Legum’s New Line

As part of its new, more aggressive posture, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper are threatening to sue the present and former owners of the Sparrows Point steel mill, the EPA and Maryland Department of the Environment for failing to clean up pollution at Sparrows Point. From the release:

“Sadly, federal and state agencies have not met their responsibilities at Sparrows Point,” said Will Baker, president of CBF. “The owners of the plant signed a legal agreement to clean up the site more than a decade ago, but authorities haven’t enforced it. Meanwhile, people live nearby, and fish and crab in waters where sediments are laced with toxic contaminants.”

The agreement, called a Consent Decree, was signed in 1997 by the original owner Bethlehem Steel Corp. and the federal and state agencies. The terms of the agreement have not been met.

Past and recent investigations at the site have found: Carcinogens in soils at the mill site at levels many times the Maryland soil cleanup standards; high concentrations of toxic metals, petroleum by-products, and solvents in groundwater onsite; water pollution discharge permit violations at the steel mill’s wastewater treatment facility; various air pollutants; and expansions of the Grey’s Point landfill in violation of the Consent Decree.

If the owners of the site don’t address the issues within 90 days, the groups plan on filing an action in federal district court.

You can read the full letter from CBF announcing their intention to sue here.

1 Comment »

Yesterday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan issued a press release revealing that Maryland, along with 27 other states, has yet to apply for federal education funds available through the stimulus package, potentially leaving billions of dollars on the table. From the release:

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today urged states to submit applications for State Fiscal Stabilization Funds as quickly as possible, saying teaching jobs are at risk and reforms must move forward.

“We have an urgent need to reform our schools and prevent teacher layoffs,” said Duncan. “The Department is turning around applications within nine days on average. States that have not yet applied need to do so now.”

Of the over $100 billion stimulus dollars designated for education, $48.6 billion was designated for the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund. On April 1, the first $32.6 billion was made available. This includes $26.6 billion exclusively for K-12 and higher education and $6 billion for education, public safety or other government services.

So far, nearly $13 billion has been awarded to 13 states: California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New York, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah and Wisconsin. Another nine states and Puerto Rico have applied: Tennessee, Rhode Island, Indiana, North Carolina, Washington, Idaho, Massachusetts, Virginia and Iowa.

Meanwhile, education funds throughout Maryland are tight. Several county leaders are seeking to balance their budget by reducing funds to schools.

In order to improve the quality of Maryland schools in difficult economic times, we need to take advantage of every possible opportunity. Right now, the state has dropped the ball. The funds will only be available through July 1.

[HT: Wonk Room]

1 Comment »

Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold is accused of sexually harassing two women. This morning on NPR, the chair of the Anne Arundel County Council, Ed Reilly (R) said that this was a “personal” matter:

John Leopold has done an excellent job of being fiscal manager for this county. The issues he has in his personal life are personal.

One of the allegations involves the alleged harassment of a state employee in a county building. The other involves a former county employee who worked for Leopold.

It’s absurd to suggest that whether or not the County Executive sexually harasses women at the workplace is a “personal” matter. The allegations go directly to Leopold’s fitness as a public official and are rightly of public concern.

The allegations should be fully and swiftly investigated and, if proven true, Leopold should resign or be removed from office.

2 Comments »

Maryland, Virginia and the EPA are preparing to set a new deadline to complete the cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay: 2025. The last two deadlines 2000 and 2010 were missed. That experiences illustrates that it’s more important to put in place policies that will improve the health of the Bay than to set deadlines.

More from the Sun:

After failing repeatedly over the last 25 years to meet self-imposed deadlines for cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay, state and federal officials appear ready to set a new-drop dead date — 16 years from now. But they say what really matters is what they pledge to do in the next two years.

Top aides to the governors of Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia and other officials involved in the cleanup effort have recommended that 2025 be set as the ultimate “end date” for reducing pollution so that the water is fit again for the fish, crabs and oysters that used to teem in America’s largest estuary, according to officials involved in the decision. Officials said they did not want to be quoted, upstaging decisions to be announced on Tuesday.

Gov. Martin O’Malley, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and officials from the District of Columbia and four other states plan to gather Tuesday at Mount Vernon in Virginia to chart what they have vowed will be a more aggressive and more accountable course for restoring the bay. In addition to a new cleanup deadline, the leaders are expected to announce steps they plan to take in the next two years to accelerate the cleanup and achieve interim goals, or “milestones.” And in an acknowledgment that past cleanup pledges have not been met, they will agree to have an independent body of experts track their progress.

You can read the full article here.

Comments Off

If you want to know why we need to reduce the influence of lobbyists in Annapolis, read Bruce Bereano’s letter to the Capital over the weekend:

The political cartoon (Sunday Capital, April 26) about the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s D report card on the Chesapeake Bay is so deceiving.

Does anyone with any sense of reality believe the Chesapeake Bay Foundation will ever come out publicly with a report card or report saying that the Chesapeake Bay is doing well or fine or really improving – of course not. If the organization ever did so, financial contributions to the foundation and membership would be affected and reduced. The organization, like other organizations, has an agenda and, despite the facts, has to keep it going.

…I am just tired of all the hypocrisy and spin jobs going on in the public area hoping the general public will buy it. I don’t.

There is no spin involved and no support for the suggestion that the Bay is “doing well or fine or really improving.” The Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s report card is grounded in the scientific, verifiable facts about the health of the Bay: severe nutrient pollution, an expanding “dead zone,” and extremely low populations of many species of fish and shellfish.

Mr. Bereano cites “reports” that “the bay is abundant with crabs” this season, so “something must be going right.” But this year’s crab population is less than half of what it was in the early 90s and the increase is attributable to restrictions on the harvesting of female crabs in Maryland and Virginia, not an improvement in water quality.

There is no genuine dispute: The 25 year effort to restore the Bay has failed. If we want to do better over the next 25 years, we have to make sure the terms of the debate is defined by science and interests of the people of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, not special interest lobbyists.

That’s why, as I prepare to run for Delegate in Maryland, I’m not accepting any contributions from Maryland lobbyists. If we clean up our government, we can clean up our Bay.

[H/T: Paul Foer]

Comments Off

There are now 9 probable cases of swine flu in Maryland, including a White House aide who traveled to Mexico and infected three others in Anne Arundel County. The Governor’s office has responded by creating a dedicated “Swine Flu Preparedness” website and launching a “Swine Flu Command Center” and a “Swine Flu Medical Advisory Board.”

As of this morning, the United States has 109 confirmed cases of Swine Flu resulting in one death. The WHO has raised “the current level of influenza pandemic alert from phase 4 to phase 5,” so this is obviously very serious.

It’s worth noting, however, that each year, 200,000 people are hospitalized and 36,000 people die from the regular flu. So the common step precautions to avoid contracting the flu are worth following whether there is a swine flu pandemic or not.

UPDATE: The state just announced you can call 1-877-MDFLU4U or email swineflu@dhmh.state.md.us to get your questions answered.

Comments Off