Maryland Environmental News: October 2008
Maryland is one of the most diverse states in terms of its geography as it has almost every type of topography you can think it. Ranging from the mountainous areas in the west that are part of the Appalachian to low marshlands on the Chesapeake bay. You can never stop finding new and different places to go in Maryland and still be amazed at how beautiful the environment is. That probably sounds pretty biased, probably because I have lived in Maryland for my entire life. There are many environmental issues present in Maryland and I just wanted to share a few of those with you.
Chesapeake Bay Pollution Reduction
Waterman from both Maryland and Virginia along with the Chesapeake Bay foundation are threatening to sue the EPA if they do not take action to reduce the amount of pollution in the bay. The Chesapeake Bay is America’s largest estuaries and has a wide variety of sea creatures including Maryland’s famous blue crabs. The EPA has failed to enforce the Clean Water Act, leaving the bay to continually worsen. The biggest problem is when Dead Zones occur that reduce the amount of oxygen in the bay. This can be deadly to many of the creatures in the bay including the blue crabs, fish and oysters. Not only does it put many fisherman out of work, but it also puts the many species in the bay at risk. The Chesapeake Bay foundation is angry that the EPA continues to push the pollution problems in the bay to the background. That’s why they have gone down the legal route to force the EPA to meet its goal of eliminating much of the pollution in the bay by 2015, outlined in the Clean Water Act.
Environmental Groups Cracking Down on Mercury
Three groups: the Environmental Integrity Project, Clean Water Action and the Waterkeeper Alliance are arguing that the Carroll County cement plant and a Western Maryland paper mill are contaminating local waters with mercury. They are two of the top five contributors to mercury contamination the state and unlike the other three, have no laws requiring them to clean up. Combined, the two contribute to almost 40% of the entire state’s mercury emissions. This is horrendous considering that mercury is extremely dangerous to the environment as well as our health. The paper mill did install $30 million worth of pollution control equipment late last year, but the results are not yet in on how this may curtailed their mercury contamination. The cement plant has yet to take action and only will do so if federal regulations are put into place.
