargo?

The rankings, available online, are accompanied by articles raising concerns about motorists' exposure to toxic chemicals ("Is the Reaper Riding Shotgun in Your Car?) and the health impacts of air pollution, plus tips on being more fuel-efficient.

Listen Up: Planners on the Air

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:59:08 -0500

Feel like waking up Saturday mornings to a rousing discussion of Smart Growth? Then you should definitely tune in to "Smart Planning," the new public-affairs radio program from the Maryland Department of Planning.

The 15-minute broadcasts air at 6:30 a.m. (yikes!) on WCAO-AM, Heaven 600, "The Good News Station" with a playlist of gospel music. Why should WYPR or WBAL have all the fun, anyway?

The host and producer for the planning programs is Marco Merrick, the department's director of communications and education.

Tomorrow's guests will explain the work of the state's Office of Smart Growth, according to a press release issued by the department. Next Saturday's show will feature a discussion of the O'Malley administration community development initiatives.

So plan on starting your weekend getting right with growth. Then say Amen.

Gas prices got you down? Take a walk!

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:07:15 -0500

High gas prices keeping you closer to home this summer? Well, if you're looking for a different kind of "stay-cation," why not do a little sightseeing on foot?

To help you get going, Baltimore ranks 12th for walkability among the 40 largest U.S. cities, according to new national ranking by Walk Score, a Web site aimed at helping people find walkable places to live. More than 2,500 neighborhoods nationwide were rated not on how scenic they are, but how close they are to stores, restaurants, schools and parks.

Three B'more neighborhoods - Federal Hill, Fells Point and the Inner Harbor - scored high enough to make the site's list of 138 "walkers' paradises." My older suburban neighborhood, Catonsville, doesn't quite measure up - 63 vs 90 or more for those city spots. Type in your address and zip code to see how your neighborhood ranks.

Walk Score's ranking mirrors one done last year by the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank. I blogged about it then for Bay & Environment. Some of the same people behind that ranking are advising Walk Score, too.

Mon Dieux! Les oysters, c'est mal!

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:17:13 -0500

France, that home of all things classy and refined, has always been a leader when it comes to raising oysters.

Several scientists from the Chesapeake region have visited our friends in the countryside to see how they grow the bivalves. France is the fourth-largest oyster exporter in the world, followed by powerhouses China and Japan (also popular places for our scientists to visit, though perhaps a little less so; in France, the selection of raw oysters is almost always accompanied by the country's finest wines.)

But now it seems the oysters of France are dying. News accounts there report high mortalities of the species at 18 months, around the time they are reaching maturity.

As the French would say: "pourqois?" (Apologies to Mr. Casorio, my high-school French Teacher -- i'm not a great French speller.

And no one seems to know the answer yet, so the scientists will be studying the problem to see what they can find. It is possible there is a parasite, not unlike two two that have devastated our oysters.

This calls for another research trip, I believe. Maintenant!

27 places to cool off...

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:03:41 -0500

Are you feeling hot? Too poor to run your AC or drive to OC? A swim could be just the thing.

Mulitmedia maven sent me a list of swimming holes in Maryland, complete with maps, descriptions and other details. Check it out here.

If you go, be careful!