FEATURES
Timothy B. Wheeler, The Baltimore Sun | July 9, 2012
Perched atop a weathered navigational marker near Rocky Point in Back River, the osprey shifted nervously, screeched and flew off as a boat full of people approached. With the raptor circling overhead, Rebecca Lazarus climbed onto the marker and peered into its nest, a tangled heap of tree branches and scraps of plastic. "She's got one chick in here," called out Lazarus, a doctoral student at the University of Maryland, College Park. The osprey had laid two eggs, but only one hatched.
NEWS
By Jacques Kelly, The Baltimore Sun | July 4, 2012
Rescuers, including the Coast Guard and other local police authorities, are searching for a man after his personal watercraft was found unattended in the Back River near Essex. The Coast Guard reported Harry Gillis, 47, of Baltimore, was missing. According to statement, the Coast Guard received a call at approximately 4 p.m. Tuesday from a man reporting that a blue personal watercraft had drifted to his pier with the keys in the ignition. Coast Guard crew used a boat and a helicopter in its search.
NEWS
By Mary Gail Hare, The Baltimore Sun | May 13, 2012
A tot's discarded rocking horse has taken on an artful life and become a compelling symbol of a river befouled by debris. Towson University art students recently salvaged the toy, in two large chunks, during a volunteer clean-up along Back River in Essex. "When it came out of the river, it was scary, dirty and something like the swamp creature," said Vicki Miller, 19, of Parkton, during a class critique last week in anticipation of a trash art auction. But Olivia Moore saw in the yellowed, broken toy the potential to deliver an anti-pollution message.
NEWS
By Mary Gail Hare, The Baltimore Sun | April 24, 2012
An array of solar panels, spreading across nearly five acres at the Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant in Essex, could deliver significant energy savings and will pay for itself within a decade, officials said Tuesday. The 4,200 American-made panels, installed in the past three months at a cost of about $4 million, have begun to supply about 5 percent of the energy — up to 1,000 kilowatts per hour — needed to run the plant on Eastern Avenue. The plant serves about 1.3 million residents in the city and Baltimore County and can treat 180 million gallons of sewage a day. It uses the methane byproduct from its treatment process to produce about 20 percent of the power for its equipment.
FEATURES
Tim Wheeler | March 13, 2012
After years of investigation and some limited cleanup, an old Dundalk area dumping ground containing toxic wastes is due for federal attention now. The Environmental Protection Agency announced today (3/13) that it is adding the Sauer Dump to the National Priorities List, also known as Superfund , because the soil and wetland sediment on the 2.5-acre site contain high concentrations of lead, PCBs and other hazardous chemicals. The partly wooded tract on Back River was originally marshland that was filled in by a past owner, according to EPA. Toxic substances were deposited there while it operated as a dump from the 1960s through the 1980s. A number of homes are nearby.
NEWS
By Timothy B. Wheeler, The Baltimore Sun | March 13, 2012
For nearly 30 years, local, state and federal authorities have wrestled with what to do about an old dump in North Point that's been leaking toxic waste into nearby wetlands and Back River. On Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Agency declared the Sauer Dump a Superfund site, making it a priority for a federally supervised cleanup. When it will finally get cleaned up, though, remains an open question. An EPA spokesman said more investigation is needed and couldn't say when work might begin to deal with the contaminants lurking in the soil and sediments.