West and Rhode Riverkeeper

I got a very cheerful call from water quality monitoring volunteer Linda Lawrence this morning - she had spotted a pod of dolphins in Tenthouse Creek (near Galesville) in the West River. Our volunteer monitoring team on the Rhode River reported seeing them later this morning, too. Last summer we also had these marine mammal visitors come up the river. Yesterday, my friend and colleague Drew Koslow (Choptank Riverkeeper) reported seeing dolphins in the Choptank River on the Eastern Shore. Could they be the same ones that came to our Rivers today? Could they be the same ones that went up the Rivers last year? Maybe this is their annual vacation... I don't blame them - the West and Rhode Rivers are a wonderful place to visit!

Photos courtesy of Linda Lawrence and her iPhone

Recently, a member sent us a video he put together of scenes he captured on the Rhode River. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txp7S6SGCzY 480x385]

Staff at West/Rhode Riverkeeper were able to breathe a huge sigh of relief this weekend, after we pulled off another successful Rhythm on the River fundraiser. To those of you who were in attendance, I hope you'll agree it was a great party.

Rhythm could not be possible without the tremendous support of our volunteers. We had volunteers to help with the setup and preparations, registration/check-in, tender service, the bar, the silent auction, and of course, cleanup at the end. We are a small organization and that was a BIG party - and we owe a lot to all of those who helped us make it a success.

So much of what we do depends on volunteer support from within our community. We are very proud of what we do, and equally proud of those who help us do it. From the dedicated Wednesday Morning Warriors who go out water sampling every week, to the members of our  Board of Directors (also volunteers!) - people power is what makes this organization run.

So thank you to all of our volunteers. We couldn't do this without you!

I'm sure many members of West/Rhode Riverkeeper are following the Gulf Oil Spill situation. The devastating impacts of this spill demonstrate once again how easily we can destroy an ecosystem.

As we watch the oil inundate Gulf marshes and cover fish, turtles, birds and other wildlife, we are reminded of the effects of poor regulation. This country has laws meant to minimize the likelihood of such catastrophic oil spills. Too often, however, the profits of an industry take precedence over protection of our natural resources.

While we can't go back in time to prevent this spill, we can do our best to make sure this doesn't happen again. Just a few weeks ago, federal officials unveiled plans to pursue offshore drilling near the Chesapeake. What was a controversial idea just a couple weeks ago now seems like utter folly. Who could possibly advocate for bringing offshore drilling to our coast now? Drill, baby, drill became spill, baby, spill.

We are fortunate that the West and Rhode Rivers are not threatened by this disaster. However, our hearts go out to those in the Gulf States who will be dealing with this tragedy for years to come. Our brother and sister Waterkeeper organizations in the area are on the front lines down there. You can support them by visiting this site. (Select 'Gulf Disaster Relief' in the Gift Designation box).

You can read the official Waterkeeper press release on the Gulf Oil Spill here.

This is the 40^th anniversary of Earth Day, founded in 1970. Much is being made in the media of the significance of Earth Day and its meaning today. As someone with a passion for environmental issues, I thought I’d lend my voice to the chorus.

In 1970, Earth Day was founded as an angry response to an unacceptable situation. The Potomac River was a cesspool, the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland caught on fire, and air pollution was so bad smog was killing people. People were marching in the streets. The anger translated to activism, and the whole country demanded change. Victories soon followed with the founding of the EPA (1970), the Clean Water Act (1972), and the Endangered Species Act (1973) just to name a few.

Now, 40 years later, Earth Day has a much different feel. Businesses promote “green” products, school kids plant trees, and there is some sort of Earth Day concert with Sting planned on the DC mall this weekend. These new ways of celebrating Earth Day have somewhat of a celebratory feel about them. And there have certainly been victories to cheer, but it almost feels like Earth Day is taking a victory lap. We need to ask ourselves, did we earn the right to celebrate yet?

With regard to the Chesapeake Bay, I would say no. Scientists and activists alike agree that the Bay is in poor condition. We have a long way to go to get to the point when we can pat ourselves on the back. Back in 1970, politicians feared being voted out of office if they didn’t vote for the environment. Looking back at the last Maryland General Assembly, we can see that is not the case today.

We need environmental stewardship to be completely interwoven into all aspects of our lives. How we drive, what we buy, where our electric comes from. How many of us just think about that once a year during Earth Day? If we want a restored Bay, then every day is going to have to be Earth Day, not just once a year.

 

 

"Sine die" is Latin for "without day". Essentially it means that there is no further meeting scheduled. This is the name given to the final day of the Maryland General Assembly session.

This year was my first experience getting heavily involved in the state legislature. It gave me a great excuse to wear my one and only suit.

West/Rhode Riverkeeper was a partner in the effort to try to pass a Stormwater Utility bill, and we also took positions on several other bills that had the potential to affect water quality in our Rivers - either positively or negatively.

Here is a run down of some of the bills we lobbied for (or against)

Stormwater Utility (SB686/HB999) - This bill would have required counties and some municipalities to setup a stormwater management fee based on impervious surface coverage. The amount of the fee would be left to the local jurisdictions. The money would go into a dedicated fund which would be spent on stormwater management projects. We supported the bill but it did not make it out of committee. We expect that it will be reintroduced again next year.

No Discharge Zone (SB513/HB999) - This would have directed the state to apply for a No Discharge Zone designation for all of Maryland waters. The bill was amended near the end of the Session to change it to be a study only, and passed the Senate. Nevertheless, the watered down bill didn't even make it out of the House. We are disappointed that the bill died, but we are glad it raised the issue of pollution from boat waste. We hope that next year, the General Assembly will address this issue again.

Abandoned Boats (HB527) - This bill, introduced by local Delegate Virginia Clagett, reduced the time it takes to declare a boat "abandoned" on private property. Current law stated that private property owners had to wait 90 days - a whole summer - to begin the process to remove a boat from their property. This bill reduces that time to 30 days. It passed both chambers and will be signed by the Governor.

Marine Contractor Licensing (SB382) - This bill established a procedure for licensing marine contractors who do work in our wetlands and waterways. The premise of the bill was good, but we vigorously opposed provisions in the original version which had inadequate fees and fines, would have given release of liability to contractors doing Living Shoreline projects, and exempted an undefined category of projects from permitting requirements. Working with other partners in the environmental community, the bill was amended to take out all the parts we felt would negatively impact the environment, and we supported the final version. It passed both chambers and awaits the Governor's signature.

University of Maryland Environmental Law Clinic - A rider was attached to the budget which would restrict funding to the UM Environmental Law Clinic pending a report on the cases they took. This encroachment of academic freedom was a result of the case the clinic took, representing Assateague Coastkeeper in its suit against a lower Eastern Shore farm and Perdue chicken. This legislative bullying came about because some influential polluters were trying to influence how the Clinic operates. Fortunately, the funding threat was stripped out of the final budget, but the precedent is a dangerous one. What are we teaching our young law students - "be careful which polluters you sue?"

Overall, this was a very strange session of the General Assembly, which isn't too surprising given the poor economic climate and the fact that this is an election year. A week before the session ended, environmental groups were prepared to release an angry statement, effectively proclaiming that the Bay "got the shaft". However, during the final week of the session, it appeared that many legislators got the message and began restoring some of the environmental priorities. The Bay Trust Fund was restored to the Governor's original funding request ($20 million), most funding for Project Open Space was preserved, and a bill to consider environmental impacts when planning transportation projects was approved.

Despite these successes, it is difficult to point to specific policies enacted this session that will actually improve water quality. The Stormwater Utility bill died in committee, as did the No Discharge bill. And then there was the stormwater "compromise" which codified guidance from MDE on the implementation of the 2007 Stormwater Act, set to be enacted on May 4, 2010. The compromise allowed grandfathering of many projects in the pipeline, so that they might be built without adhering to the new tougher stormwater regulations.

All in all, I would say that it was a disappointing session, although the environmental was able to "eke out" some wins at the last moment.

As part of the budget process, the University of Maryland School of Law is being ordered by Maryland General Assembly to produce a list of all the plaintiffs their students have represented over the past two years or lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding.

This is clearly bullying by some key lawmakers because they are upset that the UM Environmental Law Clinic has taken up cases against some big industry polluters. The Clinic has been a valuable ally to many environmental organizations in Maryland, including West/Rhode Riverkeeper. They represented us in our Construction General Permit challenge, as well as our Petition to EPA to strengthen Maryland's Clean Water Act permitting. They are doing the tough work to make sure our environmental laws are enforced.

The support of the Clinic allows us to challenge some of the big polluters with deep pocketbooks and armies of lawyers. These polluters are trying to influence how the Clinic operates. It's an effort State Senator Jim Brochin calls "something straight out of communist China."

Please tell our General Assembly leaders that it is not OK to bully one of the best law clinics in the country just because some legislators don't like the cases they are taking.

 

When I got to the office this morning, I was greeted by the site of heavy equipment in Parish Creek. The mouth of the creek is teaming with barges, pipes, and dredging rigs. This is all for the long-planned dredging of Parish Creek. The dredging will begin this weekend (March 13) and continue through the end of the month. The dredge material will be "sucked" from the bottom and pumped through a pumpline to the Idlewilde Dredge Material Placement(DMP) site.

We support this project as it will restore the Parish Creek channel to a level which will allow safe navigation for the myriad of watermen, sailors, and recreational boaters that keep their vessels in this creek. We will, however, be watching closely to ensure that the dredging does not release any sediment plumes or cause any other negative impacts to the immediate area during during this work. At least I can watch from right out of my office window!

Welcome to our new website - I hope you like it! Here at West/Rhode Riverkeeper, we have a lot of information to provide. We tried to setup this site to provide that information to you as best we could. You'll also notice that we made it simple to connect with us through social media (like Facebook and Twitter) and we have a new interface for our newsletters.

The design is by Annapolis Web Publishing - they did a great job. I'd also like to thank Steve Gauss, who maintained our former website. Many folks know Steve through his local work to promote oyster restoration with POWeR.

Please let me know what you think of our new site. Is there anything you especially like or anything that is missing? I value feedback from our members! Email me at chris@www.westrhoderiverkeeper.org.

Thanks!

Snowmaggedon, Snowpocalypse, SnOMG... call it what you will, but the double blizzard definitely affected us all over the last couple weeks. Now, as the snow starts to melt and make it's way into our rivers, it's important to remember what might be in that snow. As you drive to work or to the grocery store, no doubt you have noticed that the once fluffy white snow piles on the side of the roads are now brown, gray, or even black. Dirt, oil, grease, and other nasty stuff which comes from our roadways becomes quite evident when superimposed over the blank canvas of snow. All that pollution makes its way to our rivers and streams. That is one reason we are fighting so hard to fund for solutions to stormwater runoff pollution. Stormwater runoff is the only major source of pollution to the Bay which is actually increasing. It's time to do something about it. Stay tuned to West/Rhode Riverkeeper to find out about state legislation you can support to help us treat this polluted runoff.