Interested in the health of the bay?

If you missed the hearing presented by the EPA DECEMBER 11, you can download the presentation here. In 1972 the federal Clean Water Act tasked the states around the bay with the job of developing TMDL’s to improve water quality. Almost thirty seven years later, the state of Maryland has yet to complete this task. EPA will establish and oversee achievement of a strict "pollution diet" known as a Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL, to remove excess pounds of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment harming the Bay and its network of waterways. More information can be obtained on the EPA website

WHAT’S GOING ON IN TRAPPE?

How did the developer of the proposed 2500-home Lakeside development in Trappe obtain a construction permit for its wastewater treatment plant from Maryland Department of the Environment, bypassing County regulations and objections? If this developer can successfully ignore County regulations, is this the sign of things to come? To learn more read this recent article from the Center for Public Integrity.

To read more regarding potential development in Trappe, visit our news page, which also includes many other links to other articles.

Opinion: The Chesapeake Bay is dying.

We know it. We form committees. Bottom grasses, refuges for juvenile marine creatures, are disappearing. We know it. We make speeches. Oxygen levels are so low in many parts of the bay that not a single marine creature survives. We know it. We initiate study groups. The condition of bay waters worsens every year. We know it. We pose. We do nothing. 

Homeowners in the Chesapeake Bay watershed know that nitrogen loading is the stimulus for most of the water quality problems in the bay. We fertilize our lawns anyway. 

Farmers know that agriculture, principally corn, is responsible for 50 percent of the nitrogen load bay-wide and 70 percent on the Eastern Shore. They dispute the data and resist widened buffers. 

Watermen know that they overharvest. They blame others for declines in catch and lobby against shorter seasons and size restrictions. 

We know that heavy harvests by the menhaden industry strip the bay of food for game fish and deprive the bay of filter feeders. Virginia legislators cave in to industry lobbyists. 

Our elected representatives know that upgraded septic systems would reduce nitrogen discharge from those systems by fifty percent. They vote against legislation to require upgrades on new homes. 

We are standing by, watching, as the bay becomes a sewer. We. Each of us. All of us. We are responsible. We wring our hands and turn our backs. We plead for compensation. We have forgotten how to sacrifice. We are failing the bay and ourselves. Future generations will disdain us. We will have earned it. 

Because there is no “owner” responsible for the well being of common resources such as the bay, such resources are often abused and degraded, even destroyed. To avoid that unhappy end, individuals and communities must go out of their way to make the difficult and sometimes costly decisions necessary to defend them. In other environments, individuals, communities and legislators have chosen to make the tough calls. To our shame, we have not been strong enough, responsible enough, to make those choices. It is a lack of will and leadership. 

There are actions each of us--homeowners, farmers, watermen, legislators--can take. We know what they are. We point our finger at the other person. That’s too easy. It is not “their” responsibility. It is ours. We need to stand up! If each of us were to do our small part, a culture of personal responsibility for the bay would develop. The whole would begin to come together. And it would be a great help if our legislators were to find the courage to do what is necessary and right, to actually lead. 

Jack Fischer 
Sherwood, MD