Environmental Groups

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation and other environmental groups have urged a Pennsylvania federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the federal government's plan for reducing pollution fouling the estuary. The lawsuit filed in 2011 by the American Farm Bureau Federation and the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau contends that the Environmental Protection Agency did not have the authority to issue the pollution limits, that the public was not granted sufficient opportunity to review and comment, and that the limits are based upon flawed computer modeling and input data.  Other agricultural and building industry groups later joined the suit.

A series of emails between Gov. Martin O'Malley and Perdue's corporate lawyer shows what an environmental group calls a "cozy relationship" between the two law school classmates as Maryland's chief executive weighs farm pollution regulations of concern to the Salisbury-based poultry producer. Food & Water Watch, a Washington-based environmental group, used Maryland's Public Information Act to obtain 70 pages of emails between O'Malley and Herbert D. Frerichs Jr., a partner with the Venable law firm in Baltimore who is general counsel for the Perdue family holding company that owns and operates Perdue Food Products, Perdue AgriBusiness and other entities.

Having spent a substantial portion of my career in the solid waste management field, I have followed with interest the debate regarding waste-to-energy facilities as renewable energy sources. I find it disconcerting that some environmental groups continue trying to aggressively discredit WTE incineration as a viable option. I am not a fan of solid waste management strategies based on a goal of "zero waste" generation. Such strategies sound good but are unrealistic. Effective waste management strategies need to be comprehensive, incorporating components for reuse, recycling, reduction, processing and disposal.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation and other environmental groups have urged a Pennsylvania federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the federal government's plan for reducing pollution fouling the estuary. The lawsuit filed in 2011 by the American Farm Bureau Federation and the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau contends that the Environmental Protection Agency did not have the authority to issue the pollution limits, that the public was not granted sufficient opportunity to review and comment, and that the limits are based upon flawed computer modeling and input data.  Other agricultural and building industry groups later joined the suit.

Environmental groups plan to ask the federal government to crack down on state environmental regulators, accusing them of going easy on water pollution discharged from businesses, sewage plants, farms and developments. The state's Waterkeepers - a network of environmental watchdogs - are expected to file a petition today with the Environmental Protection Agency charging the state Department of the Environment with "systemic failure" to carry out its legal responsibility to ride herd on water pollution piped into Maryland's rivers and the Chesapeake Bay. They say they've been driven to take such an unusual legal step out of frustration with the way the state is handling its duties to safeguard water quality.

More than 60 environmental groups from the six states whose rivers drain into the Chesapeake Bay have formed a coalition to press for stronger federal government efforts to clean up their local waterways, it was announced yesterday. "Clean, healthy water is vital to the health of every one of the nearly 17 million people that live in this region," Jan Jarrett, executive director of Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future, said in a statement announcing the formation of the Choose Clean Water Campaign.

Maryland environmental groups declared yesterday that Republican Ellen R. Sauerbrey would be a disaster on environmental issues if she is elected governor.Representatives of the Maryland League of Conservation Voters and several other groups called a State House news conference to say the Baltimore County delegate's record on environmental legislation is among the worst in the General Assembly."In her 16 years in the General Assembly, Ellen Sauerbrey has voted consistently against the environment," said John Kabler of Clean Water Action.

WASHINGTON -- For environmental groups, success in the 1990s means giving up the fight to save the world and instead battling for what Americans really care about: things in their own backyard."

Charging that Maryland is making it too easy for developers to destroy the state's wetlands, environmental groups threatened yesterday to sue the federal government for turning over protection of marshes and bogs to the state.The National Wildlife Federation and four other groups served formal notice that they will sue the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 60 days for delegating to the state most of its responsibility for safeguarding Maryland's 600,000 acres of tidal and freshwater wetlands.

Two environmental groups have endorsed Republican state Sen. Sandra B. Schrader, while one gave C. Vernon Gray - her Democratic rival - a failing "F" grade for his County Council and zoning board votes. "I think it's wonderful," Schrader said about the endorsements, noting her work on the Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee this year. The District 13 Senate election could decide which party controls the Howard County delegation in Annapolis next term. Meanwhile, a group called African Americans in Howard County also issued endorsements - some of which appeared to further confuse the primary race among five Democrats seeking the three delegate seats in District 13. The group is led by Sherman Howell and the Rev. Robert A. Turner, who on Aug. 6, under the banner of a different group called Howard County Black Clergy, urged District 13 voters to vote only for Democrat Pearl Atkinson Stewart to concentrate support for her. Now, with a somewhat different membership, African Americans in Howard County is recommending Stewart and has issued "a qualified endorsement" of Democratic incumbent Frank S. Turner and is also encouraging consideration for Neil F. Quinter, another Democrat.

With an O'Malley administration bill seeking to boost offshore wind development effectively dead, the General Assembly approved another bill to promote projects that would produce energy from poultry manure and wood. SB237 , which would provide incentives to place giant wind turbines off Ocean City, has yet to come to a vote in the Senate Finance Committee.  Environmental groups, many of whom had made the measure a top priority, threw in the towel late in the day, issuing a press release expressing their disappointment with the General Assembly's failure to pass the measure for a second straight year.

With a catch in her throat, Kristin Hudson talks in a video posted online about her young daughter asking if "they" will take away her daddy's farm. The video, featured on SaveFarmFamilies.org rallied farmers and others across the country to the side of an Eastern Shore farm couple fighting an environmental group's lawsuit alleging that the farm polluted a Chesapeake Bay tributary. The Web-based organization has raised more than $200,000 to date from Perdue Farms, agricultural groups and other farmers to help Alan and Kristin Hudson pay legal bills in the 2-year-old case, according to one of the group's leaders.

State officials are plowing ahead with new rules on how and when farmers can fertilize their fields, despite last-minute objections from environmentalists that the proposed limits have been weakened in an apparent bid to mollify agricultural interests. The state Department of Agriculture plans to publish proposed changes to its "nutrient management" regulations on Dec. 2 in the Maryland Register, spokeswoman Julianne Oberg said in an email. State officials have said the new rules, which deal with the spreading of animal manure and sewage sludge on farm fields, are intended to reduce polluted runoff from farms as part of Maryland's effort to restore the Chesapeake Bay. Among the proposed changes are a ban on putting down any fertilizer in winter and tighter limits in the fall, requiring farmers to store their animals' waste until spring or find other uses for it. The changes were generally welcomed by environmental groups when first announced three weeks ago. Some activists, notably former state Sen. Gerald Winegrad of Annapolis, thought they were still far too weak, but others saw them as a good first step toward tackling agricultural pollution.

COOK'S BEACH, N.J. — The small bird sitting along this sandy spit of land is starving and dinner offerings are slim. Having flown 5,000 miles from South America and with 5,000 to go to its Arctic breeding ground, the red knot needs to fatten up along Delaware Bay or die. For tens of thousands of birds over the last decade, death has been inevitable. The red knot population, scientists believe, may be down to its last 25,000. Two weeks ago, bird experts and environmentalists called on the federal government to accelerate the review process for placing the red knot on the endangered species list.

Having spent a substantial portion of my career in the solid waste management field, I have followed with interest the debate regarding waste-to-energy facilities as renewable energy sources. I find it disconcerting that some environmental groups continue trying to aggressively discredit WTE incineration as a viable option. I am not a fan of solid waste management strategies based on a goal of "zero waste" generation. Such strategies sound good but are unrealistic. Effective waste management strategies need to be comprehensive, incorporating components for reuse, recycling, reduction, processing and disposal.

Lawsuits brought by government and private parties to address damage done to the environment became a necessary fact of life in this country long ago. In a perfect world, perhaps nobody would pollute — or at least those who did would immediately and appropriately be corrected by a government agency. But the real world sometimes requires court orders. It is in that context that Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler's recent decision to file notice of intent to sue Chesapeake Energy Corp.

Environmental groups filed suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, accusing an Eastern Shore chicken farm and poultry giant Perdue Farms of polluting waters that flow into the Chesapeake Bay. The Assateague Coastkeeper and Waterkeeper Alliance contends that harmful levels of bacteria and nutrient pollution are flowing from a drainage ditch on the farm into a branch of the Pocomoke River. The lawsuit - the first to target Maryland's chicken industry for water pollution - was filed two months after the groups warned Perdue and Hudson Farms in Berlin that they would sue after spotting what appeared to be chicken manure draining into the ditch.

With an O'Malley administration bill seeking to boost offshore wind development effectively dead, the General Assembly approved another bill to promote projects that would produce energy from poultry manure and wood. SB237 , which would provide incentives to place giant wind turbines off Ocean City, has yet to come to a vote in the Senate Finance Committee.  Environmental groups, many of whom had made the measure a top priority, threw in the towel late in the day, issuing a press release expressing their disappointment with the General Assembly's failure to pass the measure for a second straight year.

In recent years, the Maryland General Assembly has approved legislation curbing power plant emissions, agreed to impose stricter standards on automobile emissions and gave environmental groups standing to legally contest government-issued permits and variances. What do all these decisions have in common? All are important environmental initiatives, but more to the point, all required more than one 90-day session to pass. In the case of legal standing, it took a decade worth of legislative sessions before lawmakers worked out a compromise that satisfied a majority.