Clean Water Act

Over the past several months, environmentalists in the Chesapeake Bay region have been closely watching the Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act of 2009, introduced by Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland. The Cardin bill, as it is commonly known, is being offered as a way to clean up a watershed that has suffered for decades from industrial abuse and political ineptitude. It is being touted by some as the last great chance to save the bay. Unfortunately, in its current form, this bill will end up doing more harm than good.

Maryland is fortunate to have many beautiful parks, rivers and streams, breathtaking views, delicious fish and shellfish and enjoyable recreational opportunities, from our nation's largest estuary to the snow-capped mountains in Western Maryland. Throughout our history, we have not done enough to protect these treasures and the water that links them, allowing them to deteriorate and their ecosystems to suffer. Under Gov.Martin O'Malley's leadership, though, things have started to turn around.

WASHINGTON -- The House of Representatives approved far-reaching changes to the Clean Water Act yesterday, a powerful signal that conservatives have the votes to carry their crusade against federal regulations into territories governed by the nation's core environmental laws.It was the first vote in the 104th Congress to rewrite whole sections of a major conservation law, and its backers fought off almost every attempt to amend their proposal.The legislation would give more authority to the states and more weight to economic considerations when water quality standards are set and when farmers, businesses and sewage treatment plants are told how to meet them.

The latest study on the health of the Chesapeake Bay has some encouraging news - offering signs that years of pollution-fighting efforts are having a positive effect. Now, it remains to be seen whether Congress is paying attention and can refrain from pulling the proverbial rug out from under the bay's cleanup campaign. First the good news. A new study released by Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science has found that efforts by Maryland and other states to reduce the flow of fertilizer, animal waste and other pollutants into the Chesapeake Bay has had a positive effect on the oxygen-deprived "dead zones" of the bay. The largest such dead zone - near the Chesapeake's deep water channel - appears to have peaked in the 1980s and declined ever since, according to the study published this month.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court, in a potentially far-reaching clash between the environment and the rights of property owners, agreed yesterday to consider limiting the federal government's power to protect hundreds of millions of acres of wetlands. After its first private conference led by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., the court said it would hear three cases that ask the justices to cut back on the reach of the Clean Water Act of 1972, the anti-pollution measure that led to the cleanup of streams, rivers and bays around the United States.

NEW YORK - Bundled up against bone-chilling cold, the two intrepid fishermen cast their lines into the swirling waters of the East River as traffic from a busy highway flowed nearby.It was 11 degrees as they walked the promenade along the river's edge in Manhattan, trying to keep warm."I am here almost every day," said Peter Wright, 51, an air-conditioning repairman wearing a New York Rangers jacket with a hood pulled up over his ears. "I'm a die-hard fisherman.""My big catch is striped bass," said his companion, Jose Rivera, 59, a construction worker sporting a bulky blue coat and woolen cap. "Sometimes we catch bluefish.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court sided with the environment over electric power yesterday, ruling that state regulators may require a steady flow of water over power dams to benefit both fish and kayakers. The unanimous decision holds that states may protect the health of their rivers, even though hydroelectric power dams are regulated exclusively by the federal government. The dispute arose over five small dams on the Presumpscot River in Maine, but the court's decision affects an estimated 1,500 power dams in 45 states.

CEDAR GROVE, N.J. -- Back when the Peckman River was a watery dump for sewage, grass clippings and broken furniture, the notion of its becoming a trout stream seemed like a fantasy. But two sewage plants on the small river were upgraded. Residents cleared debris, then began stocking the river with trout. The state wants to label this unremarkable river in the unbroken sprawl of northern New Jersey a trout stream. The moral of the tale: Be careful what you fish for. The federal Clean Water Act, filtered through the state bureaucracy, is emitting a fine mess.

One in five of the sewer plants and industries permitted to dump hazardous chemicals into Maryland's waterways have exceeded federal limits since 1999, according to a Washington-based environmental group. The report by Public Interest Research Group uses Environmental Protection Agency data to show that 19 sewer plants and industries in Maryland exceeded permitted limits for hazardous chemical discharges between 1999 and last year. Nationwide, the report said that four out of five plants exceeded federal limits.

Federal regulators have offered Mayor Martin O'Malley a settlement that would force the city to make substantial repairs to its aging sewer system at a cost of roughly $900 million, a gargantuan undertaking that could translate into a tripling of sewer bills for Baltimore residents. O'Malley said yesterday he will meet in the next two weeks with federal attorneys in a last-ditch attempt to soften what he calls a "very unjust" settlement offer, which was completed in recent weeks with the city's attorneys, after more than two years of federal investigation and confidential negotiations to resolve numerous violations of the Clean Water Act. The city's nearly century-old sewers have long been troubled by overflows that have dumped millions of gallons of raw sewage into tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice, joined by state environmental regulators, have threatened a lawsuit under the federal Clean Water Act unless the city agrees to fix those problems quickly.

The recent headline about Andy Harris and the Clean Water Act quickly caught my eye ("No defender of the bay," July 18). It has been quite clear since Mr. Harris first entered politics the liberal gang at The Sun has set out to destroy him. Strangely, when you arrive at the gates to heaven, "the ends justified the means," isn't likely to impress St. Peter. At no point do you say it, but may I infer you imply that unlike the federal government, the state governments have no interest in clean water?

Water has a tendency to flow downhill. This has been known for quite some time - to the point one might have assumed word had penetrated the hallowed halls of the U.S. House of Representatives by now. Alas, it appears not. Last Wednesday, the House voted, 239-184, to rewrite the Clean Water Act to limit federal authority and give the states the final word on interpreting and enforcing water pollution laws. Even more stupefying, one of those voting for this misguided effort represents a district with perhaps the most to gain from stringent enforcement of the Clean Water Act - Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland's 1 s t Congressional District.

F. Gould Charshee Jr., an environmental planner who worked for decades on improving water quality in the Baltimore metropolitan area, died June 11 of complications from Parkinson's disease and a series of strokes at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. The Roland Park resident was 66. Mr. Charshee was born and raised in Summit, N.J. He attended the Johns Hopkins University in the mid-1960s. He met his future wife, Pamela Ford, then a student at Roland Park Country School, after a mutual friend introduced them and they went out on a blind date.

F. Gould Charshee Jr., an environmental planner who worked for decades on improving water quality in the Baltimore metropolitan area, died June 11 of complications from Parkinson's disease and a series of strokes at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. The Roland Park resident was 66. Mr. Charshee was born and raised in Summit, N.J. He attended the Johns Hopkins University in the mid-1960s. He met his future wife, Pamela Ford, then a student at Roland Park Country School, after a mutual friend introduced them and they went out on a blind date.

My first visit to the Chesapeake Bay was disappointing to say the least. As a place that receives millions of visitors a year, it shouldn't be too much to expect clean water. Roughly 20 percent of all wetlands may no longer be protected by the Clean Water Act. We need EPA director Lisa Jackson and the EPA to act now to protect America's waterways. Muhammad Yasin, Reston, Va.

In an article about natural gas drilling ("Md. environment chief wants more U.S. oversight of fracking," April 13), The Sun's John Fritze reports that to "extract natural gas through fracking, companies use millions of gallons of liquids," but that explanation is inadequate. Anyone interested in information about fracking for gas extraction should watch the HBO documentary, "Gasland," or drive up to Bradford County, Penn. and see the devastating results of this process. Toxic chemicals are pumped into the ground with water and sand to force the gas up. Sixty-five of the chemicals used are considered dangerous to human health.

Maryland is failing to ride herd on water pollution in the state because of serious funding shortfalls and its own flawed enforcement practices, according to a Washington-based think tank. The Center for Progressive Reform contends in a new report that while Maryland has some of the nation's toughest environmental laws, its enforcement of water pollution is lagging. "They could do better," Robert L. Glicksman, the report's co-author and environmental law professor at George Washington University, said of state environmental officials.

Maryland is fortunate to have many beautiful parks, rivers and streams, breathtaking views, delicious fish and shellfish and enjoyable recreational opportunities, from our nation's largest estuary to the snow-capped mountains in Western Maryland. Throughout our history, we have not done enough to protect these treasures and the water that links them, allowing them to deteriorate and their ecosystems to suffer. Under Gov.Martin O'Malley's leadership, though, things have started to turn around.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's effort to put Chesapeake Bay states on a "pollution diet" represents the most hopeful effort toward cleaning up the estuary in a generation. So why are House Republicans so invested in sabotaging it? That the GOP would like to thwart the EPA on any number of fronts is clear enough. The House attempted to block funding of the EPA's Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) restrictions on nutrients and sediment earlier this year, and only opposition from the Senate has prevented a general evisceration of the agency's budget.

The American Farm Bureau recently filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency challenging the agency's "pollution diet" for this 64,000-square-mile watershed. The response of some critics, including this publication's editorial board, might lead readers to believe that the Farm Bureau is opposing the cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay. Nothing could be further from the truth. Despite the rhetoric of critics, the Farm Bureau's lawsuit is not about whether to clean up the bay. Farmers remain committed to working to achieve clean water for the Chesapeake.