tainted waters

i blame martin omalley for everything bad and i shhould

Development is not causing any of these problems. What is? Farming, animal farming, and ONLY those two things with their massive fertilizer and poo runoff.

Where are the Republicans yelling, "what the bay needs is more deregulation?"

We had met the enemy of the Bay and it is us. All of us. Even the waterkeepers motoring around the rivers in their power boats, I hope that they have never used a two stroke engine. The watermen over fishing. The farmers over fertilizing. Developers over developing. Existing residents that live along the shore and who have polluted for generations. Human waste that just comes out naturally. Government can regulate population or can it ?
Just think of all the drugs which pass through our bodies into our waterways that wasn't even discussed.

A ban on new waterfront development on the bay and its tributaries would help.

Of course republicans would do everything in their power to block that. They seem to always side with developers and against environmental concerns.

Amboy Dukes wrote:

Where are the Republicans yelling, "what the bay needs is more deregulation?"

I guess they're waiting for the real estate market to completely tank so they can buy Gibson Island at pennies on the dollar and turn it into an oil refinery. LOL

Save the Bay wrote:

We had met the enemy of the Bay and it is us. All of us. Even the waterkeepers motoring around the rivers in their power boats, I hope that they have never used a two stroke engine. The watermen over fishing. The farmers over fertilizing. Developers over developing. Existing residents that live along the shore and who have polluted for generations. Human waste that just comes out naturally. Government can regulate population or can it ?
Just think of all the drugs which pass through our bodies into our waterways that wasn't even discussed.

I hope that they have never used a two stroke engine? If you used an outboard motor more than 10-15 years ago, you used a two stroke engine. It's all there was. Maybe we should all go back to sail power. Sheesh!

Or better yet, maybe we should just kill ourselves to save the bay.

You see a lot of problems without a real solution.

"The problem is that farming and conservation are fundamentally at odds." Wrong, wrong, wrong. Farmers were the first conservationists. They do not have a problem working for the environment. Pay them.

Surf52 wrote:

<quoted text>
I hope that they have never used a two stroke engine? If you used an outboard motor more than 10-15 years ago, you used a two stroke engine. It's all there was. Maybe we should all go back to sail power. Sheesh!
Or better yet, maybe we should just kill ourselves to save the bay.
You see a lot of problems without a real solution.

I don't want to get medieval on everyone. Just precolonial or whatever our ecosystem can support.
While I was dispensing some excess coffee to the waste stream.
I remembered about nitrogen from the air pollution from fossil fuel from ours and our neighbors power plants and cars is fouling the air and water.

We are the solution. Just do the right thing yourself and help others do it too.

This will never stop. Greed and ignorance will always run rampant in this society because our leadership is pathetic. The environmental movement will always fail and always loose because there is no finanacial incentive for INDIVIDUALS to change anything. Its the 'not my problem' epidemic.

The finanacial incentive is actually to do as much harm as can be gotten away with because regulations and doing the right thing cost $. And in the end, all of these people with their six kids, living in their big waterfront mansions that were bulit on lots where all of the waterfront buffer trees were cut for their view, not caring about anything but themselves will get (and are getting) exactly what they deserve: an embarrassingly polluted and downright dangerously unhealthy environment.

If everyone is too self-absorbed and numbed by fast food and desparate housewives to realize what is really going on and that they as individuals need to make changes than this will never stop. You cant rely the government to fix these things for you.

Let everyone crowd along to water, then proclaim you're concerned about the bay.Hypocrites !!All the money campian O'malley and others took from builders.

It is interesting that the county wants us to replace our septic systems with county sewer systems. Our community was given the chance to do this two years ago. We all wanted to. But when the cost was provided, we found out it would cost about $150,000 per house to do so (this included about $30K upfront, plus about $300/month for 30 years). So we voted not to connect. Now, I understand that it isn't cheap to do something like this, but I don't believe that the real cost is anywhere near that. However once you factor in the profit realized by contractors and the ground rent holders, it becomes unaffordable. If the county could figure out a way to charge homeowners just the cost of connecting to the public sewer system, and make it comparable to what developers pay, you can bet we would jump at the chance to do so.

and about the critical area laws - I live next door to someone that has a tree buffer that is subject to these laws. They just applied for a permit to remove 22 trees, leaving 5 in the buffer. It was approved. I called the county to ask why they approved it, and it was approved because they paid a fine and agreed to pay to have trees planted somewhere else. So you tell me what good the law does.

Another "the sky is falling" Sun article without presenting real solutions.

Where are the articles giving detail on solutions like porous concrete, porous asphalt, porous pavers, etc.?

We can't give a tax break or any financial incentive to homeowners connecting to the public sewer lines? What is our gov't doing to incent people to do the right things? Use the carrot, not the stick. At this stage, there certainly is no carrot.

John Smith wrote:

Another "the sky is falling" Sun article without presenting real solutions.
Where are the articles giving detail on solutions like porous concrete, porous asphalt, porous pavers, etc.?
We can't give a tax break or any financial incentive to homeowners connecting to the public sewer lines? What is our gov't doing to incent people to do the right things? Use the carrot, not the stick. At this stage, there certainly is no carrot.

porous concrete,asphalt and and pavers can not replace the ecological function of a forest. What happens when they get gunked up.They go from a sink to a source of pollution for the next generation to clean up.
How about a farms to forest bailout. instead of farms to development or farms to farms spread with chicken manure.
Chicken manure should be converted to fuel.

What-you don't think homeowners use fertilizer on the pretty green lawn??? And pesticides and weedkillers-usually in amounts/acre far greater than farmers! I see my waterfront neighbors apply chemicals to their sloping lawns several times a year.

severn homeowner wrote:

and about the critical area laws - I live next door to someone that has a tree buffer that is subject to these laws. They just applied for a permit to remove 22 trees, leaving 5 in the buffer. It was approved. I called the county to ask why they approved it, and it was approved because they paid a fine and agreed to pay to have trees planted somewhere else. So you tell me what good the law does.

This is a great point. The laws are there, but variances like this are constantly granted, rendering the laws useless. And the trees that will be planted somewhere through these agreements will not come close to serving the ecological function of a forest buffer. Half of them probably wont even survive.

No chemicals on my lawn, and if you do not like my lawn, do not look. Get some children from schools on volunteer projects and plant some saplings. We can all make an honest living on Solar, and wind power including our current power sources. Instead of throwing stones pay back the citizens who care.

As mention above, many water front porperties along the bay and its tributaries have lawns that slope down to the water. When they go to the local garden center or home depot they are encourage to buy all kinds of chemicals that are completely un-necessary for a healthy lawn. They shouldn't really have lawns anyways, a buffur of native plants should be preserved to filter the rain runoff. Their lawns, combined with impervious roof surfaces, and driveways, pollute the bay- its not just farmers.

I live in AA county and I would love if county sewer would come down my street. I always heard it was around $12K to do it. I hope it's not $150,000 per house. There is no way I could afford that. I'd be going in a hole dug in the backyard at that price!