This letter is in support of funding to ensure continued maintenance of the Oxford Conservation Park.

The Oxford Conservation Park has rapidly grown in popularity. It is being used not only by our local citizens but also by an increasing number of visitors from outside of Talbot County, all of whom find it a unique and attractive location to view and enjoy wildlife.  The Talbot County Bird Club (TCBC) always includes the Park in its seasonal schedule of bird walks.  It is also a popular venue for first-hand outdoor education, including birding classes offered by Talbot County’s own Chesapeake Forum. Its significance as one of our County’s most outstanding public parks alone would justify funding for its maintenance.

However, we want to address the Park’s importance from a different perspective. Recent research (Rosenberg et al., 2019) has shown that North America has lost one-third of its bird population in the past 50 years. That is approximately three billion birds gone since 1970.  The species in the group with the second-most serious decline (49% loss) are the grassland birds. The song of the Eastern Meadowlark is rapidly becoming only a memory; the call of the Northern Bobwhite, once the voice of the countryside, has become unfamiliar to our school children at all grade levels. But grassland birds like Field Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrow, Eastern Towhee, and Bobolink are also affected.  Some of these birds breed locally, some are winter residents, and some use grasslands as important stopover locations on their northern and southern migrations.  The documented decline in these bird species is largely due to the loss of their grassland habitat.

Our point is this: Oxford Conservation Park is not only a poplar public venue; it is also an ecologically significant resource to address the decline of grassland birds.  But grasslands are transient habitats. Yes, some are lost to agriculture and development.  Still, even if they are conserved and left alone, in a few years they will become scrub and then young forests — grasslands no more.  This is the inevitable process of ecological succession.  Grassland habitats require periodic maintenance to set them back to the earlier successional stages where they began. They need to be mowed and woody growth removed on a periodic basis according to a carefully constructed maintenance plan.  If done correctly, they become a habitat resource not only for birds but also for butterflies, insect pollinators, other wildlife and, ultimately the people who come to enjoy a piece of the natural world in their own backyard.

The beneficiaries will be the grassland species that are in serious decline. But the benefits will also be reaped by the people who will enjoy the birds and other wildlife that are being conserved through the long-term preservation of this wonderful Talbot County resource.

The Talbot Bird Club Board of Directors
A chapter of the Maryland Ornithological Society

Well, maybe not so much hidden as under-appreciated. Saturday night, here in Easton, a group of women performed an extraordinary program of music, music written by and for women to sing. When I say “women”, I mean adult women with mature, rich voices. And they are our neighbors, friends and family. Not imported from New York or Washington. Living and singing among us. I’ve heard many lovely, accomplished women’s glee clubs and acapella groups, and that being my point of reference is what I expected with this ensemble.

But in my many years as a professional musician in the US and Europe, I haven’t heard a women’s ensemble like this one. Maybe one exists, but one would have to search pretty hard to find it, and why search when this ensemble is right here! They sing serious music with lyrics reflecting many of the contemporary themes we all experience in our lives…Search for meaning; Recognition of the earth’s beauty; Desire for peace and unity. Profound poetry in accessible musical settings. As I write that, I wonder if it makes the group seem stuffy. It isn’t! The ensemble and the music they sing is full of life, and the concert was a delight to a cheering audience.

The name of the ensemble is Allegra! – with a well-deserved exclamation point! They represent the realized vision of their conductor, Amy Morgan. Ms. Morgan, an accomplished conductor and pianist, is the founder and driving force of the Allegro Academy of Music on Washington Street in Easton. She chose an astonishing variety of interesting, beautiful and intense pieces which the women performed with obvious joy and skill. It was an uplifting evening of music beautifully performed. If you get a chance to hear them be sure to take the opportunity. You will be glad you did.

Darrell Parsons
Talbot County

Everything Everywhere All at Once. Not just the 2023 Oscar winner, this apparently is what developers have in mind for Easton. Despite 818 dwellings that have recently been completed or approved in Easton, another 618 are in the approval process. At 5:30 on April 4th at the Avalon Theater, a developer will ask the Easton and Talbot County Planning Commissions to allow development of the former Poplar Hill Waterfowl Sanctuary off Oxford Road, including 456 dwellings, 98,000 square feet of commercial space, and a sports complex, complete with 3 fields, snack bar, 209-car parking lot, stands, restrooms, etc.

Troublingly, the entire sports complex, 62% of the dwellings, and 41% of the commercial space will occupy Maryland Critical Area, designated to protect the Chesapeake. Because Easton exhausted its growth allowance, the developer is asking Talbot County to allow intense development of the 66 acres of Critical Area.

Sacrificing Critical Area for the sports complex is unreasonable. Easton has no park plan showing another complex is needed now. Building the complex requires bulldozing existing trees and contours flat and planting turf, creating an environmental desert. Once built, Easton will assume forever the costs of fertilizing, mowing, etc. Traffic surges will result before and after every event.

If Poplar Hill is developed, a “meadow park” must be substituted for the complex. A meadow park would use tall grasses, low bushes, existing trees and contours to create a peaceful retreat that all the public can enjoy. It would reduce polluted runoff, provide food, cover, and habitat for wildlife, and create a corridor linking Windmill Branch and the new Easton Woodland Park. Maintenance costs would
be much less. It would produce no traffic surges on Oxford Road. The scenic Oxford Road corridor and Easton’s rural feel would be preserved.

Please let your voices be heard.

Tom Ledvina
President, Papermill Crossing Homeowners Association

This time in American history when economic stress and generalized anxiety is abroad in the land, as it was in post-World War I Germany, Christianity seems once again prepared to serve up scapegoats as a lightning rod for anger and frustration in its majority white population. 

Beyond economic insecurity, we know that the biggest threat to the American family and its children is good ole red blooded American as apple pie infidelity. Yet the loudest voices of American Christianity are offering up the gay community as the major threat to the institution.

The political far right has been encouraged by what the religiously cast anti-abortion message has been able to do in fundraising and electoral outcomes. Now that headway has been made through Supreme Court appointments on this issue, the far right has landed on opposition to the gay community as its newest lever in the toxic electoral mix that is Christian Nationalism. 

Consider some inside biblical theology baseball on sexual sin.  Jesus never mentions homosexuality.  He does denounce divorce and remarriage, the former only permitted if there is infidelity and remarriage in any case constituting adultery.  How is it today in American Protestantism to ordain and employ divorced and remarried clergy as spiritual leaders of congregations and bless the exchange of wedding vows in remarriages.

The comfort with divorce and remarriage surely reflects an acceptance of modern understandings of personality psychology and human relationships.  Where is the same deference to modern psychological understandings in biblical interpretations of gender preference and identity.  

Modern biblical interpretation has made it possible for divorced and remarried congregants and clergy to bask in the comfort and acceptance of their church communities.  The hypocrisy is leaving their gay brothers and sisters out in the cold to be kicked around as political footballs. 

Holly Wright
Easton

Dear Senator Mautz,

Today I write you simply as a woman who is one of your constituents.  I recently read an email from you regarding your opposition to SB 0798 – Right to Reproductive Freedom.

Please give me a minute of your time by reading my letter. I am 75 years old and remember the pre-Roe days.  A friend of mine was raped and went to New York City for an illegal abortion.  She nearly bled to death in her dorm room when she came back to school.

Another friend was well off.  She flew to London for an abortion.

I am sure that you could afford such a trip for a family female with an unwanted pregnancy.  So you have no worries about banning the procedure here in the USA.

I personally take offense when men make such decisions so broadly for all women.  We need access to safe abortions here in the USA with no limits as to why.

Thank you, Senator Mautz, for reading this.

Sarah Sayre
Claiborne

Given Lakeside’s troubled and disreputable history with permit approvals, It should surprise no one to learn suddenly that over three months ago Rocks and the Town of Trappe applied to MDE for a spray irrigation sewer discharge permit FOR THE NEXT PHASE of Lakeside—that is, the NEXT 400 homes, beyond the ones MDE okayed in October.  Like other Lakeside matters (e.g., ownership), this permit application was anything but transparent, and contributes to distrust.

At the end of October–eighteen months after Lakeside’s first “final permit” was remanded by the Circuit Court, and a year after citizens packed the Community Center objecting to many facets of Lakeside’s plans for sewerage–MDE issued a drastically revised “final permit.”  Capacity was reduced from 540,000 gallons per day to just 100,000, an 82% shrinkage!  In terms of homes, under the current formula that permit supports 400 houses at Lakeside, vs 2501 (plus commercial space) in the plan.

Having heard the public (and looked at the science related to the proposed sewerage system), MDE seemingly has spoken.  Importantly, MDE made clear that the initial approval did not include “future growth;” any application for later phases expressly requires MDE to undertake a new, from-the-start, review of all factors related to sewage–presumably including the operating performance of the initial treatment plant.  And new public hearings.

Everyone—including County Council Members, I think–breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that, for now, MDE has limited the scale of the project, and nothing more would happen until most of the 400 homes were built out (about 50 are up now), the first phase of the plant was completed and proven operationally successful, and matters could be assessed by MDE.  Phase II would be somewhere down the line, surely a couple of years.

Ha!

Until last week, virtually no one was aware that back in December, apparently just six weeks after getting its permit for Phase I, Rocks and the Town of Trappe jointly submitted to MDE an application for another 100,000 gpd plant, supporting another 400 apartment units, townhomes, etc.  Even the most active citizens and County Council Members I spoke to were unaware of the application—including at least one Member who had recently spoken directly with MDE.  

The fact that MDE accepted the application says nothing beyond that; who knows what, if anything at all, they may have done with it?  No permit has been issued, no hearing set…maybe it’s a nothing burger.  But if so, then why the hurry?  And why the secrecy?   

The permit application was dated December 2nd, before our new County Council was even sworn in (and five days before the Town authorized it)–yet during Council meetings in December, January, and February where the phasing of Lakeside was discussed (and “Reset Lakeside” was killed off), no one mentioned it.  Indeed, before the January 14th Council Meeting there was a joint meeting between the County and Trappe Town Councils to discuss the sewer situation and “what to expect in the near future…see how the developers are making out.”  Attorneys and the County Engineer were present.  

How could it be that, even there, no one brought up the fact that Rocks had already applied to MDE to add capacity for another 400 homes—an “addition” the size of the entire existing Town, by the way.  At the County Council meeting later that day, all the talk was about close cooperation and trust between the County and the Town.  Maybe it’s a one-way street.

Speaking of trust, in the middle of it all is the Rauch engineering firm.  Rauch is Rocks’ engineer, handling all the Lakeside permits with MDE.  In fact, Rauch was long portrayed as the actual developer of Lakeside, and many assume some partnership interest is involved.  (The firm refused to answer that question last month in discovery related to a suit TIP brought concerning potential conflicts of interest, among other things.)  But Rauch, Inc. is also the consultant to the County regarding the re-write of our Comprehensive Water and Sewer Plan, and for some months has attended, sometimes chaired, meetings between the Town of Trappe and various parties representing the County.  The County relies on Rauch, Inc. as a trusted advisor in many key capacities, and there is quite a bit of interplay. Yet the County seems to have been left in the dark regarding December’s “Phase II” application–filed by Rauch.

I believe all of this just illustrates that Talbot County does not know what’s going on under its own nose, while the Lakeside developer, historically at least, runs rings around us. 

ON RELATED MATTERS:

TIP’s MDE LAWSUIT:  Recall that the Talbot Integrity Project and certain citizens sued MDE last May to rescind R281, to accomplish judicially what “Reset Lakeside” accomplished politically—until suddenly it hadn’t.   Powerful arguments should carry the day, but only after hurdling a procedural challenge at a hearing coming up on April 14th.

LAWSUIT RE CWSP REWRITE:  A taxpayer suit brought by one citizen and TIP to set aside the County’s award of the contract for Rauch, Inc. to rewrite the County’s Comprehensive Water and Sewer Plan is in the discovery phase.  Rauch, Inc. has asked the Court (based upon a very recent case) to reconsider granting a dismissal on the grounds of standing.  TIP contends the contract should be set aside because Rauch, Inc. assisted the County in preparation of the RFP and then bid on it, and because of alleged broad conflicts of interest Rauch, Inc. has with respect to Lakeside and other County matters.  (See above.)

That’s the latest from here. Updates to follow.

The Talbot Integrity Project
Dan Watson

Maryland has a second chance at a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—creating the right conditions for a new 50-year license to operate the Conowingo Dam.

It’s an opportunity to plant trees in Pennsylvania, educate farmers on regenerative agriculture, and, ultimately, reduce the amount of pollution reaching the Chesapeake Bay. The new Conowingo Dam  license process can be transformative for the Bay, but only if Maryland officials can work through the challenges of dealing with the dam’s private operator, the utility Constellation Energy.

It wasn’t easy to get to this point. CBF and Waterkeepers Chesapeake filed a lawsuit after Maryland waived Conowingo Dam’s water quality certification as part of a deal with the dam’s previous owners, Exelon, in 2018. The deal without the certification was bad. It would have enabled Exelon to sidestep most of the suggested water quality improvements and pay a relatively small amount—an estimated $4 million per year—over the next 50 years to offset harm to the Bay caused by the dam’s presence.

Even worse, due to the lack of pollution mitigation requirements in the deal with Exelon, Chesapeake Bay watershed states were being saddled with reducing the additional pollution loads caused by the dam’s operations. A Conowingo Watershed Implementation Plan identified ways to reduce the pollution, which was estimated to cost at least $53 million per year. The federal Environmental Protection Agency later declared it had no confidence in the Conowingo cleanup plan because states had not identified ways to finance the work.

In late 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C. agreed with CBF and Waterkeepers Chesapeake that Maryland couldn’t waive its water quality certification for the dam. This ruling nullified the negotiated agreement between Maryland and Constellation, the firm that took over the dam from Exelon, and brought interested organizations back to the debate over the water quality certification.

This is the moment of opportunity. Conowingo Dam is having a major negative effect on the Chesapeake Bay. Due to its operations, the dam alters the form and timing of how pollution enters the Chesapeake Bay. Maryland Department of the Environment’s (MDE) water quality certification identified the litany of reasons as to why the dam is an environmental problem.

• The reservoir behind the dam, which previously trapped sediment and some pollutants, is now full. When strong rainstorms hit, the deluge of water scours the trapped sediment, pollution, trash, and debris, and then sends them downstream in a short period of time. The flooding and debris from these events often generates headlines. What’s more, the sudden influx of pollution fuels harmful algal blooms that remove dissolved oxygen from the water, which harms marine life.

• The dam has caused declines in freshwater mussels and associated fish species such as eel, shad, and herring above and below the dam. These species were present in much greater numbers before the dam was constructed.

• The Susquehanna River would have a larger delta and support larger underwater grass beds without the dam.

To address these issues, MDE recommended the dam’s operator reduce pollution by 6 million pounds of nitrogen and 260,000 pounds of phosphorus per year. Doing so would ensure the dam doesn’t harm aquatic life in the Bay. MDE included several options Constellation could take to meet these requirements, such as purchasing pollution-reduction credits generated by entities such as wastewater plants that are filtering Bay pollutants; paying fees per pound of nitrogen and phosphorus that would fund Bay cleanup efforts; installing best management practices that reduce pollution; or dredging behind the dam.

The dam’s operators have the resources to make environmental improvements. Conowingo is one of the largest non-federally owned hydroelectric dams in the United States. An economic analysis commissioned by CBF and The Nature Conservancy in 2017 found the dam’s operators could spend from $27 million to $44 million per year on environmental mitigation projects while still generating a profit.  

“We continue to encourage Maryland to require the dam’s operator to invest in upstream conservation practices to offset the environmental issues caused by Conowingo Dam,” said Alison Prost, CBF’s Vice President of Environmental Protection and Restoration. “We believe that investments in streamside forest buffers, green infrastructure to prevent stormwater from entering streams and rivers, and projects to reduce agricultural pollution in the Susquehanna’s watershed in Pennsylvania would be the most cost-effective and long-term solutions to offset the pollution exacerbated by the dam’s presence.”

Addressing upstream pollution, specifically from agriculture, is critical to restoring the Bay. Agriculture is the largest source of pollution to our waterways, but it is increasingly seen as one of the biggest opportunities to turn around a pattern of ecological degradation and create healthy communities. What’s more investing in farm conservation practices will not only improve water quality, but it would also inject an estimated $655 million annually into the region’s economy. Pennsylvania, especially, would benefit from investment in agricultural pollution reduction practices as nearly 90 percent of the state’s required nitrogen pollution reductions must come from agriculture for the state to meet its Bay cleanup requirements.

Upstream improvements would be more cost-effective than dredging. A study conducted by several government agencies in 2015 estimated the annual price tag for dredging behind the dam to range from about $50 million to $250 million per year, with work needing to take place continuously until the dam was out of service. The report concluded that upstream mitigation practices to reduce pollutants would also “be more effective than” reducing sediment by dredging to improve water quality downstream.

“Constellation has a responsibility to step up and pay for its share of the solution to the pollution problems caused by the dam,” Prost added. “The company profits from the use of a natural resource, which is continuing to be harmed by the dam’s operations. It’s time for Maryland officials to hold the company accountable and save taxpayers from the expense of solving the problem.”

Constellation can challenge the issues raised in Maryland’s water quality certification for the dam. CBF and others will be closely monitoring the license review process and providing input where appropriate. We are also working with our partners to ensure that any annual license issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for operation of the dam is as protective of water quality as possible until a new long-term license is in place.

A.J. Metcalf – Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Annapolis

After a whale carcass washed ashore near the mouth of the bay recently, right wing stooge Andy Harris called for a moratorium on development of offshore wind projects “until it can be definitively proven that windmill projects are not contributing to the repeated whale deaths.”

As best I can tell, the first and only wind farm in US waters off the east coast is in Rhode Island. A necropsy of the whale carcass determined that the death occurred due to injuries consistent with a boat strike.

If Congressman Harris is serious about protecting whales, he will announce today that he supports the proposal to extend the 10mph speed limit to charter fishing boats as small as 35 feet. The current limit only applies to vessels 65 feet and longer. Of course he won’t.

Let’s be clear. Andy Harris doesn’t give one whit about whales. If it got him more votes he would serve baby-whale sushi at campaign events.

His whining once again is nothing short of pandering and a tiresome attempt to divert attention from the abject failure of his party.

Jim Bachman
Easton