Md Charged Up Over Sun, Wind

ANNAPOLIS – Maryland has an ambitious goal of producing 20 percent of its electricity with renewable resources by 2022.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, as well as energy companies, agree that it’s important to bring the renewable energy market to Maryland. But some say the high cost of renewable energy production, the inefficiency of some systems and even potential obstructions to national security might create problems down the road.

Maryland is one of 33 states with established renewable energy portfolio standards (RPS), and each of those states has a goal or mandate to increase reliance on renewable resources. Over the next 15 years, states with renewable standards are looking to produce 4 to 30 percent of their electricity from sources such as wind, solar and biomass.

Gov. Martin O’Malley has made the advancement of Maryland’s renewable energy industry a top priority this legislative session, stressing the potential of widespread job creation to promote development. He’s working with the Maryland Energy Administration to attract energy companies that could make the state a national leader in renewable energy production.

Christina Twomey, director of communications for the energy administration, said O’Malley’s initiative will do two things — put more clean energy on the grid and create “green jobs” for Maryland workers.

“We really see ourselves as a true leader among other states,” Twomey said. “It’s an absolute necessity, especially when we continue to look at what is going on at the national level with green energy and green jobs.”

The O’Malley Administration is sponsoring a four-bill, renewable energy package that uses job creation and tax credits as incentives to utilize renewable resources. The energy agenda, which Twomey calls a “four pronged approach,” aims to create 100,000 new green jobs by 2015.

But developing the renewable energy market requires money, something increasingly hard to come by in the down economy.

Last month, the Maryland Energy Administration allocated $1.3 million in federal stimulus money to four Maryland energy companies as part of the state’s Clean Energy Economic Development Initiative. The O’Malley Administration also supports a $2,000 tax credit for individuals or businesses that purchase plug-in cars, a measure that could take revenue from the state’s transportation trust fund.

Cost aside, the O’Malley Administration’s most difficult alternative energy battle could be trying to break the state’s perennial wind farm resistance. A February report issued by the Baltimore-based Abell Foundation found offshore wind farms could produce as much as two-thirds of the electricity currently consumed in Maryland.

Five companies have expressed interest in developing wind farms off the coast of Maryland, but current law prohibits the construction of energy lines necessary to connect wind farms to the state’s energy grid.

O’Malley has sponsored a bill that would allow the Public Service Commission to award energy companies certificates enabling them to construct submerged energy lines off the coast, but some legislators are concerned offshore wind farms could affect military operations.

At a hearing on offshore wind legislation, Sen. George W. Della Jr., D-Baltimore, noted the tendency of wind turbines to interfere with radars, saying they could be problematic for the Naval Air Systems Command’s Patuxent River Headquarters in St. Mary’s.

A 2008 MITRE Corp. study funded by the Department of Homeland Security found that aging radar systems run a risk of mistaking wind farms for airplanes or weather.

The Navy has not publically opposed wind farms off the coast of Maryland and numerous attempts to contact officials at the Naval Air System’s Patuxent River Headquarters were unsuccessful.

Stephen Smith, the owner of Solvida Energy Group, an energy consulting company in the San Francisco Bay Area, says Maryland’s energy goals are manageable with the right approach.

Smith believes solar energy production alone, if done correctly, can meet the state’s renewable energy electricity requirements by 2022.

“If the policies are put in place and backed up with action on the municipal and local levels, as well as endorsed by the state government, 20 percent (of state energy needs, from renewable sources) is feasible,” Smith said.

Maryland’s renewable portfolio standards state that 10 percent of the electricity produced by renewable resources should come from solar energy by 2022.

In February, Delegate C. Sue Hecht, D-Frederick, introduced a bill that would require electricity providers to generate 30 percent of their solar renewable energy from “small solar generators” by 2020. The bill would ensure solar power is generated from large and small sites of both state and private ownership, which is known as a distributive generation approach.

The 2010 Maryland Energy Outlook report, produced by the Maryland Energy Administration, says the state is underutilizing solar energy potential. Hecht believes current renewable energy laws are too narrow and thinks the Administration’s bills will aid the growth of the green industry.

Support for O’Malley’s energy agenda is not limited to Democrats.

Delegate Susan L. M. Aumann, R-Baltimore County, credits the Maryland Energy Administration with bringing in innovative companies enthusiastic about expanding Maryland’s renewable energy industry.

“So many new things are coming about,” Aumann said. “I do think the goal for 2022 is within reach.

“Now credits are going down to the consumer, which I think is good,” Aumann said.

The Maryland coal industry does not want to be forgotten in the clean energy discussion. The Maryland Coal Association believes coal provides skilled workers with a number of high paying jobs that produce energy at a lower cost.

“When you look at the cost of a windmill for instance, there are fewer jobs and they aren’t as high paying,” said Adrienne Ottaviani, executive director of the Maryland Coal Association.

Ottaviani said coal miners in Garrett County make salaries of $50,000 to $60,000, some of the highest in the area.

Ottaviani also said people often think coal can’t be “clean energy,” when it has the capabilities of having some of the lowest emission levels.

“Coal is an abundant natural resource that is a low cost energy source,” Ottaviani said.

[By Adam Kerlin of Capital News Service]

‘Old Testament’ Wargotz vs Mikulski

ANNAPOLIS – Queen Anne’s County Commissioner Eric Wargotz made his candidacy official for U.S. Senate by filing candidacy papers Friday at the State Board of Elections in Annapolis.

In an interview with Capital News Service just before filing his candidacy, Wargotz said he considers himself a “constitutional conservative” and an “Old Testament kind of guy.”

Challenging Sen. Barbara Mikulski will be no easy task for Wargotz, a physician making his first attempt at statewide elected office. A February Rasmussen poll showed Mikulski leading an unnamed Republican challenger 54 percent to 36 percent. At the end of 2009, Mikulski had more than $2 million in her campaign war chest.

Wargotz said he knew he was a long shot when he first thought about running in June, but thinks his chances have improved as time has gone on and Republican electoral victories have added up.

Wargotz said his campaign will focus on four main issues: fiscal responsibility, health care, national security and the Chesapeake Bay.

On fiscal responsibility and national security, he’s running on a fairly standard Republican platform. He said the economy can be stimulated by creating incentives for private enterprise rather than spending more on stimulus packages. On national security, he opposes civilian trials for terrorist suspects and said the U.S. should “complete the job” in Afghanistan.

One notable difference between Wargotz and the typical Republican platform is his support for medical marijuana, which he says helps ease people’s pain and shouldn’t be subject to government intrusion.

Wargotz said he hopes his experience as a physician will give him some credibility on the health care issue. He called the current health care bill the “biggest government taking in the history of the United States,” but said he would like to see some changes to the health care system involving ideas like tort reform and buying insurance across state lines.

Wargotz criticized the Maryland congressional delegation — Mikulski in particular — for failing to put to good use the federal dollars meant to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay.

“She has been leading the fight to get more money to clean up the bay for 33 years,” Wargotz said. “But the bay is in worse shape now than when she entered the halls of Congress.”

A mini-controversy entangled Wargotz after the February Conservative Political Action Conference in D.C. In a video interview with blogger Mike Stark, Wargotz said he doesn’t believe President Barack Obama was born in the United States, leading to a wave of blog posts labeling Wargotz a “birther.”

Wargotz clarified his position on the issue, saying that he has questions and concerns about where Obama was born, but he believes Obama is a natural-born citizen because he was born to an American parent.

“I’ve never questioned his citizenship or his constitutionality to sit as president,” Wargotz said, adding that he doesn’t want to focus on the issue because it’s not important if you accept Obama as an American citizen.

According to FEC reports dating through the end of December, Wargotz was the most well-funded Republican in the primary with $176,526 in donations for 2009, including $75,000 of his own money.

The primary is scheduled for Sept. 14.

[By Graham Moomaw of Capital News Service]

Counting Heads to Cut School Funds

ANNAPOLIS – A Republican proposal to fund local school systems based on a more accurate number of students attending classes has sparked criticism that the move would siphon money from the jurisdictions that need it most.

The state currently allocates funding to schools based on annual head counts of students taken Sept. 30. House Minority Leader Anthony O’Donnell has proposed instead using estimates of a school’s average daily attendance, a figure already collected by the state Department of Education.

“If the formula is going to be driven by a measure … it ought to be the most accurate measure possible,” O’Donnell said at a Wednesday hearing on his average daily attendance bill before the House Ways and Means Committee.

Because many students drop out of school after Sept. 30, every school system would see its state funding cut if O’Donnell’s plan came to fruition — $168 million statewide in the 2011 fiscal year, according to an analysis by the state’s Department of Legislative Services.

The department’s analysts further project that school systems “will have some success in decreasing absentee rates as a result of the legislation” — that is to say, they would work harder to keep students in their seats to preserve state funding.

Nonetheless, the drop in education funding would steadily fall to a projected $181 million in 2015, and the jurisdictions with the poorest attendance rates would see the biggest cuts.

Opponents of the O’Donnell plan say schools still need to support students who don’t always come to class. John Woolums of the Maryland Association of Boards of Education, testified against the bill to say that schools must maintain staff and facilities based on enrollment, not attendance.

And in many cases, the opponents say, these students need even more help than their counterparts who come to class more often.

“We want to make sure that we support additional resources for people who are the most at risk,” said JaCina Stanton, who testified against the bill on behalf of the Maryland Education Coalition.

O’Donnell raised the average daily attendance issue as a cost-saving measure last month as part of a series of proposed budget cuts that totaled $830 million. O’Donnell and other Republicans have said the reduced spending is necessary to fix a projected long-term structural deficit.

The average daily attendance bill has 24 co-sponsors, all Republicans.

[By Brady Holt of Capital News Service]

Health Reform by the Numbers

WASHINGTON – As many as 261,000 uninsured Marylanders could receive health care coverage and approximately one million families and 122,100 small businesses could receive tax credits to offset health care costs under the current health care reform plan, according to a new congressional study.

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce released reports Wednesday for each congressional district in the country, detailing how many people and small businesses will be helped by health care reform.

Rep. Donna Edwards said she agrees with the committee’s assessment of her 4th District benefits.

“Unemployment is not even nearly what it is around the country, but the fact that we have 50,000 people that don’t have insurance at all” is a problem, Edwards said. “They’re our neighbors, now we’re going to make sure they’re going to have health care coverage.”

However, Rep. Frank Kratovil, D-Stevensville, sees things a little differently.

His spokesman, Kevin Lawlor, said the congressman understands the need for health care, but thinks “the plans that have been put before the Congress so far this term are likely to do more harm than good.”

The current legislation does not have a “sustainable price tag,” Kratovil’s spokesman added.

The reports show the impact on each Maryland district. Some of the key findings are:

1st District (Kratovil): 25,000 uninsured will be covered, and 126,000 families and 17,900 small businesses could receive tax credits.

2nd District: 35,000 uninsured will be covered, and 155,000 families and 15,100 small businesses could receive tax credits.

3rd District: 20,000 uninsured will be covered, and 122,000 families and 15,200 small businesses could receive tax credits.

4th District: 50,500 uninsured will be covered, and 112,000 families and 13,300 small businesses could receive tax credits.

5th District: 21,000 uninsured will be covered, and 107,000 families and 12,100 small businesses could receive tax credits.

6th District: 24,000 uninsured will be covered, and 132,000 families and 16,900 small businesses could receive tax credits.

7th District: 37,000 uninsured will be covered, and 147,000 families and 14,000 small businesses could receive tax credits.

8th District: 48,500 uninsured will be covered, and 100,000 families and 17,600 small businesses could receive tax credits.

Maryland’s only Republican congressman, Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, disagrees with the committee’s assessment and will vote no on the bill, said his spokeswoman, Lisa Wright.

The final paragraph in each district report is stirring the most controversy: “No deficit spending,” the reports state. “The legislation will reduce the deficit by over $100 billion over the next ten years and by about $1 trillion over the second decade.”

Kratovil outright disagrees it will reduce the deficit.

Said his spokesman: ”Things like the ‘doc fix,’ (reimbursements for treating Medicare patients) have been removed from the bill and considered separately in order to achieve a deficit-neutral bill, but it still exists and will still cost more money without making a cut somewhere else.”

In contrast, Edwards said she “absolutely” agrees the health care proposal will save money over the long term. “The undertold story about what we’re doing with reform is we’re actually reducing the deficit over the next 10 years,” she said.

Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative President Vincent DeMarco agreed.

“This is designed to be deficit-neutral,” DeMarco said. “We haven’t gotten the final CBO report, but based on what we know this proposal will save money — not cost money. It’s smart for health care and it’s smart for our economy to do this.”

DeMarco said the reports should encourage Maryland’s congressional delegation to support the health care legislation.

“We particularly urge Rep. Frank Kratovil, who voted against the House version,” he added.

The information that the committee used to create the reports came from several different sources, including the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey and the Kaiser Family Foundation.

[By Tiffany March of Capital News Service]

Kratovil Says Don’t Judge FASTC Yet

WASHINGTON – Rep. Frank Kratovil spoke out about a proposed State Department training center for the first time in months Wednesday, saying the plan shouldn’t be judged before the pending environmental assessment is complete.

“Let’s allow the process to work,” Kratovil said in a news release. “Right now, my goal is to get the facts on the table.”

This is the first comment Kratovil has made about the Foreign Affairs Security Training Center since January — much to the disappointment of his constituents.

“We elected people, we put them into office, and they should be there for us, and they’re not,” said Sherry Adam, a Ruthsburg neighbor of the proposed site and a strong opponent of the facility.

The proposed 2,000-acre anti-terrorism and security training center has been the object of much debate since November when Ruthsburg’s Hunt Ray Farm was announced as the preferred site. Some locals support it for the economic boost it could bring, while others oppose the project because of potential environmental and cultural impacts.

Kratovil’s statement was a response to the Environmental Protection Agency’s letter to the General Services Administration last week that suggested a complete environmental impact statement be done before the project is made final.

The GSA is in charge of conducting the early stages of the project, and is now in the environmental assessment process, which studies the facility’s environmental effects on the area. The environmental assessment will be published later this month or in early April.

This environmental assessment determines whether a more detailed environmental impact statement, which would outline the facility’s impacts on the environment as well as plans to lessen these impacts, is required.

In its letter, the EPA said it believes the project may negatively affect the surrounding environment and that it “might be prudent” for GSA to consider an environmental impact statement now, as opposed to after the environmental assessment is complete.

“If the Environmental Assessment isn’t sufficient to get the necessary answers, then the EIS should proceed,” Kratovil said, “but that’s a decision that should be made in accordance with the standard procedures for reviewing a facility such as this.”

Some of Kratovil’s constituents agree the community should wait to make a judgment until after the environmental assessment is complete.

“It’s like, ‘Come on people, let them do the environmental study,’” said Linda Friday, president of the Queen Anne’s County Chamber of Commerce. “Let them finish their study and come back with whatever they come up with.”

While the Chamber of Commerce supports the project now, Friday said if the GSA comes back with negative results then its support would be rescinded.

Originally Kratovil, along with Maryland Democratic Sens. Benjamin Cardin and Barbara Mikulski, supported the project. However, after locals became outraged at the GSA for not answering some of their questions, Kratovil withdrew his support in the beginning of January.

Kratovil’s most recent statement came in wake of some pretty harsh criticism from his constituents.

David Dunmyre, a Ruthsburg business owner and an opponent to FASTC, said he is not very happy about the “standoff approach” Kratovil has been taking in the project and that even though he has sent representatives to the public meetings, Kratovil himself has been out of touch.

“This is probably one of the biggest issues to face our county ever, and he doesn’t have the time to meet with us, and that’s discouraging,” Dunmyre said.

Adam said Kratovil’s initial support followed by his withdrawal has caused some concern, and this project will hurt him in the November election.

“You can pretty much guarantee…anybody who is opposed to the FASTC project will probably not be voting for Mr. Kratovil,” Adam said. “He’s been doing this flipflop-flipflop. He needs to choose a side. That’s not any kind of leadership.”

[By Morgan Gibson of Capital News Service]

Genovique Is Being Sold

Genovique, one of Kent County’s largest employers and allegedly one of its biggest polluters, is being sold.

According to its website, its parent company Arsenal Capital Partners  has entered into a “definitive agreement” to sell Genovique to Eastman Chemical Company.

The sales price was not stated. Genovique said its annual revenues total $135 million.

The oft re-named Genovique – a producer of benzoic acid, sodium benzoate and specialty plasticizers used for adhesives, sealants and PVC markets – has some 40 workers at its Worton Plant.

Environmental groups have filed complaints for years about chemical discharges at the site.

The Chester Riverkeeper conducted water quality sampling in 2007 and found high levels of phosphorus and BEHP (a carcinogen) coming from Genovique. The company’s permits from the state do not authorize discharges of those chemicals.

The Chester River Association joined other waterkeepers last year in a petition filed with the Environmental Protection Agency, charging the Maryland Department of the Environment with “systematic failure” to enforce regulations on pollutant discharges at sites such as Genovique’s.

The CRA complained that Genovique’s Worton plant got an MDE permit for discharges even though the agency has not reviewed the site’s stormwater runoff as the law requires.

Frequent changes of ownership and its name have long frustrated those trying to monitor its operations.

Robert Sipes, Chestertown’s utilities manager, has noted that Genovique was named Velsicol until a few years ago, and before that it was named something else, and prior to that something else again.

Sipes said, with obvious disapproval, “They change their name every few years.”

While reporting “no imminent threat” to Chestertown’s water supply because of Genovique discharges, Sipes said the phosphorous concentrations spilled into the watershed at Worton have been extremely high, ranging up to 11.4 parts per million.

“What we don’t know is the volume,” Sipes told the Council.

The Chester River Association has a suit against Genovique/Velsicol for violating the Clean Water Act by piping phosophorous and other chemicals directly into a tributary of the Chester from its Worton plant.

CRA seeks fines of $32,500 a day against Velsicol for not complying with the law.

Tea Party Bags Kratovil

Protest signs went up, “Don’t Tread on Me” flags waved, and car horns blasted outside Rep. Frank Kratovil’s Bel Air office as Maryland’s Tea Party movement rallied to ensure a no vote from him on the health care bill.
About 200 people came to send a message to Kratovil by rallying outside his Main Street office for two hours Tuesday.
Tony Passaro, an organizer with the Bel Air “Tea Party Patriots,” said his group wants to reform the health care system, but not if it means turning it over to more government control.
“We’re just against big government doing health care reform,” said Passaro. “We’re afraid that if you leave that much money and that much power to the federal government, they’ll lose control of it.”
Kratovil, a moderate Democrat who voted against the health care bill passed by the House in November, has said he will vote no if, as expected, the House is asked to pass the Senate version of the bill.
After almost a year of public debate, House Democratic leaders are trying to round up 216 votes to pass the Senate version of the bill by this weekend, which is the most viable way to move the legislation forward after Senate Democrats lost their filibuster-proof majority with the election of Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass.
Kevin Lawlor, a Kratovil spokesman, said the congressman’s position hasn’t changed; he will vote no on the Senate bill but will reserve judgment on any proposed fixes that might come later.
When asked about the proposed “Slaughter solution,” a complicated parliamentary tactic that would allow House Democrats to pass the Senate bill without a direct vote, Lawlor said Kratovil is more focused on the bill’s content.
“He’s been in favor of transparency the entire time,” said Lawlor. “In the long run, he knows he’s going to have to answer for this bill.”

[By Graham Moomaw of Capital News Service]

Md Growers Putting Arsenic in Chickens

ANNAPOLIS – The state attorney general and some legislators in both houses are backing a ban on arsenic in chicken feed — a move they say will help poultry farmers and the environment.

But industry representatives say the measure would disadvantage Maryland farmers and result in more sick chickens.

Bills in the House and Senate would ban the use, sale and distribution of any commercial poultry feed with additives that contain arsenic. Tuesday, the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs committee heard testimony on its version of the bill.

“Most people are unaware that arsenic is in their chicken and in their chicken feed,” Attorney General Douglas Gansler told the committee.

Gansler in June wrote an opinion column in the Washington Post arguing the Food and Drug Administration should ban arsenic from chicken feed. Tuesday, he said a ban in Maryland would benefit the poultry industry and the environment.

Numerous poultry industry representatives disagreed.

Roxarsone, a widely used feed additive that contains arsenic, is “a tool to improve bird health and welfare,” said Bill Satterfield, executive director of Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc., a trade organization for the poultry industry on the Delmarva peninsula.

The additive is used to prevent an intestinal ailment that weakens a chicken’s gut and causes nutrients to pass through the bird without being absorbed. Coccidiosis is “probably the most costly chicken disease in the U.S.,” Satterfield said.

Banning the use of roxarsone would put Maryland chicken growers and feed producers at an economic disadvantage, and result in “a lot more sick birds, a lot more dead birds,” he said.

But not all poultry farmers use roxarsone. Perdue stopped using additives that contain arsenic about three years ago, said spokesman Luis Luna.

The Salisbury-based company chooses not to use the additive because it has “worked hard to have an approach to bird health that works without the use of arsenic. … That’s good animal husbandry and best management practices that produced that result,” Luna said.

Still, Perdue does not support the bill, Luna said.

“The science doesn’t support a ban right now. It isn’t clear,” he said. “If people believe it’s a safety issue, then they can take it up with the FDA. Right now, it’s about emotion and sloganeering, which creates confusion, and not about a review of the science, which is what we trust the FDA to do.”

Sen. Paul Pinsky, D-Prince George’s, asked Krushinskie how she could call the additive “essential” if some farms don’t use it. Pinsky is the sponsor of the bill.

“It’s inhumane to withhold effective … treatment from sick animals,” Krushinskie said, comparing it to withholding antibiotics from a sick child.

Gansler and Pinsky said the arsenic passes through the chicken and comes out in manure, which is used as fertilizer and could pollute the soil and the Chesapeake Bay. Arsenic occurs naturally in the environment, but it has been linked to cancer and other negative health effects, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Merry Eisner, a representative for the Maryland PTA, asked senators to support the ban. Children love to eat chicken — and dirt, she said. Parents want it to be “clean chicken, and clean dirt.”

Putting Teeth in Law Enforcement

The youngest member of the Chestertown Police Department is kind of smelly. He’s a whiner, too, and he doesn’t appear to understand plain English.

Nevertheless, in just two weeks on the job, he’s made four drug busts.

Good boy, Kenjo.

The new cop in town is a German Shepherd who responds to commands in Czech. He’s just 18-months old and weighs in at 92 pounds but is likely destined to top 105.

Chief Robert Edler introduced Kenjo to the Town Council on Monday night, and it was obvious his subordinate wasn’t comfortable with politicians. He fidgeted, whined and turned hard eyes on certain people.

It’s a stare Dirty Harry would kill for.

“He just gave me that look,” Edler said at one point. “I don’t like it.”

“He’s trained for a bite,” advised his handler, Officer Jay Walker.

Kenjo is a tracker. But you don’t set him loose to find lost persons. His reward for finding something is to get to bite it.

“He’s for the bad guys,” said Walker.

“If he finds them before I do there’s no way for me to tell, until they start screaming.”

Kenjo was obviously eager to get back to work.

The chief invited council members to get up from the dais and take off running, to learn what Kenjo can do.

They sat.

Men to Walk Tall in Red High Heels

Can you picture Town Council member and retired state trooper Marty Stetson walking down Washington Avenue in ladies red high-heeled shoes, size 13?

He can’t quite either. But for a few minutes Monday night he pretended he was interested in trying. “I might get to like it,” he said, laughing, before shaking his head.

The invitation to do it came from Washington College senior Alisha DiGiandomenico, whose inspiration is to stage “Walk A Mile In Her Shoes,” in which 20 fraternity members have agreed — and up to 30 members of WC athletic teams may also join – to stroll, wobble and limp from the campus to fountain park in 4-inch high heels.

Any male official in town is welcome to take part, too, if brave enough. DiGiandomenico promises she can find the shoes to fit. Washington College is buying the shoes for those who agree to put them on and attempt the mile-long walk.

The event, at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, April 14, is intended to raise awareness and to sensitize (men, mostly) about rape, sexual assault and gender violence. The project is a component of a class taken by DiGiandomenico, a sociology major.

The eye-catching walk – by as many men as she can convince to slip into red high heels – will culminate in talks at the park by representatives from the Rape Crisis Center, the Mid-Shore Council and local law enforcement agencies. DiGiandomenico is inviting states attorneys, Town Council members, Kent County commissioners and state senators and delegates to attend.

There will be music. There also will be masseuses. Says DiGiandomenico: “They are going to be in a lot of pain after that mile.”

Stetson, 6’4’’ at least, was dubious that DiGiandomenico could find him a comfy pair  with 4-inch heels, not that he was agreeing to put them on. But she said she’d found a company that can fit almost any man in ladies shoes.

“They make them from size 11 to size 14,” she advised Stetson.

“I’m pretty sure it’s a cross-dresser company,” she added.

Stetson wondered if the walkers would be wearing dresses: “There’s no way I’m putting a dress on for any reason.”

DiGiandomenico said there would be no dresses. Stetson said, “I’ll think about it.”

SRA Releases Action Plan

After a year’s worth of hard work the Sassafras River Association presented its Sassafras Watershed Action Plan, or SWAP, at the Tuesday commissioners’ meeting.

The plan lists 30 recommendations that would improve water quality in the Sassafras River from the obvious — upgrade waste water treatment plants and fix failing septic systems — to the not so obvious,  of encouraging the community to take part in kayaking trips on the river.

“We’ve worked really hard on this and are excited about where we are going,” said Kim Kohl, SRA executive director.

She said the SRA would continue to have meetings with stake holders and would issue an annual report card on how things are going. The SRA is also planning a “Sassafest” in July at Betterton Beach to raise awareness. She asked the commissioners to continue to support SWAP through resolutions and ordinances.

Copies of the action plan are available online at www.sassafrasriver.org under the header “EPA Approves SWAP!”

Town Parks to Get Rain Gardens

A just-received grant of $19,000 from the Chesapeake Bay Trust will pay for three rain gardens at Chestertown Parks.

They will be installed at Wilmer Park, Washington Park on Flatland Road and at the still unnamed park being developed behind Rolling Road.

“It’s pretty exciting,” says Kees de Mooy, town zoning administrator who was in day-long meetings to plan the projects.

“Rain gardens are designed to mitigate water draining problems, to replenish groundwater and improve wildlife habitat. Their biggest function is to reduce nutrient runoff which, where we are, works its way into the Chesapeake Bay.”

Each park will have a differently designed rain garden, up to 800 square feet in size, showing best practices for each site’s specific need. Chesapeake Conservation Nursuries, a nonprofit supplier in Marydel, will provide native plants such as switchgrass, sweet bay magnolia, eastern redbuds and sassafras.

“These are plants that are native to the region that do well in these soils, naturally disease and pest resistant,” says de Mooy.

The project is intended to educate homeowners about the benefits of rain gardens and inspire them to install their own.

“If the project is successful we’ll try for a much larger grant to help pay for rain gardens in other parts of the town,” de Mooy says.

The All Seasons Garden Club, the Chestertown Garden Club and the University of Maryland Extension Office will be helping with installation. De Mooy says the town wants to get the Environmental Corps and Discovery Corps at the middle school involved also. The Center for the Environment and Society will be helping to design booklets and a web page, showing how to install rain gardens at home.

To see how a rain garden looks, check out www.raingardens.org and www.chesapeakebaytrust.org.

Pam Harris of Chesapeake Conservation Nurseries will lecture on rain gardens and native plants on Tuesday, May 18, at 7 p.m. at Town Hall.

Rail-Trail Gets in Gear

Work is underway on the first phase of Chestertown’s Rail-Trail, with two crews clearing brush and trees off the tracks.

A crew from Sharp’s Tree Service starting from the bypass and one of Judge Anthony’s beginning at Dixon Valve have been working toward the big ravine that runs through Washington College. Their bush-whacking should be complete on Wednesday – if the weather allows.

“It’s essentially been impassible for 10 years or more,” says Kees de Mooy, town zoning and housing administrator. “There are trees on the tracks, some of them six inches in diameter.”

The next step will be to pull up the rails. However, the town is still waiting for a long-term lease agreement on the right-of-way from the Maryland Transit Authority. That agreement has been promised before the end of April.

The lease would grant the town use of the rail bed until such time as it’s decided to reuse it, but de Mooy notes, “So far as I know that’s never happened.”

Once the rails are torn up, to be reused elsewhere or recycled, paving can begin on the first leg, to run from Wilmer Park to where the roadbed crosses High Street. But it could be fall before ground-breaking begins on that.

Town Manager Bill Ingersoll voiced frustration at the Town Council meeting Monday night over the MTA’s foot-dragging on issuing its promised lease.

He said he ordered the brush and trees to be cleared without waiting for MTA’s okay. “I expect to be chastised by MTA for clearing it,” he said, “but we’ll hit them with failure to maintain it.”

In addition to the vegetation, he said, the road bed is cluttered with trash. He said he’d walked it with de Mooy and “We found so many tennis balls we could go into business.”

“Bodies?” wondered Mayor Margo Bailey.

“No bodies,” said Ingersoll.

One good surprise was finding that some 300 yards of steel track had already been removed. Ingersoll speculated that the town might recoup some of the cost of removing the rails that remain by selling them.

After You, No, After You

The detested three-way stop at the intersection of High, the Bypass and Rt. 20 turns out to be a stopper of collisions.

Drivers continue to complain about some confusion over who’s got the right away, but their uncertainty seems to have the benefit of making everybody more cautious.

A check of records by Chief Robert Edler finds there were numerous accidents and a few injuries at the intersection before the three-way stop was installed by the State Highway Administration last June.

Since then, none.

Folks may fear and loathe it, but like Edler says, “As far as safety and accidents, you can’t argue with zero.”

O’Malley War Chest 40 Times Ehrlich’s

ANNAPOLIS – Even in years without elections, Maryland political campaigns keep the cash flowing, spending money on fundraisers, advertising and food. Also catering. Consultants. Clowns.

Campaign expenditure reports coming into the State Board of Elections detail everything from credit card surcharges to balloon artists.

While many of the expenses are a little odd, like the clown, which was part of a family-oriented event sponsored by Comptroller Peter Franchot, last year’s expenses set the stage for what could be a heavyweight gubernatorial rematch this fall.

Republican Robert Ehrlich is expected to announce his candidacy against incumbent Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley later this month, and substantial differences in spending, as well as the cash each candidate has on hand, suggest Ehrlich would be starting off at a disadvantage.

O’Malley not only outspent Ehrlich tenfold last year, but the incumbent governor’s campaign reported having more than $5.7 million in its war chest in January, while Ehrlich reported just under $142,000.

But fundraising isn’t likely to be a serious obstacle for Ehrlich, who served as governor from 2002-2006 and won’t have to waste time introducing himself to voters.

“Ehrlich is the only game in town when it comes to Republican statewide name recognition and respect,” said Todd Eberly, who teaches political science at St. Mary’s College. “I have no doubt that he will raise money. The largest impediment that Ehrlich faces is that it’s a down economy.”

O’Malley’s campaign spent more than $980,000 in 2009. Ehrlich spent just under $88,000, according to campaign finance reports.

In 2005, the year before the last time Ehrlich and O’Malley faced off, each spent more than $1 million. Overall, Ehrlich spent more than $18 million during the 2006 election cycle, while O’Malley spent more than $15 million.

The Republican message may be particularly persuasive this year as voters continue to face a troubled economy and high unemployment nationwide.

“It’s not shaping up to be a good year for Democrats,” Eberly said. “They had two very good years in 2006 and 2008 … if voters are displeased they’re going to voice that displeasure at the party [in power].”

Franchot is currently the only contender in the comptroller’s race. Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith considered a run for comptroller but opted out in July.

Franchot spent $42,500 on media expenses such as internet campaign consulting and graphic design. Also for a barbeque with a moon bounce and a clown.

[By Daniel Leaderman of Capital News Service]

State Targets Oyster Poachers

ANNAPOLIS – For 20 years Roy Rafter made his living as a waterman, catching fish, crabs and oysters. Now, Rafter spends hours in a dark boat, working to catch poachers.

“It’s kind of like fishing. Sometimes you catch them, sometimes you don’t,” said Rafter, a Natural Resources Police corporal, as he finishes up a predawn patrol of the Chesapeake Bay.

The Natural Resources Police have placed a special emphasis on protecting oysters this season, and now state lawmakers are working to pass legislation they say would help deter potential poachers.

Two identical bills making their way through the House and Senate would allow the Department of Natural Resources to revoke the licenses of oyster poachers in some instances, as a deterrent for poachers who take resources away from honest watermen.

The bills would allow the department to revoke the commercial oyster license of anyone cited for taking oysters from a closed or prohibited area, taking oysters with illegal gear, taking oysters at prohibited times or off-season, or taking oysters from an area leased by someone else. The department would be required to hold a hearing about the matter before revoking the license, and the accused person would be allowed to appeal the decision.

Revoking a fisherman’s license would mean he or she would have to re-apply for a license to be able to fish in the future. Because of caps on the number of commercial fishing licenses, applicants now may wait years before a license is available.

The Department of Natural Resources recently suspended for the season the oyster licenses of two men who had been charged with multiple oyster violations — the second time the department had done so, according to a DNR news release.

Joe Gill, deputy secretary of Natural Resources, told the Senate committee that fishermen have been caught dredging for oysters in the early morning hours, wearing lights on their heads so they could keep the boat’s navigation lights off and elude detection.

“This is something that should never, ever, ever occur,” Gill said. “The only way to stop it is to make the penalty so severe they won’t do it in the first place.”

Officers say limited resources and crafty violators make it difficult to find fishermen who are breaking the rules.

“The creatures we’re protecting are voiceless,” said Sgt. Art Windemuth, a spokesman for the Natural Resources Police. “When we’re dealing with conservation violations, it’s hard to get a handle on what’s going on out there.”

The Natural Resources Police has just 247 officers, down from about 440 covering the same ground in 1990, he said.

And while technology like infrared, GPS and night vision has allowed officers to be more efficient, “we always need to have boots on the ground,” Windemuth said.

During the last oyster season, officers issued 219 oyster citations, he said. That was an increase from 103 citations during the 2007-2008 season and 97 during the 2006-2007 season.

“The resource is a stationary resource, so (poaching) can have a devastating impact,” Windemuth said.

Sgt. Robert Kersey said that a poacher illegally using a power dredger — an efficient type of harvesting equipment — in an area where only hand-tonging is allowed could catch in an hour what it would take the legal oysterman all day to catch.

The number of oysters harvested from the Chesapeake Bay decreased from more than 2 million bushels a year in the 1980s to about 100,000 bushels in 2008-2009, according to the Department of Natural Resources. Gov. Martin O’Malley has proposed an Oyster Restoration and Aquaculture Development Plan in an effort to rebuild the oyster population, but Windemuth said poachers can spoil efforts to repopulate the bay.

[By Jennifer Hlad of Capital News Service]

Last Words on FASTC (Not)

Is there any chance you have an opinion on the Foreign Affairs Security Training Center proposed for Queen Anne’s County and haven’t expressed it? Often? In detail? Irrefutably? Refutably?  Cogently? Incoherently with frustration, and fury?

Today’s your last (maybe) chance to do so.

The deadline for citizens to submit comments was extended until March 12 — that’s now — to give “interested parties” more time, as it’s politely put, “to share their thoughts with government officials.”

You can ask questions and make statements — or rants — by phone at (215) 446-4815, or by email at FASTC.infogsa.gov. You’ve got to the end of the day, or until Government Services Administration workers leave work, whichever comes first.

But wait. As coaches, Sunday congregants and everybody with a stake in health care reform have sometimes observed, it ain’t over ‘till it’s over.

After the draft environmental assessment is published, which federal officials say is slated for late March or early April, there will be another public forum, followed by another public comment period.

How closely heeded is less certain.

Gov Asks Feds for Small Business Aid

WASHINGTON – Gov. Martin O’Malley asked Maryland’s congressional delegation Thursday to devote unused federal money to spur small business lending and create jobs in the state, where unemployment remains at 7.5 percent despite more than $4 billion in stimulus funding.

Money returned from the Troubled Asset Relief Program should be used to guarantee small business lending, O’Malley suggested.

“If you could make it possible for us to access those dollars — to be repaid to the federal government — it would allow us to leverage on a one-to-six basis, the sort of small business lending that could be going on to create jobs and improve the business climate in our state.”

The appeal came as O’Malley brought his cabinet to Capitol Hill Thursday to lay out his administration’s federal funding priorities for fiscal 2011, which begins July 1. The event was organized by Sen. Barbara Mikulski.

O’Malley presented the delegation with an agenda focused on job creation, transportation infrastructure and public safety. Federal dollars are expected to be harder to come by due to the federal spending freeze proposed by President Obama, which would begin on Oct. 1.

The state is facing a $2 billion budget shortfall this year, which the governor has proposed filling by furloughing state employees, transferring $1 billion from other funding sources and slashing $375 million from state agencies.

The federal government has its own fiscal problems. Last month, the federal deficit was a record $220.9 billion, which is 14 percent higher than the previous record from February 2009.

O’Malley said, “Although we’re one of the stronger states from a fiscal standpoint…I know that we would be in deep trouble were it not for your prompt action and leadership on this.”

Mikulski asked how much money Maryland had spent to recover from the back-to-back snowstorms earlier this year, saying she was working to acquire federal “dough for snow.”

Transportation Secretary Beverly Swaim-Staley said the state spent $130 million, doubling the $65 billion budgeted. The state already won a federal disaster declaration for one storm, and Maryland Emergency Management Agency director Richard Muth said he expects to submit another request to the federal government within the next two weeks.

[By Graham Moomaw of Capital News Service]

Plastic Bag Tax Gets Support

ANNAPOLIS – The General Assembly has been reluctant to raise taxes in an election year, but 39 legislators across both chambers are co-sponsoring an act to place a 5-cent tax on disposable carryout bags.

The Chesapeake Bay Restoration Consumer Retail Choice Act would require Maryland businesses to tack the 5-cent fee onto each disposable bag used by a customer.

[A similar measure for Chestertown has been proposed by Mayor Margo Bailey. But she's heard from the Maryland Municipal League that the state attorney general's office considers that a tax -- and Chestertown, as a municipality, doesn't have authority from the General Assembly to impose such a tax. Thus, it would need passage of  one of these proposed bills,  by the General Assembly, before a plastic bag fee could take effect here.]

Businesses stand to receive a penny per bag sold, unless they offer a 5-cent credit to customers who provide reusable bags when checking out. Businesses offering the credit would receive 2 cents for every bag sold. The rest would go to the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Coastal Bays 2010 Trust Fund.

Del. Kathleen Dumais, D-Montgomery, cites the Bay’s deterioration and proven evidence that plastic bags pose a harm to the environment as her reasons for cosponsoring the bill.

The legislation comes after the Council of the District of Columbia unanimously passed a similar law last summer, which took effect Jan. 1.

[By Adam Kerlin of Capital News Service]

More Snows, Fewer Mallards

The midwinter waterfowl survey showed a significant decline of mallards and diving ducks but a growing number of snow geese in the Chesapeake region, the Department of Natural Resources reports.

Mallards went from 58,300 last year to 34,200 this winter. Divers fell from 157,66 to 102,000.  But snows increased from 61,200 to 78,600.

Despite a poor nesting season for Canada geese last summer, says DNR, their numbers slightly increased over last year – from 498,200 to 519,500.

“Wintering Canada geese remained high and were likely bolstered by migrant geese pushed south by cold temperatures and snow north of Maryland,” DNR says.

Reduced diving duck populations is due largely to lower numbers of redheads, canvasbacks, scaup and ruddy ducks.

“Extensive ice in the Chester River prevented diving duck use of this major wintering area favored by canvasbacks and scaup,” according to DNR.

Icing apparently affected black ducks, whose numbers are slightly down from last winter – from 24,900 to 22,500.

The midwinter survey has been conducted annually throughout the U.S. since the 1950s, providing information on long-term trends in the bird populations. It is the only source of estimates for important specises such as Atlantic brant and tundra swans. It showed brant rising slightly, from 800 to 1,000, and the swans in slight decline, at 14,000, down by 200 from last winter.

Each winter, pilots and biologists from DNR and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Survey count the waterfowl along the Chesapeake shorline and the Atlantic coast.

This past January they observed 787,100 waterfowl. The year before they counted 836,900.

The 2010 total still shows healthy growth above some recent years. In 2006 they counted only 577,100 and in 2007 they found just 478,900.