Bay Daily

Obama Proposal for Bay Cleanup Falls Short

What a let-down.

Bay cleanup advocates had been eagerly anticipating the release today of the Obama Administration’s new draft strategy for restoring the Bay. I had hoped that it would be a strong example of new federal leadership.

Unfortunately, the proposal released during a teleconference today was disappointing because it lacks specific goals, deadlines, programs and strategies.

The vagueness of this new federal draft plan really underscores the need for Congress to pass a new law that would make the requirements for Bay cleanup clear and indisputable.

Families Tell of Explosion, Drinking Water Contamination

Pennsylvania this week fined a Texas-based natural gas drilling company, Cabot Oil & Gas, $120,000 for causing underground methane leaks that contaminated the drinking water of 13 families in the northeastern part of the state, near Dimock, Pa.  The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection ordered the firm to replace the water supplies of these homes. This video I made tells the stories of two families who had their water ruined.

Their accounts provide vivid examples of why the Chesapeake Bay Foundation is fighting to protect streams and underground water supplies during the current drilling boom across Pennsylvania. About 650 wells have been drilled in the state over the last four years in the Marcellus Shale formation, and many more are planned.

EPA Plan Scheduled for Release Monday

The EPA is scheduled to release its proposed new plan for cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay on Monday, November 9. 

Preliminary reports suggest the proposal could include more federal oversight of state cleanup efforts, and tighter controls for stormwater runoff from developed areas and animal intensive farming. Stay tuned.

Environmental Chief: Drilling Boom Must Be "Watch-Dogged"

The amount of natural gas in a black rock formation under Pennsylvania is so vast that it could supply all of America’s energy needs for 10 to 15 years, said John Hanger, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, in an interview with Bay Daily.

The development of a drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing to unlock the gas in the Marcellus Shale formation is a “game changer” for the United States, he said. The discovery could provide cheaper energy and help in the fight against global warming, Hanger said.

But drilling is also environmentally invasive. In northeastern Pennsylvania, drilling has caused chemical spills, contamination of drinking water with methane, an explosion, and fish kill. These incidents in the Dimock area were reported in Monday’s Bay Daily.  The problems illustrate the need for Pennsylvania to become increasingly vigilant over the drilling boom, Hanger said.

“We are increasing oversight over this industry, because it is imperative that as this industry grows, oversight must accompany it,” the state environmental secretary said in a recent telephone interview conducted for public radio and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Sprawl From New Highway Would Wipe Out 1,550 Acres of Forests. Meeting Tomorrow.

Despite claims that a proposed highway in Southern Maryland would not increase suburban sprawl, a review of public records shows that the local government has already granted preliminary approval to 3,261 building lots in the area around the highway.

Construction immediately surrounding the Cross County Connector in Charles County, Maryland, will wipe out at least 1,550 acres of forests, according to an analysis of state and local data and records by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.  The replacement of all these trees (including those in the highway's path, shown below) with subdivisions (like the one being built in the photo above) could produce an additional 11,000 pounds of nitrogen pollution a year that would smother a valuable fish breeding ground, the Mattawoman Creek, and hurt the Chesapeake Bay.

Anyone who cares about protecting the Chesapeake region’s natural  landscape and water quality should turn out for a public meeting tomorrow night (Wednesday, November 4) at the College of Southern Maryland, La Plata Campus, 8730 Mitchell Road in LaPlata.  The meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the college’s Business and Industry (BI), Room 113/113E.

My Road Trip to Frackville, Heart of The Drilling Boom

I recently took a road trip to Frackville. What I saw could serve as a cautionary tale about the mixed blessing of discovering a vast natural gas reserve beneath the Mid-Atlantic region. On one hand, there's a lot of money in drilling and a fuel that's cleaner than coal. On the other hand, there's drinking water contamination, chemical spills, dead fish and a changed landscape.

Actually, my destination was only "Frackville" in a figurative sense. I drove north from Baltimore to a tiny town in northeastern Pennsylvania that has been transformed by a boom in natural gas drilling using a technique called hydraulic fracturing (nicknamed "fracking").  

In reality, I kept on motoring up I-81 past the Frackville exit sign (not my real destination, but the name was irresistible) to the village that lies at the center of my tale: Dimock, Pennsylvania.  It's in a beautiful area of rolling hills and rocky forests, with farms and houses that date back more than a century. Four years ago, there were no natural gas wells in rural Susquehanna County, which surrounds the town.  But over the last year, drillers from Texas have installed 60 wells in the county. And that number is expected to more than triple over the next two years, according to the drilling company.  This surge makes Dimock a microcosm for Pennsylvania as a whole, where 650 gas wells have sprouted over the last four years.

CBF Fights Rubber-Stamping of Gas Drilling Permits, Wins Victory

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation won a victory over environmentally sloppy natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania this week. It was a first step in making sure that the wave of drilling across the state is handled responsibly.

CBF had filed legal challenges to three erosion and sediment control permits for gas wells being drilled in northern Pennsylvania.  One of the wells is in the Tioga State Forest, the other on private land in  Tioga County.  All three sit atop the vast, gas-rich Marcellus Shale formation, which has seen a surge in new gas wells.

CBF was concerned that the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) was rubber stamping drilling permits, and fast-tracking approvals, without a thorough environmental review to protect streams and water supplies.

On Wednesday, DEP revoked the permits for Ultra Resources Inc. and Fortuna Energy Inc. because of what the state agency called “numerous technical deficiencies discovered after our approval of the permits.”

To read more about the state decision, check out this article.

Record Increase in Funding Approved for EPA Bay Cleanup Program

It looks like the federal government is finally taking the Chesapeake Bay seriously.  

The U.S. House and Senate recently approved a record $50 million in funds for the Chesapeake Bay Program, the EPA-led Bay restoration effort. The money, some of which would be passed along to Bay area states, would pay for projects to reduce runoff pollution from urban areas, suburbs and farms.  The federal funding is an impressive 60 percent higher than last year.

Of course, it’s far too early to declare victory yet.  Restoring the Bay will also require stepped up enforcement of the federal Clean Water Act, and strengthening the law.  But tightening up the law could be on the way with new legislation called the Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act. This bill was proposed recently by Sen. Ben Cardin and U.S.  Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, among several other sponsors.

The Key Question: When Will Enforcement Take Place?

In response to yesterday’s blog, about EPA creating a new pollution diet for the Chesapeake Bay, a  reader emailed me with a note of frustration.

“When will enforcement take place?” demanded Ned Tillman, chair of the Environmental Sustainability Board in Howard County, Maryland.

An excellent question, and one that I find myself asking.  After all, thoughtful, well-designed pollution reduction strategies for the Bay have been largely ignored for years – most  recently, the Chesapeake 2000 agreement between EPA and the Bay area states, which was supposed to have cleaned up the Bay by 2010.  What’s been lacking is the political will to put these plans into action – and, on a more basic level, to simply enforce existing clean water laws.

Pollutants like sediment (pictured above), as well as nitrogen and phosphorus, continue to smother the nation's largest estuary.

Let's Put the Bay on a Diet. Here's How You Can Help.

As you may have noticed from yesterday’s posting, Bay Daily is back. One thing I’m going to try to do more often in upcoming months is highlight public events and hearings that are critical in our fight for clean water in the Chesapeake Bay region.

For example: EPA plans to hold 14 public hearings across the Chesapeake Bay watershed in November and December on water pollution reduction goals (dates listed below).  EPA is creating what is called a “Total Maximum Daily Load,” or TDML for pollutants entering the Bay. That may sound like just another bureaucratic acronym, but it’s actually critically important – the total amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment pollution that EPA is going to allow into the estuary.

Basically, EPA plans to put the Bay on a diet – and the TMDL is analogous to the maximum amount of calories that the Chesapeake will be allowed to eat each year.  The Bay area states will have to figure out how they are going to stay within this diet, or else face the potential loss of federal grants or other punishments.