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Virginia to miss bay restoration strategy deadline

2010-09-02T16:10:46Z

Virginia will miss a deadline for filing its Chesapeake Bay restoration plan with the EPA and has asked for more time to make sure the governor fully supports the plan, an official said Wednesday.

Wednesday was the deadline for the six states to deliver their bay watershed implementation plans to the federal Environmental Protection Agency to meet goals under a strategy ordered by President Barack Obama.

However, EPA official Jon Capacasa said during a conference call that Virginia had asked for a couple of days and that the plan was expected Friday.

'Fracking' yields fuel, fear in Northeast

2010-09-02T14:56:51Z

Bill Ely walked into his chicken coop with an empty five-gallon water jug.

The jug, punched with several finger-sized holes near the top to keep it from overflowing, was capped with a white plastic pipe. Using a garden hose fed from his water well, he filled the jug.

Leaning over the contraption, he flicked his yellow lighter above the pipe, and a blue flame appeared.

"I knew it [the water] went bad because we could light it," Ely said.

Regs won't affect those who already comply

2010-08-30T14:32:11Z

Eddie Johnson's recent column would have us believe the farming community is a unified body acting as one. The reality is that farming is just as diverse a group as any other industry.

You have some good actors and some not-so-good actors. It doesn't matter if you are talking about doctors, mechanics or farmers -- some will go the extra mile voluntarily; others will only do the bare minimum.

VA Makes Impaired Waters a Priority During Inspections

2010-08-27T14:29:45Z

Virginia will make construction site inspections a priority when the sites discharge sediment (dirt) into sediment-impaired waters.

"The move is common sense," Shenandoah Riverkeeper Jeff Kelble says. "It focuses resources and will help Virginia clean up its dirtiest stretches of rivers and streams."

Virginia woefully lacks site inspectors and, according to Kelble, the state’s top environmental priority should be protecting troubled waters from further harm.

Virginia now has six months to implement the change.

The news comes as Shenandoah Riverkeeper and Potomac Riverkeeper settle a legal challenge to the Virginia permit that regulates sediment at construction sites. Both Riverkeepers, along with a fisherman, were represented by Rick Parrish at the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Bacteria in bay cause skin and blood infections, intestinal illness

2010-08-26T21:51:59Z

When Mauro Lanzisera, a part-time waterman, returned to his Broomes Island home July 2 after crabbing, he had a quarter-size cut on his left leg. Later in the evening, his leg hurt so badly that his wife took him to Calvert Memorial Hospital, where he was checked for a broken leg and sent home with instructions to return in two days, Lanzisera said.

Lanzisera's foot began to swell. When he returned to the hospital, a doctor who had treated Hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans recognized the infection as one resulting from a bacterium called vibrio.

Cardin bill undermines Clean Water Act

2010-08-25T22:00:39Z

Over the past several months, environmentalists in the Chesapeake Bay region have been closely watching the Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act of 2009, introduced by Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland. The Cardin bill, as it is commonly known, is being offered as a way to clean up a watershed that has suffered for decades from industrial abuse and political ineptitude. It is being touted by some as the last great chance to save the bay.

Unfortunately, in its current form, this bill will end up doing more harm than good.