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November 29, 2023

Talbot Spy

Nonpartisan Education-based News for Talbot County Community

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Some of the Longest Emergency Room Wait Times in Maryland Can Stretch Almost a Whole Day

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With increased risks of food poisoning, burns from cooking, car accident injuries and the rise of wintertime ailments like the flu, the holiday season can result in more trips to emergency rooms.

But in Maryland, higher rates of emergency room visits may exacerbate an existing issue: it can take hours or close to a day between arriving at the emergency room and actually receiving care. State and local officials are trying to determine why emergency room wait times are so long in Maryland.

Wait times in the state are longer than the national average, according the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission, which oversees and regulates hospital rates in the state.

According to September data, the shortest median wait time, from arrival to inpatient admission, was about 3.3 hours, or just over 200 minutes, at Atlantic General in Berlin on the Eastern Shore. In 2020, the median emergency room wait time in the United States was 286 minutes, or 4.7 hours, according to U.S. News.

September data for Maryland show that Atlantic General was the only emergency department that fell below what was the national median in 2020. The remaining 39 emergency rooms reported a median wait time of over 5 hours.

And some of the longest wait times in Maryland can take almost a whole day, according data from the commission.

That includes the University of Maryland Medical System’s emergency department in Easton. In September, the UM Shore Medical Center saw a median wait time of 1,400 minutes, just under 24 hours, from when a patient arrived at the facility to when they are admitted.

The next longest median wait time was Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, with over 16 hours from arrival to inpatient admission in September. MedStar Harbor Hospital’s in Baltimore emergency department had a 700 minute median wait time — more than 11 hours. Those three emergency departments had the longest wait times and each reported a “high volume” of patients during the data collection period.

And wait times don’t include how long it takes to receive care for any injury or ailment that brought you to the emergency room.

The Health Services Cost Review Commission has collected “aim statements” from emergency departments to help track how each facility will work towards improving wait times.

Johns Hopkins Bayview says it plans to reduce the wait time “between when a patient is assigned to a unit/bed on selected services and the time the patient departs the Emergency Department by 10% by March 30, 2024.”

Atlantic General has a couple smaller goals. It wants to reduce by 1% the number of patients who left before being seen by a physician and achieve a median length of stay of 120 minutes or less by March 1, 2024.

While not all emergency departments made clear how they would accomplish those goals, many hospitals said that they will rework the discharge process in order to improve turnaround times, therefore allowing patients to be seen more quickly.

Prince George’s County task force

The longstanding issue of long wait times in emergency rooms is pervasive across the state, and some counties are working independently to correct the issue.

Last week, the Prince George’s County Council approved a new workgroup to research and resolve long wait times, and that process can shed light on the complexity of trying to solve the issue.

Council Vice Chair Wala Blegay (D) sponsored the resolution and noted that the issue of long emergency room wait times are due to a variety of factors, and that there may be several ways to alleviate the issue for Prince George’s County

“We had many stakeholders come here and talk about emergency room wait times, and we’ve all heard from residents throughout the county complaining about emergency room wait times,” she said at the Nov. 14 meeting.

“But we have one of the longest wait times in the country and even in the state. So we have to do something, and this is us taking the first step,” Blegay added.

While crafting the resolution, issues with health care staffing, patient turnaround, and the number of primary care physicians were all raised as factors that result in extended waiting room times.

Eunmee Shim, president of Adventist Healthcare Fort Washington Medical Center, told the council that people without regular access to primary care physicians will be more likely to use  medical services at an emergency room.

What results is called “boarding” of patients, which is when emergency departments have patients who are awaiting care stay in the hallways until a room is available.

“High occupancy rate of hospital beds in the community, starts to create a symptom called ‘boarding’ of the patents in emergency rooms,” Shim told the county council.

“We need more providers in the community where people can get their care through physicians in their offices, not in emergency rooms,” she added.

But Jibran Eubanks, political organizer with 1199 SEIU, raised another issue: the ability to staff emergency rooms.

“Worker to patient ratios in our hospitals are unsustainable and, due to the chronic short-staffing, healthcare workers are overworked and underpaid,” he said. “Patients’ health will continue to suffer if ER wait times remain overly long due to the mismanagement of hospitals which is leading to high turnover for employees.”

For example, he noted that when a room becomes available because a patient has been transferred or discharged, the room needs to be sterilized before the next patient arrives. If there are not enough workers on hand to clean the facility then the turnaround time will be longer.

Prince George’s County’s 17-person task force is to be comprised of hospital representatives, a state delegate or senator representing Prince George’s, nurses, emergency room staff and an emergency room physician, among others.

By Danielle J. Brown

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

A Renewed Push in Maryland to Require the Sale of Cage-free Eggs

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Half a dozen free-range chickens were scratching on a narrow patch of grass at a farm in Potomac Monday afternoon, looking for insects, seeds and other things to eat.

The chickens, with names like Sophia Loren and Marilyn Monroe, seemed happily oblivious to the four cloth chicken dolls stuffed into a cage on the grass before them. But for the humans gathered at Rosie’s Farm Sanctuary, the visual made for a stark tableau.

Several animal rights activists came to the farm Monday to discuss the Humane Society of the United States’ top legislative priority for the upcoming Maryland General Assembly session: a bill that would require all chicken eggs farmed and sold in Maryland come to come from birds who were not cooped up in so-called battery cages.

“These battery cages are incredibly cruel,” said Jennifer Bevan-Dangel, director of the Humane Society’s Maryland office.

State Sen. Karen Lewis Young (D-Frederick) and Del. Jen Terrasa (D-Howard) are preparing legislation that would make Maryland the 11th state to prevent the sale of eggs from chickens who spend their days in battery cages, which are designed to house up to 10 egg-laying hens and are often arrayed in long rows in a chicken coop. If it becomes law, Bevan-Dangel said, the bill would cover roughly 2 million chickens raised in Maryland and another 6 million chickens from out of state whose eggs are sold here.

“This is the most consequential piece of legislation in Maryland for animals, in terms of the number of animals impacted,” she said.

Young, a longtime animal rights activist who helped her father establish a kill-free pet shelter in Lycoming County, Pa., more than three decades ago, introduced the bill in this year’s legislative session, but it failed to get a vote in the Senate Committee on Education, Energy and the Environment, where she serves. Bevan-Dangel said animal rights activists viewed this year’s legislative push as an educational effort but are intensifying the struggle in advance of the 2024 session, including a House sponsor for the first time.

“We’ve always had an ambitious agenda because the legislators have shown they’ve been very supportive of animal rights,” she said.

The setting for the news conference, on a hillside of a rolling 5-acre rescue farm that was set up as a nonprofit about a year and a half ago, was fitting, and friendly, camera-ready sheep and other animals wandered by as the activists were speaking. The timing of the news conference was also not coincidental — coming at the beginning of Thanksgiving week, when millions of Americans are looking forward to eating turkey, chicken, ham and other meat delicacies.

Michele Waldman, who established Rosie’s Sanctuary as a home for dozens of farm animals, said the nonprofit is designed to educate the public about the kinds of animals who are abused in the marketplace. The farm offers tours to school groups, other organizations and individuals who are interested in animal rights. Waldman said she gets daily entreaties to shelter animals that are being abused, but said there are only so many the farm can accommodate.

“As you can see,” she said, gesturing to the chickens, “they just love to forage. They spend half the day doing this.” These particular birds were rescued from an Orthodox Jewish festival of atonement in Brooklyn, N.Y., where they were scheduled to be ritualistically waved over people’s heads and then slaughtered.

Young and Bevan-Dangel said animal rights is only one aspect of the legislation.

“There are health and safety reasons,” Young said. “There’s scientific evidence that caged birds are more likely to produce eggs that produce salmonella and possibly other health hazards.”

“If COVID taught us nothing, it’s that close proximity can be an incubator for disease,” Bevan-Dangel said. She also cast the legislation as a consumer rights bill, noting that the price of cage-free eggs would drop if all the eggs on the market were produced in the same way.

When the bill was up for a hearing earlier this year, the Maryland Farm Bureau opposed it in part on the grounds that the legislation would be too costly. In written testimony, the Farm Bureau estimated that if it became law, the bill would result in a 41% increase in cost of production to retrofit the existing barns and an 119% increase in labor.

“By moving to a cage-free operation, the hen mortality rate increases significantly due to more bacterial habitat being introduced in the barn,” Colby Ferguson, the farm bureau’s government affairs director, said in his testimony. “Lastly, these farms are contracted with out of state companies that will just drop their contracts with the farms and then these farms will have to create a new demand for their eggs in a market where there is already an oversupply of cage-free eggs. This bill would put the few egg-laying farms, that farm this way, out of business.”

Ferguson also offered another reason why farmers objected to the legislation: “We oppose any legislation that would interfere with the right of farmers to raise livestock and poultry in accordance with commonly accepted agricultural practices,” he wrote. “Regulations imposed on agriculture shall be based on economically sound and scientifically proven research to ensure that agriculture, including livestock and poultry industries, remains viable and continues to be a strong economic base for Maryland. All regulations shall be subjected to a rigorous scientifically justifiable cost/benefit analysis.”

Opposition at the hearing also came from the Maryland Rural Council, the Wicomico County government and a few individuals.

Young said she and Terrasa are trying to tweak the language from the previous bill to make it more palatable to the agriculture industry and other opponents. Bevan-Dangel said the bill as originally written would not have outlawed cages altogether or prevented farmers from housing chickens indoors.

By Josh Kurtz

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Study: Lawn Mowers and Leaf Blowers in MD Produce as much Pollution as Long Car Trips

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It’s leaf blower season, adding new layers of unwelcome noise to the cacophony of daily life.

Leaf blowers — along with gas-powered lawn mowers, string trimmers, chainsaws and other garden equipment, also generate an alarming amount of air pollution. Some machines emit as much pollution in an hour as driving hundreds of miles in a car.

A recently released report by the Maryland PIRG Foundation, called “Lawn Care Goes Electric: Why It’s Time to Switch to a New Generation of Clean, Quiet Electric Lawn Equipment,” attempts to quantify the public health risks and potential damage.

Analyzing U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data, the report found that gas-powered lawn and garden equipment in Maryland emitted an estimated 597 tons of harmful “fine particulate” air pollution in 2020 — an amount equivalent to the pollution emitted by 6.4 million gas-powered cars over the course of a year.

Montgomery County, which is phasing out the use of gas-powered leaf blowers and leaf vacuums, ranked 16th among U.S. counties for “fine particulate” air pollution in 2020, with Prince George’s, Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties all ranking in the top 100 as well.

“It’s absurd that we have been tolerating so much harmful pollution and noise just to cut grass and maintain landscapes,” said Maryland PIRG Foundation Director Emily Scarr.

The pollutants emitted by gas-powered lawn equipment include fine particulates (PM2.5), ozone-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and air toxics such as benzene, 1,3-butadiene and formaldehyde. Exposure to these pollutants has been linked to health problems including asthma attacks, reproductive ailments, mental health challenges, cancer and premature deaths. Because they burn fossil fuels, gas lawn mowers and leaf blowers also emit carbon dioxide, the leading contributor to climate change.

The report estimates the emissions of each pollutant and health impacts for the state and on a county-by-county basis. It also calculates the benefit of taking the gas-powered equipment out of circulation, comparing it to the equivalent of taking a certain number of gas-powered cars off the road.

“Air pollution from lawn equipment isn’t some big, distant problem — it’s happening right in our own backyards,” said Tony Dutzik, associate director and senior policy analyst at Frontier Group, a nonprofit think tank that focuses on transportation and environmental policy, who is one of the authors of the new study. “The data in this report shows that emissions from lawn equipment are an important issue in every part of our country.”

The report recommends that local and state governments use electric equipment on public property and provide financial incentives to encourage the widespread adoption of electric lawn equipment by residents. It further suggests that cities and states consider restrictions on the sale and use of the most-polluting fossil fuel-powered equipment.

“The good news is, for those who chose to not use a rake or other manual tool, cleaner, quieter electric-powered lawn equipment is capable, affordable and readily available,” Scarr said.

Those recommendations align with sections of the preliminary Maryland Climate Pathway report, which the Maryland Department of the Environment issued earlier this year, with suggestions for how the state can meet its aggressive climate goals. A final version of the pathway report is due out next month.

Earlier this fall, the Montgomery County Council voted 10-1 to phase out gas-powered leaf blowers and leaf vacuums. Sales of those items will be prohibited in the county beginning on July 1, 2024, and their use will be banned altogether a year later — with exceptions for large-scale agricultural operations.

As he signed the legislation in September, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D) said the county was “putting the health and safety of all our community members first,” and said the government would design a rebate program to help residents defray the cost of purchasing electric leaf blowers and vacuums.

Del. Linda M. Foley (D-Montgomery) introduced legislation in the 2023 General Assembly session that would have phased out the use of gas-powered leaf blowers and vacuums, similar to the Montgomery County measure. In addition to several environmental groups, supporters of the bill included the National Association of Landscaping Professionals and the Humane Society of the United States. The Maryland State Firefighters Association supported the legislation but sought an exemption for the Department of Natural Resources, Forestry division fire management team, arguing that battery-powered leaf blowers do not operate for as long a period as gas-powered units.

Several individuals testified against the measure, as did The Maryland Arborist Association, Inc., which argued that the bill would cost tree care companies — and their customers — more money.

The House Health and Government Operations Committee took no action on Foley’s legislation. But Foley said Monday she would be back with similar bills in the 2024 session, with some changes.

Foley said she is changing the phase-out period of her prior legislation to make it “a little more generous” and is expanding the list of equipment covered to include all “non-road” fossil-fuel engines.

“It is a small portion of fossil fuel emissions [in the state], but every bit of it matters,” she said.

Foley said she anticipates putting in a separate bill regarding sales of leaf blowers. In all likelihood, she said, consumers would be required to buy electric yard equipment when their older, gas-powered equipment breaks down.

By Josh Kurtz

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Maco to State Leaders: More Clarity Needed to Implement and Fund Blueprint

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Maryland lawmakers should provide more guidance and flexibility to county governments as they work to find space in tight budgets for far-reaching public education reforms, a leading advocacy group said.

The Maryland Association of Counties made a series of recommendations to ease pressures on the effort to implement the 10-year Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform plan in a recent letter addressed to Gov. Wes Moore (D) and the legislature’s presiding officers.

“The Blueprint applies a one-size-fits-all approach to education investment and implementation that does not account for our state’s diverse local government capacities, processes, and abilities,” according to the letter signed by MACo Executive Director Michael Sanderson and Howard County Executive Calvin Ball (D), president of the organization. “As we move deeper into implementation, the diverse systems, constraints, and structures counties must work within become more apparent, especially financially.”

Sanderson said in an interview Monday that the goal is not to go back and legislate the Blueprint law, but to inform lawmakers and the public of the continuing challenges to funding the Blueprint on a local level.

One proposal, Sanderson said, is for the legislature to provide a more comprehensive cost analysis detailing how much Blueprint funding is mandated in local budgets. In addition, that analysis should take into account fluctuating school enrollments, he said.

Some counties received notice about how much money would be needed for Blueprint reforms in the next year just a week before budgets were approved last spring, Sanderson said. Most county officials release preliminary budgets between December and February. The General Assembly’s 90-day session is set to begin Jan. 10.

“What we tried to do was harvest the things we’ve been hearing at the local level,” he said. “The idea of more clarity in the funding projections and estimates and having that in a more timely and clear way [helps] everybody…as they go through their budgeting process.”

The Blueprint plan continues to be implemented based on its priorities: expanding early childhood education, hiring and retaining high-quality and diverse teachers, preparing students for college and technical careers and providing additional resources for students in need.

The Blueprint Accountability and Implement Board, an independent body established by the legislature to oversee the initiative approved some updates this summer. One of the board’s duties is providing recommendations to the General Assembly and the governor on proposed changes to the Blueprint law. The panel is set to meet next on Thursday.

The Blueprint law states that schools must implement a $10,000 salary increase for teachers who are designated as National Board Certified, and an additional $7,000 salary increase for certified teachers who work in low-performing schools.

MACo proposes those salary figures should be switched: $7,000 for all teachers certified, and an additional $10,000 for certified teachers in low-performing schools.

Brianna January, associate director of policy for MACo, said there still remains “a universal concern” about a requirement for school systems to raise minimum annual teacher salaries to $60,000, which must be done by July 1, 2026, according to the law.

January said county leaders are concerned the salary increase “will kind of pinch all the other staff positions into an upward trajection for their starting salaries.”

Carter Elliott, a spokesperson for Moore, said in an email Monday that “county leaders are important partners and [the governor] appreciates them stepping up to share their thoughts about the Blueprint and how to ensure its success going forward. The Moore-Miller Administration is looking forward to engaging in further conversation to ensure that all of Maryland’s children have access to a world class education.”

‘More flexibility’

Some of the other MACo recommendations for state leaders are:

  • Provide a specific cost analysis between the state and counties to fund dual enrollment programs at community colleges.
  • Offer greater flexibility for counties to utilize certain spaces such as libraries and community centers to provide prekindergarten instruction. Such spaces may be available but aren’t an option under the law because each would need “the presence of a school administrator, front desk person, and on-duty nurse.”
  • Consider best practices for expedited or alternative teacher certification without lessening the standard for high-quality teachers.

“To best ensure successful implementation of the Blueprint, county governments are seeking a more comprehensive cost analysis and investment from our State partners,” Ball said in an emailed statement. “County governments are funding partners for our local Boards of Education and have minimal oversight on how taxpayer dollars are spent. By having local costs required by the Blueprint clearly defined by the State, and transparently shared with the public, we can all have smoother budget processes and increased collaboration during our annual local budget cycles.”

Some Blueprint supporters, such as Michelle Corkadel, president of the Maryland Association of Boards of Education, said equity must remain a focal point in the plan.

The state Board of Education continues to review a possible revision to the “college and career readiness,” or CCR, standards that are part of the Blueprint plan. Current law states that students “meet or exceed” the standard based on standardized test scores. Under the proposal, students could pass the standard if their grade-point average is 3.0 or higher by the end of 10th grade.

Corkadel said there should be a more holistic approach to aide students who have a focus on career programs.

“It seems to me that we should be including more flexibility in the arena of those students who have chosen a career path. We know that the state does not allow you to sit for your cosmetology license, which would be the ultimate in verifying that your college and career ready. It cannot occur until you’re 18 years old,” said Corkadel, a member of the school board in Anne Arundel County, where schools provide cosmetology training. “I do think that closing our opportunity gaps is one of the desired outcomes of Blueprint and we need to make sure that we are mindful of that. We are hopeful that the decisions we make are going to include the perspectives of all of us.”

By William J. Ford

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Settlement Five Years After Anton Black’s Death Includes Reforms To State Medical Examiner’s Office

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The Board of Public Works unanimously approved a settlement that resolves a lawsuit filed against the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner following the death of Anton Black five years ago.

The family of Black and his estate receive $100,000. Another $135,000 will be paid to lawyers representing the Coalition for Justice for Anton Black.

The settlement also includes landmark changes to the Office of the State Medical Examiner, according to a statement issued by the ACLU of Maryland on behalf of Black’s family and the coalition. Those reforms were announced shortly after the three-member board approved the cash payment.

Included in that settlement are new policies advocates say set explicit guidelines for how in-custody deaths are to be reviewed by the agency.

As part of that, the office is required to adopt national standards for how such deaths are investigated and how a cause of death is determined. The National Association of Medical Examiners requires a death to be ruled a homicide whenever it is determined that the death would not have occurred but for the intentional conduct of another person.

The new policies also require impartial investigations free from improper police influence. No one who is not an employee of the medical examiner’s office can provide input about the autopsy, inspection, or examination.

All completed autopsy results must be presented to the chief or deputy medical examiner for approval prior to release.

Families who receive autopsy reports must be informed of their rights to seek a correction or review findings.

“This settlement is an excellent first step, but as we engage in this new process community members must stay vigilant and engaged to make sure it’s effective,” said Richard Potter, founder of the Coalition for Justice for Anton Black. “The best frontline approach to eliminating harm is increasing accountability within. That is why I hope that with this settlement agencies will begin to recognize their own wrongdoings, catch them and change them before they cause harm. What is needed is a sense of shared ownership that can only come through trust and mutual accountability, with police confronting their own biases about mental illness, committing to de-escalation, and truly serving a diverse community.”

The settlements resolve all open lawsuits filed following Black’s death in police custody.

“This hard-fought settlement is about ensuring that the Maryland Office of the Medical Examiner tells the truth about what happened when people, and particularly Black people, are killed by police or corrections officials,” said Sonia Kumar, senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Maryland. “We can’t prevent such deaths if we aren’t honest about what caused them, and this settlement is a crucial step towards that goal in future cases. We hope this settlement will make a real, positive impact, but it is truly just the beginning of the reckoning needed to address decades of misrepresentations so we can bring justice to families still waiting for the government to tell the truth.”

The panel, which includes Gov. Wes Moore (D), Comptroller Brooke Lierman (D) and Treasurer Dereck Davis (D) approved the financial settlement without discussion or debate.

Following the meeting, Moore declined to take questions on the settlement. In a later statement, his office said he was “pleased to support this recommended settlement agreed upon by the Attorney General’s Office, the Black Family, and the Coalition to satisfactorily resolve their legal claims against the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.”

Black, then 19, died on Sept. 15, 2018, after being restrained by police officers on a ramp in front of his mother’s home in the Eastern Shore town of Greensboro.

Black was seen on a bridge putting a younger acquaintance in a headlock. He was then chased by three white police officers and a white civilian.

The officers then attempted to subdue Black. They wrestled him to the ground, used a stun gun on him, held him down and, after handcuffing him, sat on top of Black for several minutes.

An autopsy performed by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled Black’s death the result of cardiac arrest. The report cited no evidence that Black was asphyxiated due to the restraints used by the officers.

In a 2020 federal civil rights lawsuit, Black’s family and the coalition claimed that excessive force and racial bias led to his death. They alleged the cause was “positional asphyxiation.” The family and lawsuit also alleged that the medical examiner and police from Greensboro, Ridgley and Centreville engaged in a cover-up.

That lawsuit was settled a year ago for $5 million.

Two years ago, the Office of the Attorney General began an audit of autopsy findings by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

The review of 100 cases was ordered after former Chief Medical Examiner Dr. David Fowler testified in the trial of Derek Chauvin, a Minnesota police officer accused of killing George Floyd. Fowler, during testimony in that case, refused to classify Floyd’s death as a homicide.

That audit is ongoing.

Black’s death became a pivotal point leading to police reforms.

The legislature passed a package of reforms of law enforcement in Maryland in 2021. Included in that was Anton’s Law. The law provides public transparency on disciplinary records of Maryland police officers. That transparency extends to complaints and investigations of officers both in their current jobs as well as positions in other agencies.

Previously, those records were shielded from the Maryland Public Information Act.

By Bryan P. Sears

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Transportation Panel Eyes Toll Increases and Fees

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A blue ribbon transportation panel is poised to recommend new fees for electric vehicles and increased tolls as part of an effort to solve a revenue shortage plaguing the state’s Transportation Trust Fund.

The Transportation Revenue and Infrastructure Needs Commission was briefed on both possibilities Monday. An interim report due to the General Assembly by the end of the year could include both recommendations to lawmakers and the Maryland Department of Transportation.

Frank Principe, chair of the panel sometimes called the TRAIN Commission, said the recommendations “are just some of the pieces of the puzzle.”

“There’s clearly some urgency around what needs to be done,” he said in an interview.

The panel will continue to work through 2024 on other related issues including recommendations on improving the process by which state transportation officials select and prioritize projects.

Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld has crisscrossed the state in recent months highlighting a six-year consolidated transportation plan. The budget document outlines projected spending on transportation projects for the state, counties and the city of Baltimore.

Those projects are paid for through the state’s Transportation Trust Fund — a dedicated pot of money that includes revenues from the state’s current 47-cents per gallon gas tax, new vehicle taxes and the bi-annual vehicle registration fees.

But those revenue sources are struggling to keep pace with growing transportation needs. Motor fuel tax collections are diminishing due to more fuel-efficient vehicles and increased adoption of electric vehicles.

People are also keeping their cars longer, which drives down tax collections on new vehicles.

The state’s current six-year transportation project plan as presented, however, faces a $100 million shortfall in fiscal 2025. At the end of the sixth year of the proposal, that gap grows to $2.1 billion.

The 10-year shortfall is projected to be nearly $4 billion, according to a recent report by legislative budget analysts.

Wiedefeld, in early testimony both before the commission and last week with a legislative panel, stressed that the plan currently doesn’t include new projects such as the Red Line.

“I do want to make the point again, that things that we talked about today are potential pieces to the puzzle, but these ideas alone are not going to solve the fiscal hole that the secretary has spoken so eloquently about in the coming fiscal year,” said Principe. “The Commission won’t be able to solve the problems of this year’s [Consolidated Transportation Plan]. I know that the department is anxious to also share with us and the public what they’re going to do in terms of balancing the current CTP. So that, I expect, will be a forthcoming conversation.”

Wiedefeld and the department are already under growing pressure from lawmakers and some local jurisdictions who are unhappy with the current unbalanced proposal.

This is the first year the agency has ever proposed an unbalanced transportation spending plan.

On Friday, members of the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Transportation and Environment expressed frustration over the state of the spending plan. Many questioned when the agency would present a finalized, balanced plan that county leaders and residents could view and comment on.

“Basically, under state law, we need to present you with a balanced budget in January,” Weidefeld told the committee.

Subcommittee Chair Del. Courtney Watson (D-Howard) said Friday that releasing a balanced plan in mid-January would prevent counties and constituents participating in the process.

“If they don’t find out about that until the budget is introduced, that’s not a good process,” said Watson. “That’s not not enough time for them to react to talk to you. I can see it being a complete disaster, in terms of the legislative session. So, we really want those impacts on current projects to be known in December, ASAP, so that individual counties have time to react, citizens have time to comment, and people aren’t caught off guard.”

Watson and others worried Wiedefeld’s timeline would put the onus on the legislature to make decisions on transportation projects.

“We are not the experts in transportation, MDOT is and so we look to you to make the decisions and we will help you make sure that the public is aware of them so that they can provide feedback,” Watson said.

Registration fees on electric, hybrid vehicles on the table

The TRAIN commission’s interim report will be finalized next month.

That report will likely set the stage for debate in the coming session about a fee on electric vehicle registrations in Maryland.

“I think it has to be based on what we heard today,” said Sen. Pamela Beidle (D-Anne Arundel). Beidle, the incoming chair of the Senate Finance Committee, attended her first commission meeting Monday. She replaces Sen. Melony Griffith (D-Prince George’s) who left the Senate to lead the Maryland Hospital Association.

Any new registration fee on electric and hybrid vehicles will need to be passed by the legislature.

More than 137,000 zero emission vehicles, a category that includes battery electric vehicles, are expected on Maryland roads in 2024, according to a study performed by the Maryland Department of Transportation.

By 2031, that number is expected to jump to more than 1.3 million — roughly 26% of the nearly 5.1 million light duty passenger cars and trucks in the state.

The increase coincides with Democratic Gov. Wes Moore’s announcement in March that committed the state to require all new cars sold in the state to be electric vehicles by 2035.

The vehicles are heavier and cause more wear and tear on roads than standard gas-powered vehicles. But currently, owners of electric vehicles do not contribute to the state’s Transportation Trust Fund beyond the initial taxes and vehicle registration.

Sen. Stephen S. Hershey Jr., (R-Upper Shore) said a fee on electric and hybrid vehicles may have some support from Republicans.

“This was a nonstarter for the Hogan administration,” said Hershey. “He was not going to sign a bill that was going to increase fees, even though I think that it could be considered a user fee or a matter of fairness. Those vehicles should be paying some equitable amount as gasoline-fired vehicles. I think it would be something that would be under discussion, but from what I’m hearing, I think you would see bipartisan support.”

The idea is not new. Thirty-three states have imposed some form of fee on both electric or hybrid vehicles or both. Eleven others including Maryland have proposed such fees but have yet to pass them. Just six — Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York and Rhode Island — have yet to propose or enact such a fee.

The commission’s interim report may not include a recommended fee level.

The national average for electric vehicles is $128. Hybrid vehicle fees on hybrid vehicles run about $63 on average.

Georgia charges the highest fees at $210.87 for either category.

California, which has nearly 880,000 electric and hybrid vehicles on the road, raises the most revenue nearly $64.3 million in 2021. That state charges $108 on an electric vehicle and $11 on a hybrid.

Toll increase proposal could pinch out-of-state drivers

The panel will also consider a recommendation to increase tolls at the state’s nine toll facilities.

In September, Joseph Sagal, then the director of the Maryland Transportation Authority, said the agency that manages the toll facilities was already contemplating increases.

Sagal died unexpectedly on Oct. 26. His funeral was held Monday.

At least two options for toll increases have emerged. The first is a flat increase on all vehicles. Another option is a tiered model where out-of-state drivers may pay more.

The commission was briefed by legislative analysts on the possible effects of a flat rate increase.

Under one scenario, the state could increase revenue by more than $81.4 million by increasing tolls by 50 cents on all vehicles. Revenue would increase by nearly $89 million if the state increased tolls by 25 cents per axel, according to analysts.

Roughly one-third of the 162.8 million transactions at state toll facilities involved out-of-state vehicles.

Imposing a flat 50-cent increase on those vehicles would increase toll revenues by more than $26.7 million. A 25-cent-per-axel increase would boost state toll revenues by nearly $31.6 million on those same vehicles, according to the analysts’ projections.

Currently, money collected from tolls is set aside to pay the bonds issued for projects at Maryland Transportation Authority facilities. The increases could be funneled into the trust fund.

“So, we’ve reached the bad ideas category of this,” said Hershey, adding that the commission should also reconsider farebox collections on mass transit.

“Before we start looking at raising the gas tax, before we start looking at raising tolls, I think that needs to be on the table,” he said.

But other states including New York and Virginia use toll revenues for transportation projects, according to House Environment and Transportation Chair Del. Marc Korman (D-Montgomery).

Maryland already offers a discount on tolls for drivers with an E-ZPASS account registered in Maryland.

The legality of tolls levied on out-of-state drivers is a matter of debate.

In Rhode Island, a federal judge declared unconstitutional a plan to charge tolls to out-of-state truckers while exempting state businesses and cars registered in the state. The state has appealed the ruling and is awaiting a decision by the First Circuit Court of Appeals.

The commission is seeking advice from the Office of the Attorney General.

“We’ve asked the attorney general,” said Principe. “It’s something that’s being pursued.”

By Bryan P. Sears

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Maryland Counties Weigh Zoning Restrictions In Advance of Cannabis Expansion

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County leaders are being warned to be reasonable when considering using zoning to restrict cannabis businesses.

The warning comes as the Maryland Cannabis Administration is about to open the application window for a social equity round of licenses that will award more than six dozen new dispensary licenses. Some county officials are frustrated by what they see as a vagary in the state law or a usurpation of local control of land use, the Maryland Association of Counties called for a measured approach when it comes to zoning.

“So, there have been all kinds of proposals that are sort of wacky and out there in terms of how to skirt this law. …Maybe we could put up a bunch of tiny libraries all over the county, and that’s a library so we don’t have to allow,” a dispensary nearby, said Kevin Kinnally, the association’s legislative director. “That’s not going to fly. It’s not going to fly. It’s not going to work. And it actually makes things more difficult dealing with the legislature in my mind, because when they see things like that, they tend to come down with a pretty heavy hand and we don’t want to be in a situation where we’re further preempted. So, I would ask everyone to please try and stay within reason.”

The state is on the cusp of a dramatic expansion of its cannabis industry.

Currently, there are 101 licensed dispensaries in the state. The licenses are distributed relatively equally across 47 legislative districts.

Even so, a handful of counties have “no exposure to cannabis businesses today and that is definitely going to change moving forward,” said Will Tilburg, acting director of the Maryland Cannabis Administration.

“So, we’re talking about a total of 75 dispensaries in this round, which would bring the state total to 176 compared to about 7,000 alcohol outlets in the state,” said Tilburg. “So, it’s not really an apples-to-apples comparison in terms of market access or distribution of these when comparing to alcohol or tobacco outlets in the state.”

The coming round will issue more than 170 licenses to bolster social equity in the industry.

These licenses aim to boost ownership in communities disproportionately affected by historical drug enforcement efforts, primarily impacting Black and Brown individuals.

Nineteen of the state’s 24 major political subdivisions will receive between one and three of those social equity dispensary licenses in the coming round. Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties will receive nine and 11 will go to Baltimore City, according to the Maryland Cannabis Administration.

Another round is expected in May. A third round could bring more licenses based on supply and demand needs in Maryland.

“There are approximately 280 Mickey Ds in the state of Maryland,” said Shad Ewart, a professor who teaches cannabis entrepreneurship at Anne Arundel County Community College. “There are approximately 290 Starbucks in the state of Maryland, there will be 300 dispensaries in the state of Maryland.”

Undue burden ‘pretty clear’

Some jurisdictions, however, are looking to zoning to limit where dispensaries can be located.

State law passed earlier this year and signed by Gov. Wes Moore (D) was meant to limit counties from making it difficult for cannabis businesses to open and operate.

Senate Education, Energy and Environment Committee Chair Sen. Brian Feldman, (D-Montgomery) said the new law was intended to prevent a repeat of what happened at the start of medical cannabis licensing. Counties including Anne Arundel and Prince George’s attempted to limit where businesses could locate.

“From a statewide perspective, we don’t want to have local governments that basically have veto authority over a state policy that … not only did we pass the bill, but it was predated by a 70% approval vote by the voters of Maryland,” said Feldman. “So, if we do need to go back in and do some clarifying and some tightening to basically uphold the intent of the state legislature here, then I think there will be a desire to do that.”

“But … I don’t want to pregame this entirely because I want to see how this all plays out,” he added.

Feldman said the new law offers a guide to the major political subdivisions, prohibiting them setting zoning or other requirements that are an undue burden on a cannabis business. The law also prohibits local governments from imposing “more burdens on cannabis businesses than those imposed on other businesses that have impacts in the area where the cannabis licensee is trying to locate,” said Feldman.

“I think it’s pretty clear language,” said Feldman.

Prince George’s eyes industrial zones for cannabis

In Prince George’s County, the council is again considering legislation prohibiting cannabis dispensaries in commercial zones. Instead, dispensaries would be pushed to industrial areas which include business parks.

But those efforts are conflicting with the goals of increasing the number licensees in communities disproportionately affected by the war on marijuana.

Recreational marijuana for adults was legalized in 2022 by a 2-1 margin statewide. That vote came five years after the state’s first legal sales of medical marijuana.

Black and Latino residents make up 85% of the population in Prince George’s County. Seven in 10 voters supported legalization in the 2022 election.

Nine new dispensary licenses are planned for the county. The amount is second only to Baltimore City where 11 are expected.

Councilmember Krystal Oriadha (D), lead sponsor of the Prince George’s zoning bill, said many are frustrated by the large number of liquor stores in the county. There is a desire to not see the same thing happen with recreational cannabis.

Oriadha said the county needs to pass zoning requirements before new licenses are issued “to ensure there is not a gap that allows for these cannabis dispensary stores to saturate communities like mine.”

Community members who testified this month in opposition to allowing dispensaries in commercial areas cited property values, public health concerns and damage to property values because of “marijuana shops on every corner.”

Prince George’s County Councilman Edward P. Burroughs III (D) said many people in his district do not want dispensaries in commercial areas.

“I am here to represent them, and I believe that placing the cannabis dispensaries in industrial zones is fair,” Burroughs said during a council meeting. “I think it’s important that we raise the aesthetic of our community, that we fight for more quality development. This county should be more than a Royal Farms, a tobacco store, a liquor store, and a cannabis shop in our shopping centers. I do know that a lot of my friends will have no problem with driving to an industrial zone to support these businesses.”

During a recent council meeting, community members compared the proliferation of dispensaries to existing concerns about the number of liquor stores in the county. Others expressed concerns about public health and safety, access to the drug by minors and property values.

In Prince George’s County there are 18.1 liquor stores per 100,000 people, according to the Prince George’s County Health Department.

Currently, there are nine cannabis dispensaries in the county of nearly 1 million residents. Two other approved licensees have yet to find an area to locate their business and are not operational.

Supporters note that the county is already pushing tobacco shops, colloquially known as smoke shops, into the same areas.

Councilmember Jolene Ivey (D) said such efforts are meant to reduce smoke shop business.

“So, I know that with liquor stores and smoke shops that we passed legislation to send them to industrial zones and the reason why we did that is because we do want to smother them,” said Ivey. “We don’t want the proliferation of smoke shops, but this is not the same thing. So, if what we did before with smoke shops was fully intended to stop smoke shops. Then what are we doing here when the intention of the state was to provide equity?”

Other members warned that passage of the legislation will land the county in court.

‘Creative’ legal advice

In August, county leaders attending the annual Maryland Association of Counties summer conference in Ocean City were advised to look to look at how they zone businesses that are like cannabis growing, processing and dispensing operations.

“The way things are right now, many counties have actually already been zoning something similar,” said Roscoe Leslie, county attorney for Worcester County. “We’ve been doing this with medical cannabis already. Many of the counties either already have expressed the zoning in their codes already for businesses that are similar to recreational cannabis, or we have policies interpreting our current laws to fit the medical businesses into zoning categories. So, I think it’s going to be potentially pretty tough to implement ordinances that are more strict than your medical cannabis, things are in place.”

Leslie said there may also be some wiggle room. Some of that could come in the form of tweaks to address parking issues or long lines.

“I don’t think you’re going to be able to push the envelope too much further,” he told the crowd. “There are some opportunities to be creative, I think.”

Maryland’s cannabis law allows local governments to prohibit dispensaries within 500-feet of schools, daycares, libraries, rec centers, parks, and playgrounds.

“Could it be that some creative lawyers could advise you to build a pocket park or a tiny library in a place where you don’t want a dispensary to be located?” Leslie told the crowd. “I encourage you to talk to your lawyers about that. People here in Ocean City have a public beach that runs the whole length of the city. So, I think you could argue that that’s a park and then you can’t have a dispensary within 500 feet of the Ocean City beach. But again, I’m not giving legal advice here.”

William Mackey, planning director in Kent County, said adult-use cannabis businesses will be rolled into existing zoning codes.

“Kent County has a long standing and formal policy for medical uses, that if retail is permitted in the zoning district, then a dispensary could be permitted,” Mackey said last week at the Maryland Association of Counties symposium. “If manufacturing is permitted in the zoning district, then processing could be [permitted in the district]. And if agriculture was permitted in the zoning district, then a grower would be permitted. And we just formalized that as a resolution that same policy rolling forward for what we call non-medical uses.”

In Charles County, officials looked to use laws regarding alcohol licenses as a guide for preventing a cluster of licensed dispensaries.

“We have in our zoning code, you can only have so many licensed alcohol establishments per election district,” Charles County Attorney Wes Adams said during the association symposium. “So, we’ve taken that same approach. It will allow for that equitable distribution.”

Legislature could pre-empt counties

The struggle with zoning for new cannabis businesses, particularly in Prince George’s County, is attracting the attention of state officials who appear poised to step in and limit county authority.

“I’ve heard from the administration that they are not happy with what some counties are doing,” said Kinnally. “And so, they’ve essentially said ‘We’re going to put a bill in to clarify a lot of this stuff. We don’t want to preempt you further, but some of this stuff that we’re seeing is not going to fly.'”

Kinnally later identified Prince George’s County as one being watched by the governor.

A spokesperson for Moore did not respond to a request for comment.

Feldman, the Senate chair, said he and other lawmakers may file legislation further limiting the ability of local governments to use restrictive zoning practices to limit cannabis businesses.

“I could absolutely envision some clarifying language on these provisions that I keep citing to make it clearer and tighter if there is ambiguity and the stakeholders believe there’s ambiguity,” said Feldman. ” We do that on a lot of bills, particularly large bills. We come back the next session, and we tighten up the language.”

By Bryan P. Sears

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

MD Health Department Spending Plagued by ‘Pervasive Lack of Documentation’

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During the pandemic, federal COVID relief packages distributed more than $4 trillion across the United States to counter the then-novel COVID-19 virus.

But over the course of several years, the Maryland legislature raised questions about how the state Department of Health documented and utilized some of the millions of dollars of federal COVID funding it received, but the state agency had few answers.

An audit released Tuesday found a “pervasive lack of documentation” regarding COVID funds and that the agency did not properly monitor how the state used millions of dollars during the public health emergency. The audit also identified questionable management of contractors engaged to help the department during COVID-19.

“I’ve never seen an audit like this. This is the worst audit I’ve ever seen. And it’s every worse nightmare pulled together,” said Sen. Clarence Lam (D-Howard), Senate chair of the Joint Audit and Evaluation Committee.

The review from the Office of Legislative Audits evaluated the finances of the Maryland Department of Health beginning February 12, 2019 through June 30, 2022, during the tenure of former Gov. Larry Hogan (R).

The audit found that during this time, the Maryland Department of Health “lacked assurance that the balances of the revenue and expenditure accounts related to federal fund activity were accurate.”

Auditors concluded that $1.4 billion in potential federal revenue is currently unaccounted for and requires a more comprehensive analysis to determine whether the state can be reimbursed for the expenses. The shortfall could exacerbate concerns about a tight budget in the upcoming fiscal year.

Lam explained that federal COVID funds typically work through reimbursements. States are told they have a certain amount of funding to use in order to perform a variety of responsibilities that helped keep people safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Typically, states would then ask to be reimbursed for those funds after spending them. But the audit shows that MDH “did not ensure that all provider payments were properly recorded in its automated system to enable recovery of federal funds to offset State-funded expenditures.”

The reimbursement issue was first raised in January in a report on the Statewide Review of Budget Closeout Transactions for Fiscal Year 2022. At that time, there was an estimated $3.5 billion shortfall.

“MDH subsequently advised that approximately $2.1 billion of this amount had been recovered as of April 2023, but that a comprehensive analysis of its accounts was needed to determine the ultimate collectability of the accrued revenue transactions,” auditors wrote.

Lam said the legislature asked the department for more information about pandemic spending, but received little documentation during the Hogan administration.

Moreover, MDH was not conducting adequate quarterly reconciliation to ensure that federal funds had been recovered, “resulting in failure to recover approximately $973.3 million in federal funds.” The Office of Legislative Audits raised this concern with MDH and the agency recovered most of the funds, but the “the untimely recovery resulted in lost interest to the State of $6.4 million.”

In December 2021, the Maryland Department of Health experienced a ransomware attack that affected the agency’s entire computer network and disrupted informational technology operations. The incident prolonged the auditing process and affected auditors’ ability to receive records. It also had an outsize effect on some state contracts.

Contracting concerns

The audit also notes that the state agency sometimes disregarded state procurement laws.

The audit says that an evaluation of one of the emergency contractors providing consulting services related to Maryland’s supply of COVID-19 vaccines revealed that the contract was modified to include “unrelated services without justification and did not sufficiently document if the services were received.”

The contract modifications were used to “circumvent state procurement regulation by increasing the scope and cost of the emergency contract without justification.”

The contract ballooned from just under $3.8 million in January 2021 to more than $87 million after a fourth contract modification nearly a year later.

Among the modifications were an expansion of the scope of the contract to include $40 million to support the ransomware response.

However, “MDH could not provide adequate justification for either modification, nor could it explain why separate procurements were not issued for these services given the nature of the new work, which appeared unrelated to the original COVID vaccination scope,” the audit said.

“Given the disparate nature of this activity compared with the scope of the original contract, we believe a separate contract should have been procured in conjunction with the Department of Information Technology and included consideration of information technology-specific vendors and consultants,” the audit said.

Lam said the audit amounted to lawmakers’ “worst nightmare.”

“It shows complete dysfunction and disarray when it came to properly accounting for funds,” during the pandemic spending boom, he said.

Ex-employees still receiving pay

The audit also identified that the health department did not have a system in place that would ensure former state employees were removed from  payroll, resulting in 45 employees continuing to receive payment even after leaving the job, totaling $151,000 of improper payment.

“MDH was unaware of this condition until we brought the matter to its attention in January 2023, and consequently, MDH had not yet taken action to recover the improper payments,” wrote auditors, who recommended additional evaluations to determine if there are more improper payments.

What’s next

The concerns raised by the audit occurred during the Hogan Administration, but the Moore Administration is left with fixing the issues.

“The audit… raises significant concerns about fiscal processes and controls, cybersecurity findings, and procurement processes,” according to a written statement from the current Department of Health. “In short, the report raises grave concerns about the stewardship of taxpayer dollars during a critical period for public health. The Department is moving swiftly to correct these issues using all tools available.”

The department has also hired an external accounting firm to help fix and improve the agency’s fiscal practices, and implemented an information security program to protect against future cybersecurity threats.

Lam said the health department and Maryland’s Secretary of Health Dr. Laura Herrera Scott have a lot of work to do to improve fiscal accountability and transparency.

“There’s a lot of work to be done here, and the new secretary needs to roll up her sleeves,” he said. “Really dig into this and make sure that the department has all the resources and personnel needed to make sure proper accounting takes place in the future.”

By Danielle J. Brown

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Gov. Wes Moore Endorses Angela Alsobrooks in Democratic primary for U.S. Senate

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Photo by William J. Ford

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) stepped into the U.S. Senate race Monday to endorse Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks.

Moore returned the favor after Alsobrooks endorsed him last year for governor when he opened a field office in Prince George’s, the majority Black jurisdiction with the largest number of registered Democrats in the state.

“The world needs America’s leadership now more than ever, and the country needs Maryland’s leadership now more than ever. Angela’s a leader. She is a public servant in every beautiful definition of the word,” Moore said at a rally at Monument City Brewing Company in Baltimore. “I’m supporting Angela because of what she means to our state’s future.”

Dozens of people sported “Alsobrooks for Senate” pins and wore lime-green T-shirts with her name in Black letters.

One person didn’t wear a T-shirt, but still came to support Alsobrooks on Monday: Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando (D), who announced Friday he would no longer compete in next May’s Democratic primary for the open Senate seat.

“I made the decision that this was not the right time and the right race for me,” he said. “In my heart, it was an easier decision to make because I knew there remained a stellar candidate in the race who would represent our state with grace, with dignity and with honor. It’s time now for Democrats to coalesce. I believe that candidate is Angela Alsobrooks.”

Other Democrats who lined up to endorse Alsobrooks on Monday included Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller, Howard County Executive Calvin Ball and Baltimore County Council Chair Julian Jones Jr.

Alsobrooks has already garnered support from half of the state’s federal delegation, top state leaders and county and municipal officials in the Democratic primary to succeed longtime Sen. Ben Cardin (D), who announced in the spring that he would not seek reelection in 2024.

“I know that this endorsement is one that [the governor] thought about. I know that it’s one he didn’t [take] lightly and he’s been the greatest partner,” Alsobrooks said to reporters. “Combined with the other leaders who have come here today, what we recognize is that we really are stronger together. This is Team Maryland and to have the head of Team Maryland come out is a big deal and really an honor.”

The county executive faces a challenge from Rep. David Trone (D-6th), who’s mostly self-funding his campaign and has already spent more than $10 million since he announced his candidacy in May.

The congressman from Montgomery County has aired seven campaign ads.

“Our campaign is honored to have the endorsements of 111 elected officials from across Maryland and the country who have seen David Trone’s ability to get things done for Maryland families first hand,” according to a statement from the Trone campaign. “As we’ve traveled throughout Maryland, voters have told us clearly that they want candidates who are willing to work to earn their vote and that they are most interested in where candidates stand on issues facing our communities.”

Other Democrats have sought to run in the Senate race including Anne Arundel County businessman Juan Dominguez.

Three Republicans filed campaign reports to run in the May 14 primary: retired brigadier general John Teicher, perennial candidate Robin Ficker and Lorie Friend, a Garrett County nurse.

by William J. Ford

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Meet the 572-megawatt Gorilla of the Chesapeake Bay

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A view of the Susquehanna River from the Conowingo Dam, looking south. Photo by Bryan P. Sears.

It was early morning on a patio just outside the Conowingo Dam, and Mike Martinek was looking at hundreds of juvenile eels that had been suctioned from the Susquehanna River into a giant freshwater pool. Martinek, a fisheries biologist for an environmental consulting firm, and a couple of colleagues were planning to truck the eels a couple of hours north into Pennsylvania, past Harrisburg, and dump them near spawning grounds upriver.

“We’re the eel Uber,” Martinek laughed.

Many of these eels, who are generally 2 to 4 years old, were hatched in the Sargasso Sea, in the Atlantic, and have been propelled by tides to the Conowingo Dam, almost randomly.

“They could be from Georgia or Norway,” Martinek said. “It’s a mixing bowl. You just don’t know.”

Some 200,000 eels will pass through the dam this year, many using a chute that simulates a creek.

“We’re the only eel collection facility on the Susquehanna, and one of the biggest on the East Coast,” said Andrea Danucalov, manager of regulation and licensing at the dam — in short, the environmental compliance officer.

That this daily activity is the first thing that Constellation Energy officials showed a couple of reporters who had come recently for a tour of the mighty Conowingo Dam may not be a coincidence.

Throughout the three-hour visit, company executives repeated over and over how important environmental stewardship is to Constellation, especially at the dam, a pressure point for myriad marine and animal species. In fact, the tour guides said, environmental considerations go into every decision the company makes about the operation of the dam. And Conowingo, they say boldly, is at the cutting edge of the fight to address climate change in the state: it’s far and away the largest producer of renewable energy in Maryland.

Up and down the corporate food chain, company officials at Constellation and its predecessor entities have made the same assertions for years. It’s almost as if the main purpose of the dam — generating hydropower at Conowingo for the past 95 years — is an afterthought. But maybe that’s to be expected.

In the broad debate over the health of the Chesapeake Bay, Conowingo Dam is in many ways the 800-pound gorilla in the conversation — or to put it more precisely, the 572-megawatt gorilla, the maximum level of electricity the dam can generate on an annual basis, which is enough to power about 165,000 homes. That prevents 867,000 metric tons of carbon emissions from going into the atmosphere every year, the company estimates — the equivalent of taking 186,000 cars off the road.

But recently, Constellation’s environmental performance is back in the news, after the state of Maryland, responding to a court order, reopened the process for issuing a clean water operating permit for the dam, which Constellation needs to be granted a new 50-year operating license from the federal government. After taking public comments over the past several weeks, mainly from the parties involved in prior lawsuits over the dam, but also, more informally, from everyday folks, the Maryland Department of the Environment is poised to issue a decision on the permit fairly soon.

The environmental group that monitors the health of the Susquehanna River in the vicinity of the dam believes the permitting process needed to be reopened, arguing that the administration of former Gov. Larry Hogan (R) cut corners when it reached a settlement with Constellation in 2019 — and that Constellation has to do a better job of protecting the waters that create great profits for the company.

“They have to stop being in denial,” said Ted Evgeniadis, executive director of the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association. “That’s the first step — admitting you have a problem.”

Constellation executives, however, believe that the settlement that led to the Hogan administration waiving water permits, which in turn prompted the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue a 50-year license, represents a high point of cooperation between the company, government officials, environmentalists and other stakeholders.

“We know what the solutions are,” said Kathleen Barrón, executive vice president and chief of strategy for Constellation. She urged the state to preserve “the intense work” stakeholders did leading up to the 2019 agreement with the state.

Constellation executives also note that the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association is the only regional environmental group that has vocally called the company’s supervision of the dam into question (leaders of other green groups maintain they largely defer to the riverkeeper organization on matters of the Conowingo Dam).

And Constellation officials are quick to tick off the environmental and financial benefits to the state, to the Chesapeake Bay, and to the Bay watershed. Constellation, they say, does more to protect the Susquehanna, the Bay and the watershed than any other private entity. Extending the company’s license another 50 years will generate more than $700 million in financial and environmental benefits to the state, the company maintains.

When the company isn’t shepherding eels through the dam, it’s operating a fish lift that gets tens of thousands of American chad, river herring and other species through the works — and also stops many invasive species from getting into the Bay. The company also has a bald eagle management plan in place, as the area just south of the dam is one of best spots to see migrating and nesting eagles anywhere in the U.S.

Evgeniadis, at the Riverkeeper Association, predicts that the state’s upcoming decision on the water quality permit will produce one of three results: Incentives for environmentalists and Constellation to return to the bargaining table; a decision that environmentalists like and prompts the company to sue; or a decision that Constellation likes and prompts the riverkeeper association to sue.

But this battle over the water quality permit is just the latest environmental fight involving the Conowingo Dam. Though it’s not universal, there’s a general fear and loathing over the dam in the Upper Bay region, not just among environmentalists, but also watermen, local elected officials, and business and civic leaders.

Every year, the Clean Chesapeake Coalition, a loose confederation of leaders in the Upper Bay area, holds a standing room-only meeting at the Maryland Association of Counties summer conference. Every year, the participants complain about environmental regulations they consider onerous and about pollution that comes from upriver, mainly from agricultural sources, in Pennsylvania — narratives that seem almost contradictory. And they complain about the Conowingo Dam.

“When you try to find out about the integrity of the dam, the safety of the dam, you can’t really tell what’s going on,” Charles “Chip” MacLeod, general counsel for the coalition, said at the most recent meeting.

An architectural wonder 

The Conowingo Dam itself is an architectural and engineering wonder, and the craftsmanship and handiwork of the industrial era are very much in evidence everywhere, even as modern energy generation becomes more automated. Constellation has been careful to keep all of the 1920s architectural infrastructure and flourishes intact, and a visit to the dam, notwithstanding some of the technology used to run it these days, seems very much like a trip to a bygone era.

To start construction of the dam, in the 1920s, a vast concrete wall had to be sunk 40 feet below the riverbed. The dam has 11 gates with massive turbines that impact the river flow and the amount of energy the dam is generating. Only twice have all 11 gates been open — once during a storm in 1934, and again during Hurricane Agnes, considered the most damaging in the region’s history, in 1972.

Inevitably, a tour of the Conowingo Dam takes a visitor to the reservoir on the north side of the hulking structure, across U.S. Route 1, where tons of debris collects and is prevented by the dam from flowing downriver and into the Chesapeake Bay. This is undoubtedly the most controversial aspect of the Conowingo and the flashpoint for the years-long animus between various stakeholders and the company.

On a recent morning, the visible debris mainly consisted of logs, tree limbs and other natural detritus, but also included tires, balls, large plastic bins, diapers, planters, and other refuse. On this windy but pleasant day, the accumulation seemed fairly benign.

But there is a constant fear among communities downriver that violent storms or even higher than average flooding could send much of the waste tumbling down the dam, which was built at a place in the Susquehanna where there is a 200-foot elevation drop, and into the river and the Bay beyond.

“I’m not trying to be alarmist, but a catastrophic failure — there would be all kinds of impacts, including environmental impacts,” MacLeod said.

Here, the more conservative members of the Clean Chesapeake Coalition and the environmentalists who run the riverkeeper organization are basically in accord. Evgeniadis accuses Constellation of “turning a blind eye to the massive problem that’s behind them” at the dam.

The riverkeeper says the reservoir abutting the dam is supposed to be at least 100 feet deep, but now with all the silt and other debris that has accumulated through the decades, they believe it’s more like 12 or 15 feet deep in parts, increasing the threat of dangerous materials spilling over the dam and into the river below. Constellation representatives said the average depth ranges from about 15 feet to about 40 feet, with the deepest point, about 80 feet, immediately upstream of the powerhouse.

Some neighbors of the dam, including many of the leaders of the Clean Chesapeake Coalition, would like to see the reservoir dredged. They note that the silt that’s dragged from the river’s bottom could be used to reinforce coastal areas and other and waterfront communities in the region.

But Constellation executives believe the idea is impractical and expensive, and here they seem like they are in accord with the riverkeeper organization.

“It’s inevitable that the reservoir behind that dam would fill up [with silt and debris] again,” Evgeniadis said.

The debris currently bobbing in the water nestled against the dam will be collected by boom, placed on a barge, to a landfill and recycling area a few miles up the river, in Pennsylvania. Constellation estimates that it removes 600 tons of garbage and debris from the dam area every year and that its debris removal efforts, combined with ongoing research into improving ways to remove refuse from the area, produce benefits valued at $41 million.

‘A public resource for private profit’

The Conowingo Dam does not operate in a vacuum. While it’s the biggest dam on the Susquehanna — indeed it’s the biggest power-generating dam on the entire East Coast — there are three other dams upriver in Pennsylvania, owned by different companies, and what happens at those facilities can impact Conowingo. In a fact sheet on Conowingo, Constellation maintains that the dam operators upriver “have not committed to the same debris removal activities” as Constellation.

What’s more, the dam is susceptible to extreme weather, and other swift changes in natural conditions.

“I never thought when I took this job I’d become a weatherman,” said Amir Hassad, an engineer who is the dam manager.

In its efforts to be a good corporate citizen, Constellation maintains a large riverfront promenade at the base of the dam that’s popular with fishermen, bird watchers, picnickers and nature lovers, and is a gateway to hiking trails maintained by various public, private and nonprofit entities. Just up the road from the dam, the company offers a public pool, a visitors center and a history museum.

Evgeniadis does not discount the company’s good works, but notes that Constellation is “taking a public resource for private profit.”

“They’re not going to be able to operate in the same way they’ve been operating it for the last 100 years,” he said. “Things are going to have to change.”

So the battle lines are drawn, pending a decision from the Maryland Department of the Environment. Jay Apperson, an agency spokesperson, said last week that MDE did not have a timetable for issuing the new water permit.

Environmentalists and other neighbors warn that the dam presents a huge potential threat to communities, public health, the environment, marine life and wildlife. Constellation executives insist that without their environmental stewardship and vigilance, conditions throughout the region could be much worse.

After a visit to the dam and its environs, it’s easy enough to conclude that both assertions can be true at the same time.

By Josh Kurtz

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