Bay Oyster population demise continues despite millions spent

A new article on the Washington Post chronicles the "missteps" of the restoration programs of State and Federal agencies. It reads like a classic story of government blunders. Creating unattainable goals, not listening to citizen experts (in this case watermen), and a lack of collaboration/cooperation with other government agencies that have had success (Corps of Engineers).

With tax dollars being spent at an ever increasing rate on Bay restoration and cleanup and more and more legislation being passed during every General Assembly session some results should be forthcoming. Patience is wearing thin with the lack of progress with the Bay cleanup. More drastic measures may have to be implemented or at least discussed. It's difficult to imagine positive results with some many competing goals such as maintaining fisheries, accommodating more population growth, allowing further development in critical areas, lack of enforcement of existing environmental regulations and reduction of promised cleanup funds to name a few.

The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak on the Bay cleanup issue. Is there a politician out there with the courage, will and foresight to present the hard choices required to restore the Bay after centuries of abuse and neglect?

Maryland is for Crabs

The inevitable harvest limit on blue crabs has finally happened. How did we get here? It took years of neglect, lack of political will and little or no pubic outcry. We'd have to agree with both of the parties on this issue; the watermen who say that the Bay's health is the problem and the Governor's who felt compelled to take action. It's also encouraging that DNR officials have $3 million available to assist watermen who will certainly be feel the 25% decrease in the harvest this season.

The blue crab population has been declining steadily due to woeful action in the Bay cleanup. While it's commendable to see Maryland and Virginia agreeing on something regarding the Bay certainly agreement on a long term plan to clean up the Bay would be more welcome than a short term "fix" for a single though very important species.

Alas gone are the days when you could catch 25 soft crabs in one morning as I did 25 years ago as a kid in St. Mary's County, but let's hope the Bay cleanup truly gets more attention and action as a result of this short term crab crisis.

Governors act to cut harvest of crabs -- baltimoresun.com

Go green, but not in our backyard

There was much talk by the administration about energy during the past legislative session and most of their legislative proposals became law last week. However the Governor missed a golden opportunity to "walk the walk" and not just "talk the talk" by issuing a ban on a wind turbine farms in State Forests in Western Maryland.

Granted the 40 story high turbines are an eyesore but one proposed site would not have been visible from Deep Creek Lake or other tourist areas. See location details.

The generation from the turbines would not have been enormous either but it would have been a step in the right direction since Maryland is facing a electricity generation crisis. Coal burning plants which make up the majority of generation in Maryland are "under a cloud" so no new coal plants will likely be built. Natural gas fired plants have been the industry's latest solution but fossil fuel plants are now very expensive to run, adding pressure to electricity prices. So any capacity we can add using wind, solar or other renewables should be carefully considered at this point.