Chesapeake Bay

Rain did not stop the fourth-graders at Salem Avenue Elementary School in Hagerstown from doing their part to keep the Chesapeake Bay alive on Wednesday. In fact, it might have helped them. “We are planting trees for less erosion so the sediments don't move to waterfalls, rivers or lakes that travel to the Chesapeake Bay,” said Katlin Salcutan, a 10-year-old fourth-grader from Hagerstown. “When you stop erosion, the Chesapeake Bay will be clean.” The nearly 100 fourth-grade students at the school went outside Wednesday morning and planted 10 trees on the school's property along the back of the  playground.

Green Drinks Hagerstown will host a gathering on Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22, to rally support for action to improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay. The Hagerstown event is at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Duffy's on Potomac, 28 S Potomac St., Hagerstown. There will be complimentary appetizers and a cash bar. Admission is free, the public is invited and no reservations are required. The group will write letters to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson asking the EPA to enforce the Clean Water Act for the benefit of the Chesapeake Bay. Green Drinks started in London in 1989.

Businesses for the Bay recently recognized Volvo Powertrain North America for its commitment to the environment. Volvo Powertrain supplies engines for Mack Trucks Inc. and Volvo Trucks North America. Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich presented the award for Outstanding Achievement for Pollution Prevention at a Large Facility to Volvo Powertrain officials at a ceremony sponsored by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Representatives also were honored with the Businesses for the Bay Environmental Excellence Award during the organization's annual meeting on Nov. 13 in Annapolis.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - Fifteen students, parents and faculty members from Wildwood Middle School traveled to the Spruce Knob Moutain Center in Pendleton County, W.Va., Oct. 29 and 30 to study stream and watershed ecology. The goal of the educational field trip was to provide students and teachers living in the Potomac and Chesapeake Bay watersheds an opportunity to engage in inquiry-based outdoor science. The trip was the first in a yearlong study of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - Things are looking up for Rockymarsh Run - as well as the Chesapeake Bay - following the release of $400,000 for a restoration project for the local stream. Rockymarsh Run is a picturesque stream that winds through farmland along the border of Jefferson and Berkeley counties. It can be seen along W.Va. 45 just west of Shepherdstown, including where the highway intersects with Winebrenner Road. Over the years, vegetation and trees along the stream that act as a natural filter against nitrogen and phosphorous runoff into the stream have been removed, according to Joe Hankins, vice president of the Conservation Fund and director of the Shepherdstown-based Freshwater Institute.

tarar@herald-mail.com Washington County will receive more than $400,000 in federal funds to remove pollutants from the Conococheague Wastewater Treatment Plant, according to a statement from U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski's office. Washington County Commissioners President Gregory I. Snook said Sunday that the project, called the Biological Nutrient Removal treatment system, is an ongoing process statewide. The project, which the County Commissioners approved in February 2000, allows the plant to remove nitrogen and phosphorous from sewage before the treated wastewater is released, a county official said.

Acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, who was in the Eastern Panhandle Wednesday to sign a landmark funding bill to protect the Chesapeake Bay, painted a rosy state financial picture to a large lunch crowd in Shepherdstown and toured the new American Public University headquarters building in Charles Town. It was a busy day for Tomblin, a Democratic incumbent who hopes to stay in the governor's mansion for two more years to fill out the term of former Gov. Joe Manchin, who resigned to take the late U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd's seat.

Legislation that would help Eastern Panhandle communities pay for upgrades to wastewater treatment plants to meet environmental standards targeting Chesapeake Bay cleanup cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday. State Sen. Herb Snyder, D-Jefferson/Berkeley, said Senate Bill 245 now faces an “uphill battle” in the Senate Finance Committee because it comes with a notable price tag; $6 million per year for the next 30 years. Excess video lottery money would be allocated to the West Virginia Infrastructure & Jobs Development Council to pay off bonds issued for wastewater treatment projects in Berkeley, Jefferson, Morgan, Hampshire, Mineral, Grant and Hardy counties if SB 245 becomes law, Snyder said.

Are you Bay-Wise? Do you practice environmentally-friendly practices in your garden that help the health of the Chesapeake Bay? A new Bay-Wise program from the Washington County Master Gardeners teaches homeowners how to evaluate and improve their gardening practices to build healthier backyards while bolstering the health of the Chesapeake Bay. Why is this important? We all live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The water in our storm drains, creeks, streams and rivers eventually ends up in the Chesapeake Bay. What we do in our backyards impacts on the health of our local waterways and the Bay. The health of the Chesapeake Bay is in decline.

ANNAPOLIS tammyb@herald-mail.com In a show of unity that has been rare thus far in the General Assembly, farmers, environmentalists, House leaders and the Ehrlich administration on Tuesday endorsed legislation they say will both encourage agriculture and help restore the Chesapeake Bay. The Agricultural Stewardship Act of 2006, heard before a joint meeting of the House Appropriations and Environmental Matters Committees, would...

A bill that would free up $100 million for public sewer treatment plant upgrades to meet Chesapeake Bay cleanup requirements in eastern West Virginia was advanced Tuesday by state lawmakers. Senate Bill 596 was reported to the House floor Tuesday evening after clearing the House Finance Committee earlier in the day, according to an audio webcast streamed live on the state Legislature's website. The committee passed Senate Bill 596 with a title amendment, which Jefferson County state Sen. Herb Snyder, the bill's lead sponsor, said was technical in nature and “thankfully not significant.” Twelve plants in seven of the eight Eastern Panhandle counties that feed into the Chesapeake Bay Watershed will have access to the $100 million beginning in January, if the bill passes, Snyder has said.

The Williamsport Town Council approved a resolution earlier this week acknowledging the Chesapeake Bay is impaired by nutrients and sediments, but that it would be fiscally irresponsible for the town to guarantee it will tackle the estimated $11.7 million in town projects recommended to help the bay. Instead, town officials will do what they can over the next 10 to 20 years to make improvements to help the bay, Town Attorney Edward Kuczynski said...

About 100 farmers - some delivering heated remarks to state agriculture officials - attended a public hearing Wednesday night at the Washington County Agricultural Education Center regarding new proposed regulations they might have to follow to protect the Chesapeake Bay from pollution. The proposed changes are to Maryland's Nutrient Management Regulations and include proposed laws that govern how nutrients are applied to soil. One proposal that drew criticism is that farmers will have to establish a 35-foot setback from perennial and intermittent streams when applying nutrients.

Like those in most other municipalities across Washington County, Clear Spring officials Monday night acknowledged the federal nutrient-reduction targets aimed at cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay, but called the estimated $1.3 million price tag for suggested improvements financially unfeasible. Clear Spring Town Council members in June reviewed a list of potential projects that the town could undertake as part of Phase 2 improvements in the county's Watershed Implementation Plan, or WIP, that would attempt to reduce the amount of nitrogen and phosphorous that makes its way to the bay by 2025.

The Hagerstown City Council on Tuesday unanimously agreed to submit a statement in support of a Washington County Chesapeake Bay cleanup plan, but said its implementation would be “fiscally irresponsible and financially unfeasible.” The Maryland Department of the Environment has required all municipalities in the county to submit a position statement about the Phase II Watershed Implementation Plan, which was put in place by theU.S. Environmental Protection Agencyafter pollution of the bay was identified as a major problem.

Maryland has been blessed with the Chesapeake Bay, and few of us, even here in Western Maryland, haven't enjoyed some aspect of its presence, its history and its bounty. Therefore, we willingly acknowledge our responsibility to help maintain its well-being. The Bay's waters might not lap our soils, but we realize that our waters will eventually become part of the Bay. For the most part, we believe that our citizens have taken this responsibility seriously, be it through tree plantings, stream buffers or farmland nutrient management.

Funkstown officials agreed Monday night to do what the town can afford to do to reduce nitrogen and phosphorous discharges into the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Municipalities and counties in the state are being asked to decide by June 30 whether they will do what they can afford to help the bay; won't do anything; or will adopt a plan that states the local government will spend its estimated target amount in the next 13 years to reduce nutrient discharge. For Funkstown, that amount is $4.1 million for stormwater runoff projects.

Rain did not stop the fourth-graders at Salem Avenue Elementary School in Hagerstown from doing their part to keep the Chesapeake Bay alive on Wednesday. In fact, it might have helped them. “We are planting trees for less erosion so the sediments don't move to waterfalls, rivers or lakes that travel to the Chesapeake Bay,” said Katlin Salcutan, a 10-year-old fourth-grader from Hagerstown. “When you stop erosion, the Chesapeake Bay will be clean.” The nearly 100 fourth-grade students at the school went outside Wednesday morning and planted 10 trees on the school's property along the back of the  playground.

Acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, who was in the Eastern Panhandle Wednesday to sign a landmark funding bill to protect the Chesapeake Bay, painted a rosy state financial picture to a large lunch crowd in Shepherdstown and toured the new American Public University headquarters building in Charles Town. It was a busy day for Tomblin, a Democratic incumbent who hopes to stay in the governor's mansion for two more years to fill out the term of former Gov. Joe Manchin, who resigned to take the late U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd's seat.

Their shells were once used to build driveways and roads, but now oysters have some new friends looking out for them, including some in Hagerstown. For the first time this year, organizers of the Rotary Club of Hagerstown’s annual bull and oyster roast partnered with an organization to collect oyster shells from the feast to help restore the threatened oyster population in the Chesapeake Bay. At Sunday’s roast at Hagerstown Community College’s Athletic, Recreation and Community Center, guests were provided with special recycling cans in which to deposit oyster shells.