State failing to enforce laws, riverkeepers say
By PAMELA WOOD and E.B. FURGURSON III Staff Writers
By PAMELA WOOD and E.B. FURGURSON III Staff Writers
Capital Gazette Communications
Published
12/07/09
The waterkeepers who patrol Maryland's rivers and bays said the state is failing to enforce clean-water laws, and the federal government should take over the task.
Capital file photo
Maryland's waterkeepers – including West/Rhode Riverkeeper Chris Trumbauer, shown checking oxygen levels in the Rhode River in 2008 – are petitioning the federal government to take over water pollution permitting that's currently done by the state. The waterkeepers say the state has done a subpar job protecting the state's rivers and bays.
The waterkeepers - including the four riverkeepers who monitor Anne Arundel County's waterways - filed a petition seeking the move with the federal government this morning.
"The Clean Water Act is not being enforced," said Chris Trumbauer, the West/Rhode Riverkeeper. "We need to do something bold to set this on the right course."
The 58-page petition filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asks the agency to take back...
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when will the public get it?? - 2009-12-10 12:25:57
here we go again with sherri wilson and the MDE. The worst run department in the state. she says they are under staffed and underfunded, yet under her direct involvment from approx. 2007-present she personally directed numerous MDE employees including top management to get involved in stopping a local dredging project that involved moving less than 250 sq feet of sand.(Fox Creek). She spent literally hundreds of thousand dollars in payroll,maybe more, over many years
to stop a project that was not not only legally proven to be warrented but it was also the right thing to do environmentally for the creek.The MDE prior to her taking the reigns actually approved the project, then she with no reason revearsed the decision. she did this at the behest of the local so called environmental groups SRA/MRA/S.River,etc because she is more concerned with political power than actually saving the bay! Imagine all that money going to projects that actually help the bay!!Until she is removed the MDE will remain a useless state depratment that cares more about political standing and future promotions than the actual health of our waterways.
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curt fisher - crownsville, MD - Karma: Good
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