"I have challenged people to show me a major achievement in the history of the United States through a voluntary program," Winegrad said, "and no one has ever found one."
The Patuxent: growth
For a time, the Patuxent River looked like it would be the bay cleanup movement's success story - a river rescued from certain death by a band of Southern Maryland activists.
Three decades ago, they sued to force the state and federal governments to stop allowing pollution to be dumped into their river by sewage plants serving Baltimore and Washington. Eventually, the plants were fixed - and the Patuxent rebounded. Bay grasses were so plentiful that children pulled them up to make wigs. When the locust blooms came in spring, the crabs ran once again.
Bernie Fowler couldn't believe it. The genteel fellow who made his living renting out rowboats on tiny Broomes Island was witnessing the rebirth he had dreamed about. "I was just so happy, I was jumping up and down for joy," said Fowler, now 84, who as a county commissioner helped lead the lawsuit. "I figured we had turned the corner."
Today, the Patuxent is tied with the Severn and other Anne Arundel rivers for the most polluted in the Chesapeake Bay. Algae blooms, like the one Boynton found near the Route 231 bridge, are common. Large portions of the river are a muddy brown, the result of sediments pouring in from development. Even in rural parts, there are no grasses left and hardly any crabs.
The river is dying. And this time, Patuxent activists can't blame the urban counties upstream. Southern Maryland has become part of the problem.
Tens of thousands of people have moved to Calvert County alone. Its miles of beautiful shoreline have become home for people like Burt Lahn, a career Coast Guard employee who rises at 4 a.m. each day to catch a bus to Washington. The former Howard County resident says his three-hour commute is worth it. "This is the paradise I was looking for," said Lahn, who lives in one of Broomes Island's new homes.
Lahn's neighbor, Bruce Pitt, bought a lot on a one-time strawberry field when his family outgrew their house in Virginia. The IT consultant says he likes being within driving distance of the Washington area, where he has many clients.
"The people are nice down here," he said. "I've got six kids, and this is a great place for them."
