Water Pollution

Residents will see clear benefits from paying storm water fee Most people probably wouldn't let their child bathe in a storm drain. Yet allowing him or her to swim or wade in many of the creeks and rivers of Carroll County after a heavy rainstorm is virtually the same thing. That's because of storm water. It's not an everyday term, storm water. But it's a genuine problem. Storm water pollution is increasing around the region. Thanks to cooperation between government, business and citizens, water pollution from farms, sewage plants, and other sources has been reduced.

Environmental laws do get enforced, however slowly at times.  The Maryland Department of the Environment announced Wednesday it had taken action against about 18 individuals, companies and local governments for alleged violations of the state's laws governing lead paint and air and water pollution. Some of the violators listed in the department's release have paid or agreed to pay more than $100,000 in all in penalties, while state regulators are seeking more than twice that much combined in fines against the others.

THE $6 MILLION in fines and remedies that Tyson Foods Inc. will pay for polluting Chincoteague Bay is the stiffest penalty levied for water pollution in Maryland.The settlement that calls for reducing manure and bacterial runoff pollution should send a clear signal to the rest of Maryland's $1 billion poultry industry that remedial action is needed, not only by chicken processing plants but by farmer-growers who raise the birds."This action shows that it's more expensive not to comply with the law than to comply with it," a Justice Department lawyer said of the Tyson fine.

Charles Easterday Renn, a noted Johns Hopkins University biologist and an expert on water pollution and waste management control, died Saturday of congestive heart failure at Good Samaritan Hospital. He was 94 and lived in Sparks. A short, stocky man with a great shock of white hair, black-rimmed glasses and a ready smile, he joined the Hopkins faculty in 1946. He retired as professor of geography and environmental science in 1970. Dr. Renn wrote more than 40 major papers and books on water quality.

Environmentalists filed a federal lawsuit yesterday alleging that Baltimore-Washington International Airport is discharging toxic chemicals from runways into the Chesapeake Bay.The lawsuit, filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council in New York and three other groups, claims that the airport in Linthicum has polluted three creeks with an ethylene glycol de-icing mixture used on planes.Ethylene glycol can cause kidney and liver damage if ingested, or eye irritation and headaches if inhaled.

Would putting more polluters behind bars help restore the Chesapeake Bay? The Center for Progressive Reform believes it would. In a new report, the  a pro-regulatory think tank argues that both state and federal authorities prosecute water polluters too rarely in Maryland and that the state penalties for conviction aren't stiff enough to deter violators. Criminal prosecutions are an effective way to improve enforcement of environmental laws, especially when government regulators lack the funds to adequately inspect all potential polluters, says Rena Steinzor, the center's president and a professor at the University of Maryland's law school.

The manager of Halle's Marina and Campground in Calvert County has been convicted of two felony water pollution charges for dumping raw sewage into a storm drain adjacent to wetlands and Chesapeake Bay.The trial jury also convicted Halle Marina Inc. of three water pollution counts, one a misdemeanor, on evidence that Michael T. Strandquist, the manager, and another employee dumped sewage into the drain on three dates last summer.Jurors deliberated for 3 1/2 hours before returning the verdicts in U.S. District Court in Baltimore late Friday.

A recent Sun editorial, "Free pass for Md. polluters?," (Sept. 27) did not take into account all of the ways that Maryland enforces water pollution violations. Criminal prosecution is just one tool that we employ to protect public health and the environment in Maryland. Administrative and civil authority is often the more effective route to achieve compliance with environmental laws due to the high bar set by the courts for criminal enforcement. The majority of Maryland businesses and citizens comply with environmental laws, but a strong and fair enforcement program is essential to protect our investment in the environment as well as the health and quality of life of all Maryland residents.

The Maryland-Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative has violated a state order to control waste dumping at its North Laurel plant, at a time when residents complain that foul odors that led to fines against the plant last year have returned."

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.