dawn-stoltzfus – Chesapeake Bay Action Plan

Maryland’s Outsized Manure Problem

By Dawn Stoltzfus | December 28, 2011 |

Today, standing in front of the M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, to represent the enormous amount of chicken litter produced each year in Maryland (a pile twice as high as the stadium!), Environment Maryland released a new report detailing the problems with Maryland’s current manure regulations and, in particular, with too much phosphorus in our soil and our waterways, including the Chesapeake Bay.

Senior Scientists & Policymakers Continue Press for Revised Nutrient Management Regulations

By Dawn Stoltzfus | December 21, 2011 |

(Posted by Dawn Stoltzfus.)

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley is generally viewed as a friend of the environment. He has championed initiatives on growth, wastewater treatment, renewable energy, climate change, funding for environmental programs and other issues. He earned a grade of B+ from the Maryland League of Conservation Voters. But, many believe that the Administration has done too little to address Chesapeake Bay pollution from the agriculture sector, which accounts for nearly half of the pollution entering the bay.

A revision of rules regulating the spreading of manure on farmland is long overdue. Here is a recent letter from the Executive Committee of the Senior Scientists and Policymakers for the Bay urging the Governor to issue rules that treat manure in much the same way as sewage sludge.

Gilchrest: Jobs & Clean Water for Rural Maryland

By Dawn Stoltzfus | December 12, 2011 |

(Posted by Dawn Stoltzfus.)

Check out this great op-ed piece that ran in Sunday’s Easton Star Democrat, authored by former Congressman Wayne Gilchrest, a member of the Senior Bay Scientists & Policymaker’s Executive Council. As Maryland Senator Pipkin’s “war on rural Maryland” naysayers gather on Lawyer’s Mall in Annapolis this morning, to decry policies that benefit both urban and rural areas, these words of common sense couldn’t be more timely.

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Jobs and clean water for rural Maryland
By WAYNE T. GILCHREST

Peaceful. That’s the word that came to mind on this December afternoon as I looked across Kent County’s rolling fields. Many of them glowed with the soft, new-green growth of recently planted wheat, barley and rye.

Then, the decidedly unpeaceful rhetoric of some of my representatives to the General Assembly came to mind. They say there’s a war on rural Maryland. If this is a land at war, it is the most enlightened conflict I’ve ever witnessed. We are being bombed with efforts to create jobs, build healthier streams and rivers, and ultimately to improve our fisheries.

Protecting Forests and Increasing Buffers to Restore the Bay and Local Rivers

By Dawn Stoltzfus | November 15, 2011 |

(Posted by Dawn Stoltzfus.)

With all the recent focus on the Chesapeake Bay TMDL and local WIPs, here’s something that may have flown under the radar of Marylanders following Bay restoration efforts: the Maryland Sustainable Forestry Council is developing a set of legislative proposals to achieve a “No Net Loss” of forests in Maryland, due by December 1, 2011. It seems like we could easily be losing sight of the forest for the trees!

Last week, former Maryland State Senator Gerald Winegrad testified before the Council. As Senator Winegrad notes in his testimony [link], “the Sustainable Forestry Council can greatly assist in efforts to restore the Bay by focusing on nonpoint source pollution as forests and wetlands are the greatest protectors of the Bay from pollutants.”

Nutrient Trading—Promise or Pitfall?

By Dawn Stoltzfus | November 1, 2011 |

(Posted by Dawn Stoltzfus.)

With the watershed states (Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, W. Virginia and Delaware) and D.C. working to significantly reduce pollution to meet the Chesapeake Bay TMDL, nutrient trading is a hot topic. Some see trading as a way to reduce the challenging costs of Chesapeake Bay cleanup, and it looks good on paper—but there are serious scientific concerns about its practicality and water quality benefits, particularly with trades between nonpoint sources (like agriculture and stormwater runoff) and point sources (like wastewater treatment plants). Difficulty in accurately measuring trading’s effectiveness also seems like a big obstacle.