Drilling

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) applauds the decision by the Obama Administration to temporary halt the approval of new permits for offshore drilling until the investigation of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is complete. However, we think the moratorium on drilling off the Mid-Atlantic region should be permanent. For four decades, CBF has taken an absolute uncompromising stand against any addition or expansion of the oil and gas industry on the Chesapeake Bay. While two huge battles against oil refineries in the '70s were met with extreme criticism, supporters in both cases later agreed that oil refineries in their particular locations (Baltimore and Hampton Roads)

Baltimore police are investigating a training drill where officers used their unloaded service weapons, a violation of new safety protocols put into place three months ago following the accidental shooting of a trainee. No one was hurt during the drill. Deputy Commissioner John Skinner, who is in charge of police operations, said the officers were using unloaded service weapons instead of training guns that do not have firing pins, which he called a “critical kind of safety error.” It occurred Tuesday at Camp Fretterd, a National Guard installation in Reisterstown, where police were conducting room-clearing exercises, Skinner said.

Let me see if I got this right. Robert Nelson is arguing for opening up ANWR because the oil companies will make lots of money, with the citizens of Alaska and the federal government getting a slice of this poisoned pie as well. Of course, the financial hit that we will all suffer due to the economic, environmental and human consequences of adding more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and compounding our greenhouse gas crisis is not computed in Mr. Nelson's neat arithmetic of profits.

An emergency drill at the Woodlawn-based Social Security Administration is likely to cause traffic delays Friday near Security Boulevard and Woodlawn Drive. Most employees from the Security West building will be evacuated from the facilities during the drill. The public is encouraged to take a different route to avoid delays. The drill will take place in the afternoon, but Social Security declined to announce a specific time. The exercise is required in accordance with federal, state and local requirements to prepare employees for any future threats they may encounter.

There is no reason that the U.S. shouldn't be energy independent in 10 years. Yes, we would have to drill some more, but as Peter Morici points out ("Obama's bad bet," April 3), we would manage the environmental issues much better than others. The geopolitical and economic upside would be enormous. Solar (I do have a solar-powered water heater) and wind can be good supplements, but we have to wean ourselves from being dependent on Middle East and Latin American countries. Lyle Rescott, Marriottsville

A study of how or whether to allow a controversial drilling method for extracting natural gas in Western Maryland cannot be finished without funding, state officials told lawmakers Tuesday. O'Malley administration officials joined environmentalists in supporting a bill that would pay for their year-old study of hydraulic fracturing by levying a fee on the estimated 150,000 acres leased for gas exploration in Garrett and Allegany counties. Business and oil industry representatives opposed the fee, arguing that it could dampen prospects for drilling to boost the economically depressed region.

Gov.Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s column on American energy independence is flawed in several respects ("Road to energy independence goes through ANWR and Keystone," March 11). He argues we need to drill for more oil, construct a distribution pipeline and open up more offshore wells. But the fact is that today the U.S. is awash in crude oil, in greater quantities than ever in our history. The problem isn't a shortage of crude oil but our limited capacity to refine it into gasoline, which has led to shortages and high prices.

First, there was Katrina, then Haiti, and now the oil spill. The world has been hit with many disasters; this being a huge man-made mistake, and it could have been prevented. In many ways, I believe the spill is the fault of BP. They should have better prepared themselves for this. Yet again, I also believe this issue is in the hands of President Barack Obama. Since it has happened under his watch, it should partially be his responsibility to clean this mess up. The ban on expanding offshore drilling was the right policy.

I thought I had heard all of the reasons for oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) until I read Robert H. Nelson's commentary "A missed opportunity on energy" (Feb. 17). After initially making an economic argument, then a quasi-religious argument, Mr. Nelson advanced his rationale for disqualifying ANWR as a protected natural resource. ANWR is not worthy of preservation because A) it has changed geologically and biologically from its original character, and B)

Maryland's senators and environmental activists are vowing to oppose President Barack Obama's move to expand oil and gas exploration off the state's Atlantic coast, warning that it could hurt tourism in Ocean City, threaten fish and wildlife along relatively unspoiled Assateague Island and foul the Chesapeake Bay. Drilling off the Mid-Atlantic coast would not begin for years, if ever, and was part of a broader energy strategy the president outlined...

A maritime rescue drill scheduled for Wednesday morning on the Severn River near Annapolis has been postponed because of a small-craft wind advisory, a Coast Guard spokesman said. The drill, involving a 64-foot cabin cruiser in distress and billowing smoke, was to be a training exercise for local Coast Guard units, members of Natural Resources Police, and rescue crews from Anne Arundel County, Annapolis and Kent Island. The National Weather Service has issued an advisory for the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay and the lower tidal Potomac River.

Times are good these days at the Linde Corp., where despite a sluggish economy nationally, the company is on a hiring binge. The construction company, based near Wilkes-Barre in northeastern Pennsylvania, has seen its workforce nearly triple over the past five years as it switched from helping to build big-box stores to laying miles of natural gas pipelines connecting hundreds of gas wells drilled in the rolling rural terrain here in Susquehanna County....

State investigators are exploring whether a Baltimore police instructor who shot a trainee this week was horsing around and not participating in a drill when he accidentally reached for his service weapon instead of a paint-cartridge pistol, according to sources familiar with the inquiry. Baltimore police identified the instructor Thursday as Officer William Scott Kern, 46, an 18-year veteran on the force. City police union president Robert F. Cherry said Kern has worked in the training academy for more than a decade and his "integrity was always beyond reproach.

More than 100 police, fire, first responders, military and civilian personnel participated in a one-day Homeland Security exercise on Feb. 4 at Battelle in Aberdeen. Those attending included representatives of federal, state, county and local governments, as well as military representatives from the Aberdeen Proving Ground and Fort Meade. The exercise was coordinated by the Harford County Division of Emergency Operations in cooperation with the University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security and Aberdeen Proving Ground.

State environmental officials are drilling monitoring wells on the outskirts of Salisbury to get a better handle on ground-water contamination there that has fouled dozens of household wells with a potentially cancer-causing chemical, according to a spokesman. The Maryland Department of the Environment has contracted to install a total of 10 wells in the residential area south of the city to gather more information on the movement and severity of contaminated ground water, said Jay Apperson, the agency's deputy communications director.

Fresh off a three-game stretch in which he has led the Ravens in rushing, Bernard Pierce did not appear to be in line to do much at Tuesday's practice. The rookie running back walked slowly into the team's indoor training facility and did not carry a helmet. Pierce, who usually participates in special teams, stood on the sideline during the portion of practice open to the media. Pierce had been limited by an ankle injury last week, but carried the ball 13 times for 103 yards in the team's 24-9 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in an AFC wild-card playoff contest.

Robert H. Nelson's "drill-baby-drill" inspired commentary piece ("ANWR: Obama's missed opportunity on energy," Feb. 17) claiming that the environmental movement views the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as the Garden of Eden would be laughable if it weren't so tragically misguided. This country does not have a petroleum supply problem -- it has a petroleum demand problem. By increasing supply and surpressing prices, increased offshore and ANWR oil production would only lead to further increases in demand, ensuring that US dollars will continue to flow to oil-rich dictatorships and their terrorist clients.

The thought of exploring for oil and gas near Chesapeake Bay leaves us uncomfortable. Bay marine life is too fragile to withstand damage caused by an accidental oil spill. That could erase the many gains made to restore the bay to good health and devastate aquatic life.Yet Texaco seeks a relaxation of a two-year moratorium on drilling along Virginia's Chesapeake shores. Texaco hopes to convince Virginia officials that more domestic oil-producing sources are necessary to reduce our dependency on oil produced in the Middle East.

Environmental activists met Saturday at the University of Baltimore to organize a push for a legislative ban on the natural gas drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing — or fracking — casting the issue as a fight pitting the little guys versus the lobbyists. Del. Heather R. Mizeur told the crowd of about 200 activists that she wanted Maryland to show others that they can hold the gas industry accountable before drilling starts, rather than trying to clean up after any environmental problems.

Most remember the rule "stop, drop and roll" when it comes to fires. Federal emergency management officials want to add "drop, cover and hold on" to our memory banks. Those are the instructions given during an earthquake, and people across five states, including Maryland, and the District of Columbia will be practicing them on Thursday. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and Central U.S. Earthquake Consortium are holding "The Great Southeast ShakeOut", a widespread earthquake response drill.