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Mute testimony: Invasive swans’ impact on SAV speaks for itself
Trumpeter swans may again grace Bay's waters
No easy answer for preventing mute swans' predation of Bay grasses
Bill clears way to resume culling of mute swans
A last-minute addition to a federal spending bill cleared the way for Maryland to resume killing mute swans that wildlife officials say destroy Chesapeake Bay grasses.
The language removed an ambiguity in the Migratory Bird Treaty Act that allowed a federal judge to stop the state’s plan to eradicate 525 adult swans last year. Those swans and as many as 94 other nonnative species will no longer be protected by the act.
“We are extremely relieved,” said Jonathan McKnight, head of the invasive species program for the Department of Natural Resources. “Now we have a daunting task ahead of us.”
McKnight said he expects biologists to begin culling 1,500 birds from an estimated population of 4,000 in the spring.
U.S. Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest put the language into the bill at the request of state officials and environmental groups.
Opponents who fought the killings in the courts called Gilchrest’s maneuver “undemocratic and underhanded.”
“It is subterfuge,” said Michael Markarian, president of the Fund for Animals. “They couldn't get it passed on its merits as a standalone bill, so they pushed it through the back door. By the time we found out, it was too late, there was nothing we could do about it.”
Gilchrest said he worked with legislators in both houses from seven states. “I was able to work with Democrats and environmental groups. Every environmental group known to reasonable people was in favor of this,” he told The Baltimore Sun. “If this had been brought to the floor as a (standalone) bill, I’m convinced it would have had at least 300 votes.”
Adult mute swans can eat up to 8 pounds of underwater grasses daily—eliminating critical vegetation that filters Bay water and controls erosion. The birds also squeeze out native waterfowl, Bay experts say.
Waste coal included on list of PA alternative energy sources
Pennsylvania has become the first major coal state to require that a portion of electricity used inside its borders come from a handful of alternative sources like wind, trash and fuel cells.
But it is also the only state to include waste coal as one of those sources, despite the fact the legislation grew out of a desire to force the proliferation of cleaner energies.
“It was an absolute political reality that if any bill was going to pass to benefit wind and solar, waste coal was going to have to be included,” said John Hanger, a clean-energy advocate who lobbied for the bill.
Many lawmakers insisted on waste coal, and the administration of Gov. Ed Rendell agreed, seeing it as a way to create jobs and clean up the estimated 240 million tons of waste coal that sit on the state’s landscape, leaking acidic runoff into streams and other waterways. A requirement to draw electricity from alternative sources is becoming more common: New York, Colorado and Maryland added one in the last three months—and the sources vary by state.
Under Pennsylvania’s law, utilities will be required to provide 18 percent of the electricity used in Pennsylvania from alternative sources by 2020.
A portion of electricity in Pennsylvania is already derived from some of the sources outlined in the bill. While the exact amount is unclear, as much as 10 percent may already qualify, much of it from the state’s 14 commercial waste coal plants, proponents of the new law say.
The power industry was worried that the legislation will be costly or undercut more reliable forms of energy, while many environmentalists were unhappy that coal found a home in legislation they began as a way to boost clean energies.
The bill did nothing to ensure that the tons of ash left over from burning waste coal will be disposed of safely, said Nathan Willcox, of the clean energy advocacy group, PennEnvironment. “So in the end we could be creating the same water pollution we’re supposedly working to prevent,” he said.
Proponents of the waste coal industry see the law as a way to solidify the state’s waste coal plants, especially as electricity costs decline amid greater competition.
Without waste coal in the law, the state’s waste coal plants will have a hard time competing with other power plants that are larger and can process fuel at a lower cost, said Billie Ramsey, who heads a Harrisburg-based waste coal industry group.
State officials say there aren’t enough taxpayer dollars to clean up the piles of waste coal. Instead, they say, the private sector will have to be harnessed for the task.
Bloxom to be first VA ag secretary
Virginia Gov. Mark Warner in December appointed former Del. Robert Bloxom to serve in the newly created cabinet position as the state’s secretary of agriculture and forestry. The secretary will be responsible for the Virginia Department of Forestry, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Virginia Agricultural Council, and the Virginia Marine Products Board, agencies that previously reported to the secretary of commerce and trade.
Bloxom, 67, served in the House of Delegates from 1978 until his retirement at the end of 2003, and has a long background in Bay issues, including serving on the Chesapeake Bay Commission, a multistate panel representing state legislatures.
Company donates patent for nitrogen control technology
BASF recently donated its patent for nitrogen-removing wastewater treatment technology to the nonprofit Water Environment Research Foundation, which represents wastewater treatment plant operators nationwide.
The technology, called Continuous Flow Completely Mixed Waste Water Treatment Method—often referred to as Timeswitch technology—allows nitrogen to be removed from wastewater in a single treatment tank, potentially resulting in large savings for plant operators.
Typically, nitrogen removal is accomplished using separate aerobic and anoxic tanks that grow the bacteria needed to remove nitrogen from water, which often requires costly plant expansions. The Timeswitch technology allows the aerobic and anoxic treatment to be accomplished in one tank.
“We’re excited about the cooperation with BASF on a project that may be quite useful in adding to the available nitrogen removal methods,” said Glenn Reinhardt, executive director of WERF.
BASF discovered the technique during attempts to remove nitrate compounds in the discharge from its plant in Freeport, TX. BASF did not implement the process, but retained rights to use the technology under the donation agreement with WERF.
The organization said the technology may prove useful to wastewater treatment plants in the Chesapeake watershed and other areas that need to control nitrogen, such as the Gulf of Mexico and the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
PA OKs nitrogen control funding
Up to $150 million in assistance may be available to reduce nitrogen discharges from wastewater treatment plants in legislation approved shortly before the General Assembly adjourned in November.
But the Chesapeake Bay Foundation said the bill that authorized the nitrogen control funding by the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority was a mixed bag because it also included $200 million in economic development projects without safeguards that would keep those projects from causing sprawl.
“While we are delighted that the General Assembly has included funding for nutrient reduction technology to help address our regional nutrient pollution problem, we are concerned that the legislation contains other provisions that may contribute to sprawl,” said Matt Ehrhart, CBF’s Pennsylvania executive director. He said the group would work with state agencies “to ensure the funds are channeled into environmentally beneficial projects while discouraging the use of funds for projects that devour our precious open space and farmland.”
VA fish consumption advisory
The Virginia Department of Health issued new fish consumption advisories in December that will for the first time affect striped bass caught in the Bay and many of its tributaries because they contain PCBs.
Health officials say PCB pollution is not getting worse. The advisories are based on changed assumptions about how long a period of time people may consume fish from affected waterbodies.
“The levels of PCBs have not increased, but our guidelines for determining what is acceptable for human consumption have become more protective,” said Dr. Robert B. Stroube, Virginia’s health commissioner.
The changes mean people should eat no more than two meals of striped bass from the Bay each month. The state issued consumption advisories for other fish as well.
Health officials said the toughened advisories bring them in line with more stringent warnings in Maryland and North Carolina. Maryland earlier in the year issued an advisory suggesting that people limit their consumption of striped bass from the Bay.
For information about Virginia’s advisories, visit www.vdh.virginia.gov
Coral reef damage rising worldwide
Only about 30 percent of the world’s coral reefs are healthy, down from 41 percent two years ago, according to a study that lists global warming as the top threat.
The study, released in December, found as many as one-fifth of the world’s coral reefs have been destroyed. Another half are damaged but could be saved, it said.
Coral reefs are among the oldest and most diverse forms of life. They provide food and shelter to fish and protect shores from erosion. While covering less than 1 percent of the earth’s surface, they help to drive the food chains and economies of many on the planet, with $375 billion in economic benefits globally, according to the study by 240 scientists in 96 countries.
After global warming—blamed for higher water temperatures and carbon dioxide concentrations—threats include coral disease, overfishing, coastal development and pollution runoff from land-based sources.
