chesapeake bay clean up conference

the baltimore sun reports The Environmental Protection Agency is moving to enact new rules to curb pollution from development and large-scale animal farms to help restore the Chesapeake Bay, the agency's chief announced today. EPA administrator Lisa P. Jackson said the rules governing storm water and farm animal waste would serve as a "backstop" to pollution control measures that Maryland and other bay states are expected to take over the next two years. She made the announcement in Washington at a bay cleanup conference that ends Tuesday.

While the storm-water rules would apply nationwide to new development, Jackson said the agency would consider writing even more stringent requirements for the six-state bay watershed because storm water is a significant and growing source of pollution fouling the estuary's waters. EPA will weigh imposing new mandates to reduce storm water in existing communities and on redevelopment projects as well as new construction, Jackson said.

EPA already regulates waste handling at hundreds of large-scale chicken and animal farms in the bay watershed. Jackson said the agency may expand its oversight to smaller farms and demand even more stringent controls of polluted runoff from them. But the agency will hold off on imposing those rules, she said, as long as states enact equivalent measures to reduce farm pollution.

The storm-water rules are expected to take two years to draw up, and the animal-farm requirements three years. The time lag bothers environmentalists, who otherwise hailed the agency's move to expand federal regulation. "The bay needs immediate attention," said William Baker, president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Jackson noted that EPA may well act sooner. The states have to submit draft plans by this summer for reducing bay pollution, and then must spell out by the fall what they intend to do to meet their cleanup goals. EPA has warned it may impose sanctions on the states, including possibly blocking permits or diverting federal funds, if they fall short.

who is merck sleeping with at the virginia water board?

earlier this year, the virginia state water board voted in favor of allowing merck pharmaceutical company to discharge 29,216 more pounds of nitrogen and 3,288 more pounds of phosphorus each year into the South Fork of the Shenandoah River than allowed by law. the shenandoah-potomac river basin is already the source of 25% of the chesapeake bay's nitrogen pollution, amounting to more than 300,00 pounds more than scientists say it can handle. i thought we were going to try to clean up the bay? i guess the watermen and the businesses along the bay that contribute billions of dollars so vital to virginia's economy and prestige are more responsible for its upkeep than a large company up-river. or maybe they prefer litigation to doing the right thing.

DC Bans Use of Coal-Tar Pavement Products Containing Toxic PAHs

i just read this on chesapeake bay news, posted 9 hours ago and decided the entire article was worth reprinting: it is that important, because everybody does it. please reconsider the alternatives.

july 2009 -- Washington, D.C., has banned the use and sale of coal-tar pavement products to curb the flow of a toxic chemical contaminant calledpolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to the Anacostia River, Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay.

Coal-tar pavement sealers, which are commonly used to seal asphalt driveways and parking lots, are a major source of PAHs. The dust from parking lots sealed with coal tar has more than three times the concentration of PAHs as undiluted used motor oil, which is considered a leading source of PAHs. Other sources include auto exhaust, tire particles and broken-up asphalt.

A recent scientific study by the U.S. Geological Survey showed that PAH concentrations in dust from parking lots sealed with coal-tar products are about 80 times higher than in dust from unsealed parking lots. In D.C., rain washes these toxic PAHs from coal-tar sealant off paved surfaces and into the streams and creeks that flow to the Anacostia River, the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay. Research suggests that total PAH loads washed off parking lots could be reduced by as much as 90 percent if parking lots were left unsealed.

PAHs have been shown to cause cancerous tumors in animals, even in single doses. Non-cancerous health effects can include immune system suppression and red blood cell damage. In fish and invertebrates, adverse health effects have included cataracts, fin erosion, liver and reproductive abnormalities, and even death.

In the Anacostia River, scientists have discovered high rates of PAH-related lesions and tumors on bottom-dwelling fish. In one Fish and Wildlife Service study, 50 to 60 percent of tumors. Tests suggested that PAH exposure was likely responsible for the tumors.

“It’s rare that we have a chance to knock out this kind of pollution in one fell swoop,” said George S. Hawkins, director of the D.C. Department of the Environment. “Now that we’ve discovered what’s in coal tar and what it does, we have a rare opportunity to protect our waterways relatively easily.”

The coal-tar pavement product ban took effect on July 1. Learn more about the ban at the District of Columbia’s website.