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Acting with what he called "great concern," Gov. Martin O'Malley urged Environment Secretary Shari T. Wilson in a letter Tuesday to "expeditiously and carefully revisit" her agency's decision to allow ExxonMobil to discontinue two elements of the remediation efforts it began in 2006 after a huge gasoline spill in northern Baltimore County. "It is imperative that public confidence is maintained and that regulatory decisions are effectively communicated and understood," O'Malley wrote after reading in The Baltimore Sun about a decision by the Maryland Department of the Environment to allow ExxonMobil to stop monitoring 130 residential groundwater wells in the Jacksonville area and to cease delivering free bottled water to 126 households affected by the underground leak.

Talk about leading by example -- the Maryland Department of the Environment announced Monday that it would begin collecting food scraps at its Baltimore headquarters for composting. The Earth Day announcement comes on the heels of Howard County launching its own food-scrap processing facility, which I covered here for The Baltimore Sun. MDE will give its 900-plus employees the option to compost their uneaten food at the agency's main offices in Montgomery Park. Officials there say they hope in the effort's inaugural year to divert more than 6 tons of waste that might otherwise have gone to an incinerator or landfill.

When it comes to solving its environmental problems, Harford County might be better off without the state environmental agency, said County Councilman Robert S. Wagner, R-District E.That's the belief behind the resolution he introduced at Tuesday's council meeting asking the Maryland General Assembly to abolish the Maryland Department of the Environment.Mr. Wagner's proposal calls for MDE to be abolished "so that the funding dedicated to that department may be allocated to all the counties in the state for management of their environmental programs."

Maryland environmental officials are staging a series of public meetings, beginning today, to get public input on the state's plan to reduce climate-altering pollution. The General Assembly passed in 2009 an O'Malley-sponsored bill committing Maryland to reducing the state's greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent by 2020.  Maryland is among the states most vulnerable to climate change, with the nation's fourth longest tidal coastline exposed to rising sea level. The state Department of the Environment recently unveiled a plan for curtailing greenhouse gas emissions, which projects reaching the goal largely with regulations and programs already on the books.  For details, go here . MDE is holding five public meetings around the state over the next month, with the first today.

The Maryland Department of the Environment last week gave Harford's proposed trash recycling plan generally upbeat reviews last week and said approval of the plan should come soon.The department, which must approve the plan before it can take effect, said Harford's "freeenterprise" recycling plan is an "innovative approach" that should allow it to meet state-mandated recycling goals.The comments were made in a March 18 letter from Lori Scozzafava,chief of the Office of Waste Minimization and Recycling at the Maryland Department of the Environment, to Larry Klimovitz, director of administration.

Two officials at the Maryland Department of the Environment who hold stock in Constellation Energy played a role in lobbying against an air pollution bill opposed by the power company, raising questions about potential conflict. Victoria L. Schade, the MDE's lobbyist, filed a financial disclosure form in May saying she owned Constellation stock in a mutual fund that would be worth more than $50,000 today. She is a former Constellation corporate contributions coordinator. Mitchell J. McCalmon, deputy director of the MDE's waste management administration, reported in April that he owned Constellation stock that would be worth at least $15,000 today.

The Maryland Department of the Environment had not inspected South Carroll High School by late yesterday to determine whether it was safe for students and faculty after mercury from a broken barometer was found in a science room last week. MDE officials did not return phone calls requesting an explanation of why the inspection had not been conducted. Environmental contractor AEG Environmental finished the cleanup work yesterday in a science teachers' office, a custodial storage closet, a hallway and a stairway leading to the outside.

The Maryland Department of the Environment has dropped a $2,000 penalty proposed last year against Lehigh Portland Cement Co. for accepting some waste oil with high lead levels."

Hampstead officials have invited residents to a long-sought meeting with an official of the Maryland Department of the Environment to answer questions and to consider remedies for the presence of the gasoline additive MTBE in wells in a neighborhood just east of town. The meeting has been set for 7 p.m. Jan. 26 at Town Hall, said Town Manager Ken Decker, who sent letters Thursday inviting 40 to 50 area residents. Herbert M. Meade, administrator of the MDE's Waste Management Administration's Oil Control Program, is scheduled to attend.

Ten employees working for Maryland's Department of Natural Resources will be shifted to the Maryland Department of the Environment next month, officials with the agencies said yesterday. The employees, whose jobs entail reducing pollution from agricultural runoff and other nonsewage sources, are paid by a federal grant. They will report to MDE headquarters in Baltimore on Jan. 10. Three open positions at the DNR will also be shifted to the MDE. Officials with the agencies said the move will streamline pollution controls and that the employees will fit better at the MDE than they do at the Annapolis-based DNR. Employees at the two agencies have been working on similar pollution-control programs.

The Maryland Department of the Environment on Tuesday extended a drought watch to western Maryland and parts of central Maryland. A drought watch was already in effect for the Eastern Shore since April 13. The drought watch includes all of Harford and Carroll counties and parts of Baltimore and Howard counties, as well as Frederick County and points west. It doesn't include areas that get water service through Baltimore city. MDE issues a drought watch when at least two indicators show developing drought conditions.

The Eastern Shore is under a drought watch, according to the Maryland Department of the Environment. Below-normal snow- and rainfall has the MDE closely observing precipitation, stream flow, groundwater levels and reservoir storage. But there are no restrictions being placed on water usage -- at least not yet. MDE encourages people to be aware of their water use and to use less water. Local water jurisdictions could place restrictions, but haven't yet, according to the department.

Maybe it's me, but I find it amazing that 39 Maryland Department of the Environment inspectors made only 2,213 visits to more than 12,000 active construction sites ("Audit questions agency's practices," Dec. 2). Each inspector, if working a 40 hour week, has the potential to work 2,080 hours a year. If 2,213 sites were visited, and 81,120 man-hours were available, this would mean each inspector made one visit to a construction site every 36.6 work hours or essentially, one visit a week.

Nobody asked me, but I'm betting - and hoping - that 85-year-old Roscoe Bartlett, Buckeystown's most durable Republican, will seek re-election in the reconfigured 6th Congressional District. There's been a lot of buzz about this lately, with political gossips saying Mr. Bartlett is doomed, and with numerous Republicans and Democrats lining up to run in the 2012 primaries. A political blogger reported that Mr. Bartlett's chief of staff, Bud Otis, has been exploring a run. Mr. Bartlett apparently hasn't been raising much money for a re-election bid, either.

A recent article by Tim Wheeler ("Septic task force produces 'roadmap' for MD growth," Nov. 23) perpetuates a false narrative regarding septic systems that the state is using as an excuse to arrest property rights and local autonomy in rural counties. The article states: "Per household, officials say, septic systems release far more nitrogen into ground water and nearby streams than do properly functioning wastewater treatment plants. " PlanMaryland, the new statewide planning document that Gov. Martin O'Malley may soon sign without legislative input, makes the same claim.

— Charles S. Long was upset to discover that a bulldozer had cleared the land next to his, knocking down trees and uprooting day lilies on his property in the process. A state inspector also found problems with the clearing project: It lacked a plan for controlling sediment pollution, and nothing had been done to keep mud from washing off the land into a nearby creek when it rains. What's more, the landowner, William L. Tarbutton, who lives in Preston, has run afoul of state regulations before— as a contractor, he worked on developments in Queen Anne's and Caroline counties that were cited in 2007 and 2008 for sediment control violations.

Contradicting statements made by a Maryland Department of the Environment official last week, Anne Arundel County's health officer forcefully said the agency has not consulted with her department on plans to more strictly enforce coal-ash disposal. In the latest sign of frustration among county officials that the state has shut them out of its efforts to clamp down on a Gambrills dumping site, Frances B. Phillips said Friday she learned that the MDE had formed an internal panel to weigh new rules on coal ash from Constellation Energy Group.

The Maryland Department of the Environment will hold a public information meeting next week on the newly designed discharge system at Francis Scott Key High School's idle sewage treatment plant.The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. Dec. 16 in the auditorium of the high school, 3825 Bark Hill Road, Uniontown.The county has applied for a permit from MDE to release an average 17,000 gallons of treated wastewater a day to wetlands bordering a tributary of Wolfpit Branch, about a half-mile south of the high school.

The Maryland Department of the Environment has announced enforcement actions for the following businesses: Land Pollution LEAD: MDE’s Lead Poisoning Prevention Program enforces mandatory requirements to reduce lead paint risk in rental units built before 1950. These actions were for properties that MDE officials alleged did not comply with lead standards: Valhalla Investments, LLC and Thomas Reese – Baltimore:   Four affected properties – On April 27, 2011, MDE issued an administrative complaint, order and penalty seeking $18,000 for alleged violations.