Summer Update 2010 Chesapeake currents maryland legislative … · 2019-12-16 · Chesapeake Currents | Summer Update 2010 3 clean water – clean energy choices Editors’ Note:

Chesapeake Currents | Summer Update 2010www.cleanwateraction.org

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Clean Water Action fought hard in Annapolis along with members and environmental allies to continue to improve Maryland’s water and air quality as well as programs for land preservation. Leading up to and during the 90 day session this spring, Clean Water Action members sent hundreds of letters and emails to elected officials supporting our agenda.

Legislative priorities this year were stormwater and incinerators. Clean Water Action also worked to make sure the budget included adequate funding for state environmental programs.

inside: Virginia Update, page 2 n Letter from the President, page 3 n Upstream Solutions, page 4 District of Columbia Update, page 5 n Clean Water: Now and For the Future, page 6 n Blue Girl Art, page 7 Clean Water Blog, page 7 n Delaware Update, page 8

SummerUpdate2010 Chesapeake currents

maryland legislative update

StormwaterClean Water Action took the lead in promoting the Water-shed Protection and Restoration Act (SB686/HB999). This bill would require that counties and municipalities create a stormwater fund supported by fees based on impervious sur-face coverage. The fund would support stormwater facilities, stormwater education and watershed restoration.

Clean Water Action and allies brought together a diverse group of stakeholders to support the bills, including stormwa-ter experts, government officials, businesses and recreational groups. Clean Water Action submitted testimony endorsed by 45 groups. While the bill ultimately died in committee, we are optimistic about its prospects in 2011.

Clean Water Action also fought efforts to weaken regulations implementing the Stormwater Management Act of 2007. Developers mounted a major effort to weaken the regula-tions, pushing for more exceptions and exemptions from the rules. While some weakening changes were approved, the surge of anger by members of the environmental community over the rollback showed that a new force to protect Mary-land’s water is emerging. Clean Water Action will be work-ing to ensure that environmental groups in Maryland work even closer together in pushing for protective water policies in Annapolis. In addition, the 2010 elections give voters an

important chance to demand that candidates speak about what they will do to protect and restore Maryland’s waters.

IncineratorsClean Water Action worked with legislators to draft SB514/HB1427 which would have prohibited the state from issuing a permit for any incinerator within 3 miles of an elementary school, hospital, nursing home, place of worship, an area zoned for residential use, park or recreation area, or a tribu-tary of the Chesapeake Bay.

Clean Water Action built a strong coalition of concerned citizens and local, state and national groups for the bills. Our testimony had almost 100 co-signatories. The bills are needed to protecting communities incinerators’ harmful health and environmental impacts. Unfortunately the bills were killed in Senate committee, so the fight will continue in 2011.

FundingClean Water Action and allies successfully worked to preserve the operating budgets of state departments and agencies that protect the environment. A big battle also developed over the dedicated funding of programs for Bay restoration and open space protection. After a close call in the Senate, the General

2Chesapeake Currents | Summer Update 2010 www.cleanwateraction.org

Managing Water in the 21st CenturyLast fall and winter, Clean Water Action and Clean Water Fund worked with allies in Prince William and Loudoun Counties to hold workshops on 21st-century water resources management approaches. Follow-up workshops are planned for the fall. They will explore ways in which reducing water waste, including water re-use and other money-saving tech-niques, will help communities to develop sustainable water management practices.

There is wide recognition of the potential for water short-ages in parts of Virginia, and increasing awareness of the need to treat water as a resource that should not be wasted. The delay in implementation of Virginia’s pro-posed stronger standards illustrates the bind of the false choice between economic development and environmen-tal protection.

Clean Water Fund is exploring ways in which green approaches, including protecting wilderness areas, farmland and buffers around drinking water sources, and developing urban parks are complemented by “low impact development” techniques (such as tree canopy, green roofs, rain gardens and swales) and a suite of technologies that seek to retain rainwater on site, as opposed to channeling downstream using antiquated and destructive flood-control techniques.

Please contact Andy Fellows at [email protected] for additional information.

Offshore Drilling and Uranium Mining — Preventing DisasterThe BP Gulf of Mexico oil disaster has pointed out again the economic and environmental insanity of policies that allow or even subsidize technologies that are virtually guaran-teed to fail. That may be nowhere more important than in Virginia, where Governor McDonnell seems determined to push for drilling in the Atlantic regardless of the lessons of

the Gulf disaster. Clean Water Action has campaigned to oppose drilling off of Virginia’s coast, since the 1980’s, and there may be yet another need to oppose Virginia legislative efforts in the 2011 session.

Similarly, the McDonnell Adminis-tration may wish to push uranium mining which has been banned in the Commonwealth since the 1980’s.

Policies that accelerate the use of energy efficient products, and generating energy through wind, solar and other renew-able energy approaches are the quickest and cleanest ways to reduce dependence on polluting fuels such as oil, gas and coal. In addition to reducing the impacts of climate change, clean and renewable fuels will save money, create jobs and improve environmental health in Virginia.

virginia

maryland update (continued from cover)

Assembly supported a budget that included $22.5 million for the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund and preserved most of the funding for Program Open Space.

OtherIssuesSB760/HB1155, which passed on the session’s final day will make sure transportation projects are done in a way that combine the economic benefits and environmental sustain-ability of smart growth.

SB359/HB930 which would have required the Department of Agriculture to adopt regulations for reporting the usage and release of fertilizers and pesticides died in a Senate committee.

Children’sEnvironemntalHealth: PBDEs are flame retar-dants that accumulate in the environment, fish and meat,

breast milk and humans. Clean Water Action supported a bill to require that deca-BDE be phased out and banned in consumer products. Clean Water Action also supported bills to prohibit the manufacture, sale, and distribution of child care articles containing bisphenol A (BPA). In 2008, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found detectable levels of BPA in people of all ages with the highest levels in children.

Thanks again to Clean Water Action members for your letters, calls and e-mails to members of the General Assembly. Your pressure helped advance good bills and stop some bad ones.

Chesapeake Currents | Summer Update 2010 3www.cleanwateraction.org

clean water – clean energy choices

Editors’Note: To maximize the resources available for direct support of Clean Water Action’s national campaigns and community-based programs around the country during economically challenging times, the organization has temporarily suspended printing and mailing of all Clean Water Action Currents publications. The suspension affects both the state/regional “Sustainer” editions and the national publication. While printing is on hold, copies of both publications will be made available to all Clean Water Action members by e-mail and on the Clean Water Action web site. We hope to resume regular printing and mailing of publications soon.

I used to get lots of questions about why an organization called Clean Water Action isworking on energy issues. You may have wondered that yourself, in the past.

Things are a lot different now. BP’s oil disaster in the Gulf has made the close inter- connections between water and energy all too clear in the months since the April blowout.

Sadly, as my friend, Willie Fontenot, a longtime Clean Water Board Member and Gulf Coast resident, told me recently, the Gulf spill was both preventable and predictable. Willie describes it as the inevitable consequence of an out-of-touch and out-of-control energy system which puts short-term profits first, and water protection absolute last.

I couldn’t agree more. We can act now to prevent another disaster like BP’s Gulf spill from happening again — by passing a national energy policy and climate solutions that make water protection a litmus test for sustainability.

Energy choices that degrade and deplete the nation’s water resources must be replaced with those which preserve and protect them.

Your support as Clean Water Action member allows us to put water issues front and center in the debate on the future direction of our nation’s energy policy.

Clean Water Action is bringing people together all across the country to support a clean energy future that protects our water. Your involvement is critical to our success. We can’t do it without you.

From the President

John DeCock

UpstreamSolutionsOfferHopeforProtectingWater,HealthBP’s oil spill disaster grabbed and held news headlines for months now. But news from the oil-fouled Gulf is only the latest and longest lived of the many reports that have painted an all-too-grim picture of the state of the nation’s waters: pharmaceutical drugs in drinking water sources; aging treatment plants that leak sewage when it rains; reports of “genderbending” fish in waterways around the country; Bush-era “no protection” policies that are still in place, endangering drinking water for more than 110 million Americans.

Fortunately,thenewsisnotallbad. See the next page’s “Upstream Solutions” for the full article on the promising role pollution prevention can play in our Clean Water future.

4Chesapeake Currents | Summer Update 2010 www.cleanwateraction.org

upstream solutionsRecent years have seen a shameful devaluing and degrada-tion of water. After decades of steady progress cleaning up the nation’s waters, communities have begun to experience declining water quality. The system’s ability to control harm-ful contaminants has been compromised.

Solving these problems involves more than just updating a few laws, strengthening enforcement programs, funding more research, investing more and smarter in water supply and pollution treatment systems. All of these are needed, and more, but the system itself is in need of an overhaul.

The old ways of tackling one pollutant at a time and behav-ing as if water pollution is somehow separate from what’s in our air, on the land, in our food, in our bodies, affecting our health and that of the planet, are no longer up to today’s chal-lenges — if they ever were.

SoWhere’stheGoodNews?Fortunately, this is one area where Clean Water Action finally has some good news to report:

• PhosphateDetergentsPhasedOut:This July 1, in the face of ban and phase-out requirements from nearly two-dozen states, detergent manufacturers announced a voluntary ban on phosphates in dishwasher detergents. Several years earlier, laundry detergents became phos-phate free. The long-overdue move eliminates a signifi-cant source of pollution from waterways across North America.

• SafeCosmeticsLegislationIntroduced: July 21 saw the introduction of the Safe Cosmetics Act in Congress. The measure would for the first time require regulation of toxic and cancer causing ingredients in cosmetics and other personal care products like soaps and shampoos.

Clean Water Action joined with allies through the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics to release the powerful short film, the Story of Cosmetics to build support for reforming chemical policies that fail to protect health.

• BPABansBuildMomentum: Campaigns organized with support from Clean Water Action have secured bans on the toxic plastic hardener Bisphenol A, which contami-nates products ranging from baby bottles and toys to linings on canned food and juices. States taking action to limit the health-harming substance in baby products so far include Connecticut, Massachusetts and Minnesota, with more action on the way.

WeAllLiveDownstreamWhat the above all represent is an approach Clean Water Action believes offers the greatest long-term prospect for progress protecting our water — “upstream” solutions. Look-ing upstream means holding companies accountable for their products’ “downstream” impacts. Proof of safety should be required before any new chemical enters the marketplace, rather than proof of harm once the contaminant shows up in our water and our bodies. When the emphasis is shifted to prevention, whole new areas for problem-solving, innovation and green commerce open up. Upstream solutions make it possible to continue and accelerate progress toward cleaner

water and healthier communities, even in the face of scientific uncertainty and resource constraints.

Graphics are from the eye-opening and entertaining short film, the Story of Cosmetics, released by Clean Water Action and allies on July 21. Links to the film and action tools on the Safe Cosmetics Act are at www.CleanWaterAction.org

Chesapeake Currents | Summer Update 2010 5www.cleanwateraction.org

Managing Runoff in the DistrictEarlier this year, on the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, the EPA released a draft stormwa-ter permit for Washing-ton, DC. The draft shows some initial promise toward cleaning up our waterways and keeping our communities healthy.

For years, the District has been plagued with some of the dirtiest rivers in the country, particularly the Anacostia River. Winding through some of DC’s oldest communities, the Anacostia is severely polluted with toxics, sediment, trash and other pollutants. Every time it rains, water rushes off all the paved surfaces in the District, dumping all of those pol-lutants directly into our rivers.

This is why it is so critical that the District pass the strongest possible MS4 permit to control the runoff of stormwater pollution into DC’s rivers and streams. The initial draft has some good provisions for low-impact development projects often referred to as “green infrastructure.” Innovative solu-

tions such as rain gardens, green roofs, rain barrels and porous pavement, are designed to mimic nature and natural processes. Not only do projects like these curb runoff by absorbing more water on-site, but they can also aesthetical-ly enhance our neighborhoods. The good news is that more of these solutions are popping up around the District.

However, not only are many more of these projects needed, the District’s commitment is critical. The District should protect water and help revive communities by:

1) Identifying specific requirements, including numbers and deadlines for these projects

2) Committing to a requirement to meet water quality standards and pollution limits

3) Offering better opportunities for public participation.

The public comment period is currently underway, so now is your chance to tell the EPA that you want a much stronger MS4 permit. This is an opportunity for the District to lead the nation and show it has a serious commitment toward cleaning up urban rivers. This will only be achieved with strong, measurable goals in the permit.

TAKE ACTION! Write to Jon Capacasa ([email protected]) of the EPA and tell him you want the strongest possible MS4 permit for the District!

district of columbia

Anacostia Restoration Fund Survives Threat of Budget GrabLast year, with the help of Clean Water Action members, the District set up a new fund supported by a fee on plastic and paper bags to help restore the Anacostia River and other District waterways. However, within a few months, this fund was threatened by proposals to raid the money to support other programs. One of the many positive aspects of the legislation that imposed a fee on bags was that it would generate money for river clean-up efforts, and thus provide funding during challeng-ing fiscal times.

Perhaps predictably, Clean Water Action heard of attempts this spring to “borrow” the money for other budget purposes dur-ing the DC budget discussions. A grassroots mobilization of strong messages to City Council members urging them to protect the fund was successful in stopping the raid. Thanks to those of you who contacted City Council. Clean Water Action will continue watching to make sure program gets implemented properly.

That’s how one Clean Water Action member recently summed up her passion and commitment to our mission.

whycareaboutwater?Clean Water is important to different people for different reasons. What about you?

Most of us have a special “water” place in our lives, a vacation retreat, a family activity, a treasured childhood memory. All of us want to know that what comes out of the tap is safe for our families to drink. We want to ensure that clean, safe water will be there for our children and grandchildren to enjoy.

yourcleanwaterlegacyOne thing is certain. Our precious water resources must not be taken for granted. We at Clean Water Action are grateful that you share our creative and hopeful vision. Together, we are delivering real results for our water and everyone who relies on clean water.

For us, and we hope also for you, this is a long-term commitment. Is Clean Water Action part of your own long-term plans? When you make a legacy gift to Clean Water Action, you are helping to protect and promote clean and safe water for generations to come.

What does that mean? It can be as easy as remembering Clean Water Action in your will. You can also name Clean Water Action as a benefi-ciary of your living trust, life insurance or qualified retirement plan. Visit our website (www.CleanWaterAction.org/join/legacy) or contact me directly ([email protected], 202-330-2379) to learn more. Please let us know if Clean Water Action is already part of your long-term plans so that we may thank you and properly acknowledge your foresight and support.

otherwaystosupportacleanwaterfuture(www.CleanWaterAction.org/join/ways_to_give)

• Give the gift of Clean Water (great for holidays or special occasions), celebrate someone special or make a memorial contribution.

• Gifts of stock or other appreciated assets can provide you with certain financial advantages, creating a win for you and Clean Water Action.

• Provide ongoing support through an automatic monthly, quarterly or semi-annual donation online.

However you choose to support Clean Water Action and participate in our programs, please know that your involvement is sincerely appreciated.

“Clean Water equals life itself, for people and for all other creatures.”

clean water:Now and for the Future

by Jonathan A. Scott, Director of Legacy Gifts

6Chesapeake Currents | Summer Update 2010 www.cleanwateraction.org

Clean Water Action member, business owner to donate 15% from sales of eco-friendly furniture, fabrics, photo art and more

Blugirl Art owner/founder and Clean Water Action member Suzanne Meyer Pistorius pledges to donate 15% of online sales at Blugirlart.com to Clean Water Action. Suzanne’s vibrant, eye-catching and eco-friend-

ly sensibility is reflected in the site’s offerings of brightly renewed and fanciful furniture pieces, dramatic design-er fabrics, jewelry and photographic images specially selected for this cause.

Suzanne spent her childhood on a farm in Swaziland, where clean water was a precious commodity, never to be taken for granted. Now a resident of Western Massachusetts, where her Blugirl Art business is based, Suzanne has become an active member of Clean Water Action. She says that it all started with a visit from one of Clean Water Action’s canvassers, who spoke with her on her porch at home. Since then, in addition to providing regular financial support, Suzanne has responded enthusiastically to Clean Water Action’s calls to action, communicating with her representatives on a range of critical issues, most recently the need to ban toxic BPA from children’s products.

Since she approached Clean Water Action earlier this year about helping through her business, the Gulf oil spill disaster has made her even more enthusiastic about the project, “In light of what has transpired in the Gulf since then, this is a most timely action,” Suzanne says.

Clean Water Action members and supporters must visit the site via Suzanne’s specially created landing page, or mention Clean Water Action during their purchases to trigger the donations. Visit Blugirlart.com to see Suzanne’s latest offerings and help Clean Water Action through your purchases.

Samples of custom fabric designs from Blugirl Art.

Are you the kind of Clean Water Action member who likes to know what’s going on at all times? What is the latest or most interesting news about our water? What do Clean Water Action’s leaders and experts think? Where can I learn more? What can I do about it? What is Clean Water Action doing about it?

If your answer to any or all of these questions is “yes,” then there is a powerful online resource available to you, right away.

Clean Water Action President John DeCock’s We All Live Downstream blog site features frequent postings from John and other interesting guest writers, along with links, photos, calls to action and more. Not just news, but no-holds-barred opinion, humor and practical information and advice. Readers’ com-ments are also posted for others to view. Clean Water Action members may also subscribe for free to receive each new posting by e-mail.

The Story of Cosmetics: What’s Really in Your Personal Care Products?

British Petroleum, By Any Other Name, Would Smell As Foul

Swimming in Toxics

Gulf Dead Zone Jealous of Gulf Oil Blowout Publicity

Slow and Steady Won this Clean Water Race

Recently Written

we all live downstreamhttp://blog.CleanWaterAction.org

Chesapeake Currents | Summer Update 2010 7www.cleanwateraction.org

delaware

Chesapeake CurrentsSUMMERUPDATE2010

Clean Water Action is a national citizens’ organization working for clean, safe and affordable water, prevention of health-threatening pollution, creation of environmentally-safe jobs and businesses, and empowerment of people to make democracy work.

Clean Water Action organizes strong grassroots groups, coalitions and campaigns to protect our environment, health, economic well-being and community quality of life.

President:John DeCock

ManagingEditor:Jon Scott

Editor:Bob Wendelgass, National Deputy Director

Contributors:Andrew Fellows, Chesapeake Regional Director,Andrew Galli

Design: ES Design

Reproduction in whole or part is permitted with proper credit.© Copyright 2010 All rights reserved.

National: 1010 Vermont Avenue NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20005-4918 | Phone 202.895.0432 | Fax 202.895.0438 | [email protected] Baltimore: 711 West 40th Street, Suite 209, Baltimore, MD 21211 | Phone 410.235.8808 | Fax 415.369.8816 | [email protected]

8Chesapeake Currents | Summer Update 2010 www.cleanwateraction.org

Delaware Mulls State Permits to Deepen the Delaware RiverThe United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has applied to the state of Delaware for a permit to deepen to the Delaware River from 40 to 45 feet despite the enormous threat that the action would pose to drinking water supplies and the River’s ecology.

Clean Water Action and other environmental groups have opposed the plan, citing studies showing threats to drinking water, marsh-

lands, wetlands, and a variety of Delaware wildlife, including sturgeon, horseshoe crabs, migrating shorebirds, summer and winter flounder, skate, scup, oysters, blue crab and more. At the same time, several studies, including a recent one by the General Accounting Office, have found very limited benefits from the dredging, mostly to the refineries along the river.

New Source Illuminates Toxic Threat to Water Supply

TAKE ACTION! The original comment deadline onthe Delaware permit has been extended to September 13. Clean Water Action members can help oppose the deepening of the Delaware. Comments may be sent by email, regular mail or fax. Please do not send comments by multiple methods. Just choose one.

Please mark all comments and correspondence with “Main Channel Deepening.” The deadline for comments is 4:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 13, 2010.

• commentscanbeemailedto: [email protected]

• orifyouprefer,youcanmailthemto: DNREC Hearing Officer, Main Channel Deepening

c/o Wetlands and Subaqueous Lands Section 89 Kings Highway, Dover, Delaware 19901

• orfaxthemtotheattentionof: DNREC Hearing Officer, Main Channel Deepening

Fax: 302-739-6304

The Wilmington News Journal recently published a stellar expose on groundwater pollution in Delaware, and the region served by the Potomac Aquifer, the groundwater supply for significant portions of New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. Reporter Jeff Montgomery has covered the environment for years, and his devastating series of articles details serious threats to groundwater resources that support drinking water for many residents of Delaware and its neighbors.

The series reports:

• Taxpayers could be stuck with a $100 million toxic mess to clean up, after a large number of polluters have gone bankrupt or walked away from their responsibilities.

• The contamination is spread statewide in Delaware, endangering drinking water supplies.

• There is little if any tracking of responsibility and accountability in current and past tracking of drinking water contamination.

Please read the series at: www.delawareonline.com/article/20100726/NEWS/7260329/1006/Polluted-water-found-statewide