Toxic Pollution

State environmental officials have quietly begun to revise new state toxic pollution regulations that have been challenged in court by industry. The move worries environmentalists, who say they fear the state may be relaxing the rules.Environment Secretary Martin W. Walsh Jr. confirmed today he had invited industry officials to a meeting tomorrow to consider changing a key part of the state's water toxic rules, adopted earlier this year.Walsh said he wanted to "fix" a rule requiring industry to meet toxic pollution limits at the end of wastewater discharge pipes, rather than after wastes had been diluted in the stream.

Maryland may have some of the nation's strictest limits on power plant pollution, but its residents are still breathing more toxic emissions from those facilities than in most other states. The state's reliance on burning coal for electricity appears to be the underlying reason, it seems. That's the upshot of a new report by the Natural Resources Defense Council that tallies the 20 states with the highest levels of hazardous air pollutants from power plants in 2010. Maryland ranks 19th, well down the list from big coal-mining and -burning states like Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia, but just ahead of tiny Delaware.

Toxic pollution from factories continues to decline in Maryland and the rest of the country, but the amount of industrial waste requiring disposal is on the rise, the government reported yesterday.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Maryland industries reported releasing 13 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the state's air, land and water in 1992, about 3 percent less than the year before.The state ranked 41st in total toxic releases; Louisiana was No. 1.The most-released chemicals in Maryland included toluene, a suspected cause of cancer; and ammonia and hydrochloric acid, both of which can cause skin, eye and lung irritations if inhaled.

One manufacturer promotes its pine-scented cleaning products as providing a "Clean you can smell. A clean you can trust." But a groundbreaking new study suggests that household cleaners and air fresheners -- particularly those with pine, orange and lemon scents -- may emit harmful levels of toxic pollutants. Exposure to some of these pollutants and their byproducts may exceed regulatory guidelines when used repeatedly or in small, poorly ventilated rooms, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory concluded after a four-year study.

Baltimore's gritty history as a bustling seaport and factory town haunts it today as Maryland officials try to come up with a plan to clean up two centuries of harbor pollution.Smokestacks have given way to sailboat masts in the Inner Harbor, where marinas and condominiums have replaced waterfront factories, piers and warehouses. But the bottom -- from Harborplace to Fort Carroll at the mouth of the Patapsco River -- remains fouled in many places with a poisonous black ooze of heavy metals, pesticides, oil and tar.Though industrial pollution has been "drastically" reduced through regulatory actions in the past 20 years, state officials say, the lower Patapsco is still assaulted by inadequately treated sewage and industrial waste, by tainted runoff from city streets and suburban lawns, and by fallout of noxious chemicals from the air.So badly contaminated is the harbor that it is widely recognized as one of three toxic "hot spots" in the Chesapeake Bay, along with the Elizabeth River in Norfolk, Va., and the Anacostia River in Washington.

Industries and municipalities in the Chesapeake Bay region would be asked to reduce releases of toxic chemicals by up to 75 percent over the next six years under a multistate plan to be adopted Friday.But the Chesapeake Bay Foundation warned yesterday that state and federal governments would be "backpedaling" on their commitment to restore the bay if the plan is adopted, waiting "until fish start dying and people become sick" before acting.The Annapolis-based environmental group called on the political leaders of the bay region, including Gov. William Donald Schaefer, to "stand firm against the recommendations of state and federal bureaucrats . . . to weaken efforts to reduce toxic pollution of the bay."

Environmentalists complain that the draft of an upcoming federal report on toxic pollution of Chesapeake Bay is seriously flawed because it overlooks thousands of factories and sewage plants that discharge hazardous chemicals and metals.The Chesapeake Bay Foundation contends that the report, compiled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, fails to include information that the states have in their files on toxic discharges in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia.The report, an inventory of toxics entering the bay from sources including air and farm runoff, is supposed to help the states and federal government focus their efforts to reduce such pollution.

Pennsylvania and Virginia are considering easing their restrictions on toxic pollution, raising fears that the multistate commitment to cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay is weakening.Critics point to the moves by the two states toward easing strict limits on discharge of some toxic chemicals as evidence that the resolve of the partners in bay restoration falls short of their public rhetoric."If you look behind the scenes, they're really trying to weaken what they're doing now," said Barbara Kooser, an environmental scientist in the Harrisburg, Pa., office of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

ST. LEONARD -- Virginia Gov. George Allen, assuming leadership of the Chesapeake Bay restoration effort, sought yesterday to dispel fears that his state was backsliding in the cleanup.After a luncheon meeting here with Gov. William Donald Schaefer and other leaders of the restoration, Mr. Allen declared his enthusiasm for the 11-year-old effort."We share that common goal and that common commitment, regardless of minor differences over methods," said Mr. Allen, aRepublican who has worried environmentalists with his conservative views.

The decade-old effort to restore Chesapeake Bay got passing marks -- but with several "incompletes" -- from the bay region's leading environmental group yesterday.At a time when public schools are handing out report cards, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation issued a mixed evaluation of what Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia and the federal government have done so far to reverse the bay's decline.While finding that "great progress has been made," mainly in cleaning up sewage discharges and industrial pollution, the Annapolis-based environmental group said that the states and federal government need to do much more on virtually every front.

An Environmental Protection Agency assessment of air pollution levels nationwide places residents of Baltimore and three neighboring counties among the top 5 percent of Americans whose health is endangered by toxic pollutants. The EPA assessment, made public late yesterday, was based on 1996 levels of 33 toxic pollutants sampled at stations across the country. The agency described it as a "snapshot" of the health risks of air pollution in the mid-1990s. The agency estimated that if residents of Baltimore City and Baltimore, Anne Arundel, and Howard counties breathed that same level of pollution throughout their lifetimes, at least 54 out of every 1 million residents would develop cancer as a result.

Baltimore's gritty history as a bustling seaport and factory town haunts it today as Maryland officials try to come up with a plan to clean up two centuries of harbor pollution.Smokestacks have given way to sailboat masts in the Inner Harbor, where marinas and condominiums have replaced waterfront factories, piers and warehouses. But the bottom -- from Harborplace to Fort Carroll at the mouth of the Patapsco River -- remains fouled in many places with a poisonous black ooze of heavy metals, pesticides, oil and tar.Though industrial pollution has been "drastically" reduced through regulatory actions in the past 20 years, state officials say, the lower Patapsco is still assaulted by inadequately treated sewage and industrial waste, by tainted runoff from city streets and suburban lawns, and by fallout of noxious chemicals from the air.So badly contaminated is the harbor that it is widely recognized as one of three toxic "hot spots" in the Chesapeake Bay, along with the Elizabeth River in Norfolk, Va., and the Anacostia River in Washington.

ST. LEONARD -- Virginia Gov. George Allen, assuming leadership of the Chesapeake Bay restoration effort, sought yesterday to dispel fears that his state was backsliding in the cleanup.After a luncheon meeting here with Gov. William Donald Schaefer and other leaders of the restoration, Mr. Allen declared his enthusiasm for the 11-year-old effort."We share that common goal and that common commitment, regardless of minor differences over methods," said Mr. Allen, aRepublican who has worried environmentalists with his conservative views.

Pennsylvania and Virginia are considering easing their restrictions on toxic pollution, raising fears that the multistate commitment to cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay is weakening.Critics point to the moves by the two states toward easing strict limits on discharge of some toxic chemicals as evidence that the resolve of the partners in bay restoration falls short of their public rhetoric."If you look behind the scenes, they're really trying to weaken what they're doing now," said Barbara Kooser, an environmental scientist in the Harrisburg, Pa., office of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Industries and municipalities in the Chesapeake Bay region would be asked to reduce releases of toxic chemicals by up to 75 percent over the next six years under a multistate plan to be adopted Friday.But the Chesapeake Bay Foundation warned yesterday that state and federal governments would be "backpedaling" on their commitment to restore the bay if the plan is adopted, waiting "until fish start dying and people become sick" before acting.The Annapolis-based environmental group called on the political leaders of the bay region, including Gov. William Donald Schaefer, to "stand firm against the recommendations of state and federal bureaucrats . . . to weaken efforts to reduce toxic pollution of the bay."

A Real-Life Drama Made for TVViewers of the coverage of the chase of O. J. Simpson were an audience of a "Fugitive" script. . . . One's typical entertainment "trance" was being triggered between fantasy and unplanned reality by this unfolding scenario. . . . The hunter could see the similarity of the pack chasing his prey, the imaginative could echo the frenzy of the heartbeat of the law and the criminal, while loyal fans joined the roadside spectators, cheering a sports hero on to his goal.

After more than two years of resistance, Maryland industries have agreed to reduce discharges of 28 toxic pollutants into the state's rivers and Chesapeake Bay.An out-of-court settlement reached this week clears the way for the Maryland Department of the Environment to enforce strict limits on more than 1,000 factories, power plants and municipal sewage-treatment plants.The agreement between the state, business interests and environmental groups will lead to "a significant reduction in toxic discharges," said Robert Perciasepe, Maryland environment secretary.

A Real-Life Drama Made for TVViewers of the coverage of the chase of O. J. Simpson were an audience of a "Fugitive" script. . . . One's typical entertainment "trance" was being triggered between fantasy and unplanned reality by this unfolding scenario. . . . The hunter could see the similarity of the pack chasing his prey, the imaginative could echo the frenzy of the heartbeat of the law and the criminal, while loyal fans joined the roadside spectators, cheering a sports hero on to his goal.

Toxic pollution from factories continues to decline in Maryland and the rest of the country, but the amount of industrial waste requiring disposal is on the rise, the government reported yesterday.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Maryland industries reported releasing 13 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the state's air, land and water in 1992, about 3 percent less than the year before.The state ranked 41st in total toxic releases; Louisiana was No. 1.The most-released chemicals in Maryland included toluene, a suspected cause of cancer; and ammonia and hydrochloric acid, both of which can cause skin, eye and lung irritations if inhaled.

It is seldom that scientists, amid the fury of battle and against great odds, ride in at the last moment to rescue the damsel in distress.But if you can handle rockfish as a surrogate damsel, let me take you back to those thrilling days of yesteryear . . . to the 1983 General Assembly.The previous summer, the Chesapeake Bay's troubled rock had produced a crop of young that was just average, but far better than any spawn for several years.Commercial landings of rockfish, the bay's premier sport and commercial species, had been plummeting for a decade -- from 5 million pounds in 1973 to a tenth of that in 1983.