WAYNE T. GILCHREST paddled his canoe with determination against the Sassafras River's currents near his Kennedyville home on a damp, cloudy morning.
He was returning from a trip into a nature wonderland, almost in his back yard, where water lilies bloom and blue heron nest.
He angled the canoe to buffer the vessel against the strong current and eventually guided in for a smooth landing.
Oncoming waves didn't bother Mr. Gilchrest, Maryland's 1st District congressman. Not one bit. The congressman is accustomed to paddling against the tide, whether it's in the rivers he fights to make pollution-free or turbulent political waters.
He's paddled especially hard this year in a perplexing, perhaps precedent-setting, brawl with the Maryland Port Administration.
In an unthinkable move, he's asking Congress to take back millions of dollars allotted to deepen two of the port of Baltimore's channels, projects the state insists are crucial to luring and retaining steamship lines that could find other ports more attractive.
Deauthorizing home state projects -- particularly those widely viewed as vital to the state's economy -- is virtually unheard of.
Mr. Gilchrest has created this storm and now he endures the currents of criticism from port officials and businessmen, his congressional colleagues and this newspaper -- all of whom have praised him in the past.
Yet he stays the misguided course: He honestly believes dredging projects that would bring more cargo to Baltimore are wasteful and environmentally disastrous.
Nobody questions his deep commitment to the environment. He says protecting the Chesapeake Bay and other preservation efforts consume one-third of his time and energy in Congress. The environment is his passion.
He's proud that Kent County farmers have learned to protect the Sassafras River by allowing a buffer strip of brush to grow between their crops and the river, protecting the waters from harmful nutrients. He's studied environmental issues issue well and deserves credit for his work.
But he ignores the realities of economic development.
"Wayne Gilchrest is such an environmentalist that he would not want to disturb anything on Earth," complained former U.S. Rep. Helen Delich Bentley, a fellow Republican who is legendary for her incessant work to improve the port of Baltimore. "He really does not understand the maritime picture."
