Nov-Dec 1999 Atlantic Coast Watch Newsletter

8/9/2019 Nov-Dec 1999 Atlantic Coast Watch Newsletter

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Tussle Over Site 104

In their quest to keep Baltimo res port competi tive, M aryland PortAdministration officials have long sought clearance to maintain and improve the50-foot shipping channels that give it a competitive edge. Existing sites to dum pdredging materials can accomm odate silt and sand from maintenance dredging,the states Transportation Secretary John Porcari has stated. But adding safetyfeatures on approaches to Baltim ore Harbor, and im provi ng the nearby, 35-foot-deep Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, would requi re new dump sites.

One such is a four-mile open-water trench, north of the Chesapeake BayBridge, called Site 104. For years before 1975, dredged materials w ere depositedthere. Wi th no dum ping over the past quarter century, though, the area hasbecome an impo rtant habitat for m any forms of w ildlife including striped bass,shellfish, and vegetation. Last win ter, anticipating the reactivation of Site 104, theUS Army Corps of Engineers issued a Draft Environm ental Impact Statement(DEIS) claiming that 18 million cubic yards of dredged m aterial could be dumpedthere without serious environmental consequences.

A quick and strong reaction ensued. A Chesapeake Bay Foundat ionposition paper argued that the DEIS simulations had grossly underestimatednutr ient releases from Site 104, that its toxi city had been triv ialized, and thatcriteria for choosing betw een various disposal options had been developed wi thoutregard for environm ental considerations. The Foundation warned that the dredgedmaterial would cover oysters and crabs and habitat and presents a real threat tothe Bays ecology and economy. Large quantities of polluted sedim ents could driftoff the site, moreover, and jeopard ize a bigger area.

(Continued, p. 7)

NC Flood Aftermath: Plus Ca Change?

Eastern Nor th Caroli na staggers toward recovery after three successivehurricanes this fall brought devastating flooding and an unp recedented witches-brew of water pollution to the region. Attention remains concentrated on immedi-ate concerns: cleaning up, the urgent needs of owners of some 58,000 hom es thatwere destroyed or damaged, the 2,000 small Down East businesses brought to astandstill, getting sewage plants and other in frastructure back up and running , anddisbursing the first installments of the total $6 billion or m ore in expected state andfederal relief money.

But in Raleigh and beyond, thought i s also being gi ven to the longer-termquestion of what new policies and programs might better protect the state fromsimil ar disaster in the futu re. The rainfall could not be helped, it is often said. Butthe extent of the flood ing w as doubtless exacerbated by the vast changes humanshave wrought on the Eastern North Carolina landscape in recent years: the wet-lands drained, rivers and streams rearranged and channelized, roads and bridgesbuilt, construction in the river bottoms. All weaken natural drainage patterns.

It would be a tragedy, said Todd M iller, executive director of the NorthCarolina Coastal Federation, if things just got put back the way they were. We cant stop the flood plains from flooding, said Jane Preyer and Tim

(Continued, p. 6)

November/December 1999

News For Coastal Advocates

Dredging Tussle

NC Flood Aftermath

Sayings

Books and More

Lead Sinkers Surface

Key L.I. Ruling

Bridge Overkill

Maine Votes for Land

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Recurring:

People; Awards; Products;Grants; Report Cards;

Restorations;Species & Habitats;

Job Openings;Upcoming Events

Atlantic CoastWatch

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Atlantic CoastWatchis a bimonthlynonprofit newsletter p resented by

the Sustainable Developm entInstitute, free of charge, to thoseinterested in bringing about theenvironmentally sound develop-

ment of the coastline from the Gulfof M aine to the Eastern Caribbean.

The newsletter is available on paperand at http://www.susdev.org

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Atlantic CoastWatch

Vol. 3 , No. 5

A project of the Sustainable Devel-opment Institute, wh ich seeks toheighten the environmental quality ofeconomic developm ent efforts, in the

Atlanti c coastal zone and in tr opicalforest regions, by comm unicatinginformation about better policies andpractices. SDI is exempt from federalincom e tax under section 501(a) of theInternal Revenue Code as an organiza-tion described in section 501(c)(3).

Board of D irectors

Robert J. Geniesse, Chairm anRoger D. Stone, PresidentHart Fessenden, TreasurerHassanali M ehran, SecretaryEdith A. CecilFreeborn G. Jewett, Jr.Gay P. Lord

Advisers

Willl iam H. Draper IIIJoan Martin-Brown

Scientific A dvisory Council

Gary HartshornStephen P. Leatherm anJerry R. SchubelChristopher Uhl

Staff

Roger D. Stone, Director andPresident

Robert C. Nicholas III, ContributingEditor

Shaw Thacher, Proj ect ManagerLaura W. Roper, Correspondent

1999 M ajor Donors

Avenir FoundationMad River FoundationMary Flagler Cary Charitable TrustMad River Foundation

Curtis and Edith M unson FoundationMrs. Edward Esty Stowell

Sponsored Projects

Environm ental Film Festival in theNations CapitalMarch 16-26, 2000

Trees for DC

Printed by Ecoprint on 20% postconsum er waste paper

using vegetable oil based inks free of toxic m etals.

Sayings

Clean Living Not an Easy Job, headlined the November 7 ProvidenceJournalabove a column by Peter Phipps, deputy managing editor. Excerpts fromPhipps text:

John Chafee, hogs and hurri canes.

The connection is a vast swath of eastern North Carolina that has beenflooded by a small ocean of pig w aste. Long regarded as one of Americas bigwinners, North Carolina now smells like a sewer..

Its hard not to g loat.

The state that made Rhode Island look like a third -wor ld count ry has finallygotten the bill for several generations of laissez-faire governm ent.

Before the flood, Rhode Island had to hang its head in any comparison w ithNorth Carolina.

In the last six years alone, North Carolina has added an incredible 525,000jobsmore jobs than exist in Rhode Island. Since 1960, North Carolina has man-aged to create 67,000 new jobs a year. Likewise, North Carolinas population hasgrow n by alm ost 2 percent a year.

Rhode Island, in contrast, has been stagnant. From 1960 to 1998, employ-ment and population have grow n at just one-fourth of North Carolinas rate.

These were the Chafee years, a tim e when the late John Chafee servedRhode Island wi th distinction as its governo r and senator, a time when Rhode Islandcleaned up its bay and its beaches while preserving its farms and woodlands.

When others clamored for more jobs, more housing and more develop-ment, Chafee wo rked to protect the air, the land and the water.

And during the years when Chafee wo rked to wr ite and pass the country smost im portant environmental laws, Rhode Island fell further and further behind inthe race for Americas great bount y.

Was our praise for Chafee misplaced?

Unti l three hurricanes swept th rough the Southeast, most Americanswould have said that North Carolina had got it right, that grow th w as more valuablethan preservation, that jobs were more im portant than the environm ent.

But in m y m ind those storms vindicated a generation of environm entalprotection and government regulation. The cleanup w ill cost billions of dollars. Thegovernor and the legislature had been warned. Yet they did nothing to save their

state from ruin .

To be honest, what North Carolina did in the 20th century, Rhode Island d idin the 19th century. The Industr ial Revolution began here, and fo r generations themill owners dum ped their waste in the states bay and rivers.

Rhode Island learned its lesson. In North Carolina, Governor Jim Huntnow promises to rebuild eastern North Carolina using environmentally soundpractices. That sounds good. But Hunt has been saying the right things for years.

Maybe now the people of North Carolina can see where greed got them.And m aybe now a leader of John Chafees stature will ari se to push aside Jim Huntand his ilk.

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Books and M ore

Nat ural Capitalism, by Amory and Hunter Lovins of the RockyM ountain Institute (RMI) and Paul Haw ken of The Natural Step, was publishedby RMI this fall. This globetrotting, breezily w ritten book, say the authors, is about

integration and economics, a systems view of our society and its relationship to theenvironm ent. More specifically, the book promotes new ways of designing, using,and thinking about things in ways that harness the talents of business to solveenvironmental and social problems and counter the depletion of resourcestheplanets natural capital. Cramm ed with interesting case studies and pithy apho-risms ( design i s really j ust applied foresight ), the book offers challenges andopportunities to all of us. You can either buy the book or download most of i t. URL:www.rmi.org

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InSurfcasters Quest(The Lyons Press 1999), journalist Roy Row anblends the sharp eye of a reporter and edito r and the passion of a commi tted anglerto tell tales of surfcasting for str iped bass along the beaches of Block Island, NY.Local characters, fierce fish, Indian lore, and near-poetic descriptions of weather,

sea, and w ind all find their way into this compact and highl y readable book. Pop thisone into the Christm as stocking for anyone into fishing, the seashore, or life.

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In carrying out a NOAA -funded project to develop a curriculum for adultson nonpo int source pollu tion, researchers at Washington states Padilla Bay NationalEstuarine Research Reserve quickly established that fail ing septic systems w ere aprim ary issue of concern among educators and managers since the release ofcontaminated wastewater can have severe health, environm ental, and economicconsequences. The result is the innovati ve, homeow ner-oriented Septic Educa-tion Kit, a multi-media toolbox containing everything an educator needs to set upand prom ote a prog ram on the subject. Originally released in 1997 in a limi tedquantity, the kits were an instant hit. Now the US Department of Comm erce is

producing an improved version for national distribution. E-mailcangell@padil labay.gov. Tel. (800)553-6847.

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Oshus and Shelly Save the Bay(Bay Media 1999), a sprightl y childrensbook by the Annapolis, MD author Jennifer Keats Curtis, gives kids a bottom -uplook at the problems facing the Chesapeake Bays hard-pressed oyster population ,and at the restoration efforts currently underway. Curtis thought up the story builtaround the lead oyster characters, then recruited watercolori st Christie SauerFifer to do il lustrations. In return for a share of earnings to support i ts oysterrecovery program, the nonpro fit Severn River Association sponsored thepublication and arranged corporate underwriting from Baltimore Gas & Electricand the M ills Corporation, developer of a shopping m all near the Baltimore-

Washing ton Airport. For K-5 teachers, a lesson plan i s posted on URL:www.oysterbook.com. Tel. (410) 626-8904.

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Filmmaker Christopher Seuf ert of Chatham, M A has already w onawards for two no-nonsense documentaries about New England fishermen,Lobstering on the Benjoand Longlining on the Bad Dog(for dogfish). NowSeufert has completed the third film of his tril ogy, Weir Fishing in NantucketSound. In the film he follows veteran trapper Paul Lucas, one of the few peoplestill in the business, over the course of his last season in it. All th ree films areavailable. URL: ww w.mooncussers.com

People

Among the many tributes to the lateSenator John H. Chafee (R-RI), anespecially moving one was Provi-dence Journalstaff w riter Peter B.Lords account o f all that Chafee haddone to m ake his state a green andpleasant land. All over it, Lord wrote, You can find beaches, forests,marshes and parks that are there forpeople to enjoy because Chafee had apassion for conservation and theenergy and clou t to m ake it happen.Among Chafees legacies: mu ltip lepurchases of land to preserve as openspace, $11 mil lion in federal financingfor the Blackstone Valley NationalHeritage Corridor, bike paths and trainstations, saved lighthouses, a farcleaner Narragansett Bay, support forfederal legislation that helped w ith theremarkable recovery of the Atlantic

striped bass popu lation. Often, wroteLord, Chafee would look out at abeautiful spot he was working topreserve, shake his head, and saysomething like, Look at that out there.Isnt that something? Just beautiful.

Optometrist Benji Brumberg of FortLauderdale has been named asFloridas public advocate and om buds-man on air and water quality, withinthe Departm ent of EnvironmentalProtection. This guy has dealt withthe public directly, by looking at them

righ t in the eye, spokesman BobSparks told the Miami Herald.

Theresa Pierno has joined theChesapeake Bay Foundation asexecutive director of its M arylandoffice. Peirno previously wo rked atthe states Department of NaturalResources and as a county-levelelected official. M arylands SmartGrowth program w as one of Piernosprincipal concerns when she work forthe state DNR, and will also be amongher responsibili ties in her new

capacity. Also now at CBF is Execu-tive Vice President Steven Kallan,formerly of The Wilderness Society.

After six years of service, JohnDeVillars will leave his position ashead of EPA s New England office inJanuary. He wi ll go into business andteach at the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology. DeVillars was previouslya top assistant to form er GovernorM ichael Dukakis.

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Awards

Of eight scientists honored th is yearwith NOAA s Walter B. JonesMemori al Awards for excellence incoastal and marine graduate study,seven work in the Atlanti c coastal zone.They are: Tracy Har t , University of

Maryland; Daniel Hudgens andDavid H. Shull, University of M assa-chusetts; Catherine M . Wannamakerand David Robinett e, North CarolinaState University; Jill Fegley, Univer-sity of M aine, and ChristopherNietch, University of South Carolina.The late Congressman Jones, longt imechairm an of the House Commi ttee onMerchant Marine and Fisheries,arranged for NOAA to p resent theseawards to honor people and organiza-tions who dedicated countless hoursand energy to preserving coastal andocean resources.

Environm ental activi st and scienceteacher Barbara A. Johnson washonored by the M aryland Associa-tion of Science Teachers for instruc-tional excellence. Johnson rarely turnsdown an opportunity to get her stu-dents out of the classroom at theChesapeake Bay Middle School inPasadena and into the real world. Itsnot m y goal to have them all be tree-huggers, she told the Baltimore Sun. But if they dont have an appreciationof the im pact man can make, then Im

not doing my job . Being outside bringsout the best in people. You realizeyoure a part of something m uch biggerthan just you.

Products

Great deals on lobster boats and othersmall craft are to be found in NovaScotia, reports Steven L. Waterman inWorking Waterfront/Inter-Island News,the monthly newspaper published byMaines Island Institut e. The Cana-dian do llar is low, Waterman says, and there is no US duty or tax on a usedcommercial boat bought in Canada forcomm ercial fishing purposes. Pleasureboaters pay a nom inal fee. Near CapeSable island, Waterman and M ainelobsterman Danny Burch found a well-built and ful ly equipped 35-footer forunder $30,000 US. Burch bought her. A200-boat sampli ng of w hats availablemay be found on Yarmou th, NS boatdealer Carson Messengers website,www.boatsandrealty.com

Key Dock Ruling on Long Island

For years Burt and Cheryl Stutchin, of Lloyd Harbor, NY, have beenseeking perm ission to bui ld a dock extending 115 feet from their shorefron t prop-erty. The dock wou ld enable them to walk from their house to their 36-foot Trojanmotorboat and avoid the dinghy r ide now required to reach the vessel at itsmooring.

At the outset, reads a 68-page decision recently handed dow n by USDistrict Judge Arthur D. Spatt , the Stutchins expected that they would encoun-ter smooth sailing after approvals to build the dock had been received both fromthe New York St ate D epartm ent of Environmental Conservation and from theUS Army Corps of Engineers.

But both these permits were contingent on compliance with local regula-tions, and the Stutchins application ran aground locally. In 1998 the Village ofLloyd Harbor, wh ich allow s docks no longer than 75 feet in length in the constri ctedpart of the harbor where the Stutchins live, and forbids them from extendingoutw ard past the point w here mean low water depth exceeds 2 feet (the yachtdraws 3 feet), thumbed dow n the request. The Town of Huntington, w ithin which theVillage is located, wi ll no t approve an application that fails to m eet Village stan-

dards.

Among further efforts that the Stutchins then m ade to get approval fortheir dock was a takings appeal to Judge Spatts federal court claiming that thelocal ordinances are unconstitutional, illegal, and invalid, and arbitrary andcapricious. But court testimony documented the fragility and environm entalimpo rtance of the portion of Lloyd Harbor in question, a shallow area containingtidal fl ats and saltmarshes, and the damage that a long new dock for a large yachtcould do . In his carefully stated ruli ng, the judge held that the local dock rules serve the rational purpose of preserving ...cherished natural resources, and supportnavigational and aesthetic concerns as well. They pass constitu tional muster, heconcluded.

In throw ing out the plaintiffs case, the court signi ficantly placed the public

interest above littoral rights claimed by an upland ow ner. According t o StevenResler of the New York State D epartment of St ates Div ision of Coastal Re-sources, who suppl ied much of the evidence leading to the decision, it enhances theability of government to lim it riparian rights in order to protect ecologically impor-tant areas even when relatively minor indi vidual activities are involved. [email protected]

Lead Sinkers Issue Surfaces

In American Sportfishing, M ike Horak of the Am erican Sportf ishingAssociation highlights a conundrum now confronting fishing tackle manufactur-ers.

What is at stake for the industry, he wrote, is the continuing use of lead,a versatile, malleable and abundant m etal, high in density, that is ideal for themanufacture of sinkers and jig heads. But lead ban proponents ...cite studiesindicating that lead tackle is ingested by waterfow l, resulting in lead poisoning andeventual death.

While the results are far from conclusive, some studies indicate a particu-lar link between lead tackle and mortali ty of the common loon. One New Englandresearcher concluded that lead tackle accounts for as m uch as 50 percent of loondeaths in that region.

(Cont inued, p. 6

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Grants

Matching grants for wetlands restora-tion, acquisition, or enhancement areavailable through the North Am ericanWetlands Conservation Act that isadministered by the US Fish andWildlife Service. Proposal deadlines

are March 31 and Ju ly 20, 2000. Clickon Wetlands, Waterfow l and HabitatGrants at URL: www.fws.gov.

Report Cards

In its 1999 report rating states on theirprograms to counter sprawl, theSierra Club examined four criteria:open space protection , transportationplanning, land use planning, andcomm unity revitalization. Of Atlanticcoast states, Maryland fared the best,scoring no w orse than third out of 50

in any category. South Carolinasbest score was 28th in communityrevitalization, and the state ranked 48out of 50 in open space protection.Rhode Island, New Jersey, Geor-gia, and Maine won generally highmarks; Connecticut and NorthCarolina scored relatively poorly.URL: ww w.sierraclub.org/sprawl/report99.

Echoing the Sierra Clubs low rating,the North Carolina Coastal Federa-tion gave the administration of

Governor Jim Hunt a low D+ thisyeardown from B in 1998. TheFederation noted that environmentalhealth in the state had declined dramatically due to lax permittingand enforcement as well as to theravages of Hurr icanes Dennis andFloyd , and reminded the governor thathe had but one year left to salvage agood environmental legacy. Readthis repor t and weep, said NCCF. Then get m ad. Then go do some-thing. The Raleigh News-Observer,noting that legislators have stymied

some of Hunts best intentions,awarded him a supplementary E foreffort. URLs: ww w.nccoast.org,www.news-observer.com

Bridge Overkill

An antique 1930s swing bridge connects the mainland of VirginiasEastern Shore wi th the resort island o f Chincoteague, gateway to the ChincoteagueNational Wildli fe Refuge and the Assateague National Seashore. For years debatehas raged locally about how to replace this modest structure, whi ch lands shore-bound traffic right in the heart of the towns compact down town. A locally unwel-

come solution appears imminent.

Some years ago, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) cameup w ith the idea of replacing the existing bridge w ith a monster one, providing 65feet of clearance for boats transiting the Intracoastal Waterway beneath andreturn ing to earth halfway across the island. The people went nuts, said localactivist Blake Early. That one got creamed.

Now on the table are two alternatives. One is a new lift bridge todow ntow n Chincoteague to be located well south of the present bridge. The otheris a mile-long bridge to the north that wou ld bypass the down town and feed directlyinto the beach road. Local people oppose both of these schemes. The proposednew bridge to downtown w ould involve dredging and loss of wetlands, and dumptraffic right across the street from the volunteer fire station, hampering i ts opera-

tions. The bypass, according to Early, would cost $5 mill ion m ore, destroy tw ice asmuch tidal w etlands and generate double the contaminated stormw ater runoff intoareas rich in marine resources.

Early and m any other tow nspeople want VDOT to reconsider a third optionthat has been discarded: build the new b ridge as close as possible to the existingone, involv ing no loss of wetlands, no dredging, and less runof f than the bypassbridge. But the member of the Virginia Commonw ealth Board of Transporta-tion who is the most concerned about Eastern Shore pro jects favors the bypassoption, says Early, and seems pretty well dug in. There remains a glimm er ofhope, he continues. Action alerts are out. Nonetheless, what seems most likely isthat the Board, which has the final say, wi ll overru le local sentim ent.

Early blames himself and fellow opponents for not having begun their

efforts early enough to stave off what he views as an aesthetic and culturaldisaster with serious environm ental consequences. Shirley J. Ybarra, Virgin iasSecretary of Transportat ion, assures Atlantic CoastWatchthat extra steps hadbeen included in the decision process to give citizens additional opportunity tocomment, and that VDOT remains comm itted to working w ith the concernedcitizens and visito rs to Chincoteague to ensure the best possible transportationsystem for the comm unity.

With Appreciat ionThis year, once again, we asked our readers to volun teer their financial

support fo r the publi cation and free distribution of this newsletter. To date, thisappeal has generated almost $26,000 in support from 97 donorsmore than triplethe response to our initi al appeal in 1998. We extend warm thanks to these readersand institutions who have recently contributed:

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Walter W. ArensbergMi lo and Robin BeachThe Bernhil l FundDavid and M ary CallardMarion M . Dawson CarrThomas C. ClarkeLawrence CoolidgeFlorence B. Fow lkesKathy FloodMr. and Mr s. Joseph W. HendersonDavid P. HuntW. Barnabas McHenryLeigh M. Miller

Elizabeth L. NewhouseMrs. Jefferson PattersonPrince Charitable TrustsElliot L. RichardsonCharles Raskob RobinsonDavid Rockefeller Jr.Roy RowanAnne and Constantine Sidamo n-EristoffFrederick A. O Schwarz, Jr.RobertT. Snyd erKenneth B. TateC. Lawson Wi llardTim and Wren Wirth

Atlantic CoastWatchwelcom es tax-deductible contribu tions of any size,from friends and readers. Your checkcan be m ade out to SustainableDevelopment Institute, and mailed to3121 South Street NW, Washing ton,DC 20007.


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Restorations

Close to midw ay through a ten yearproject to m ake the Boston areaslong-suffering Charles River onceagain fishable and swim mable byEarth Day 2005, EPA-New Englandwas able to report considerable

progress. It raised the rivers ratingfrom a D to a B-. Working w ith manypubl ic and private sector partners inthe region, EPA claim s that it has used sound science, cutting-edge technolo-gies and, when necessary, strongenforcement to achieve remarkableprogress tackling storm overfl ows,illicit sewer connections and otherpollution sources to the ri ver. Rob-ert Zimmerman of the CharlesRiver Watershed Associat ion notesthat stubborn challenges remain.Among them are coping with runoff

after heavy rains and remov ing toxicssuch as mercury from the riverssediments. But, he adds, There is nodoubt that the water quality hasimproved dramatically. The currenteffort is the biggest and best run at itever. URLs: ww w.crwa.org;URLs: www.epa.gov/region01/charles

The Anacostia, once a favored Indianthoroughfare but in recent tim es aneglected dumping ground, is anotherriver on the rebound. Under anagreement reached this year, both the

District of Columbia and the Stateof M aryland have launched a ten-year effort to restore or createwetlands and aquatic habitat, reducetrash and m onitor illegal dumpingmore closely. A spir ited private sectororganization, the Anacostia Water-shed Society, is also an increasinglyeffective agent for change. It engagesin a variety of vol unteer efforts toimprove conditions w ithin the water-shed, wh ich extends from westernportions of M arylands Montgom eryCounty to the Chesapeake Bay.

Recently the AWS has also taken legalaction against EPA , alleging i t hasfailed to fix critical pollutant limits(Total Maximum Daily Loads orTMDLs) for District of Columbiawaters as requ ired by the Clean WaterAct, and is accusing the DistrictsWater and Sewer Authority ofbreaking both federal and District lawsin its management of wastewater.URL: ww w.anacostiaws.org

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NC Flood Aftermath, (Continued from p. 1)

Searchinger of the Environmental Defense Fund in a Christian Science Monito rarticle. To avoid disaster, we simply m ust work to move our concerns to higherground. Time to ante up, said River Notes, a publication of the Neuse RiverFoundation . Floods Force North Carolina to Reassess Grow th Policies, headlinedthe Washing ton Post. What are the prospects for policy refo rm? The box score:

Hogs. Even before the flooding struck, citizen anger had mounted aboutpollution, threats to freshwater suppl ies, and odors from coastal North Carolinasburgeoning num ber of loosely regulated hog factories. Several spills from open-air lagoons, where farmers store treated hog w aste, had generated m uch publ icattention. The floods drowned some 100,000 hogs and polluted the entire water-shed with large amounts of hog waste from breached or swamped lagoons. Thestates emergency response has shown w hat it calls balance, tigh tening m any ofthe rules but also allowing farm ers to spray wastes on fields that cannot absorbthem rather than reduce herds, and letting many hog farms be rebuilt in the 100-year flood zone. Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker , campaign ing to replace Governor JimHunt next year, advocates accelerating the com pletion of Hunts lagoon phase-outprogram from 2009 to 2005, and endorses an existing moratorium on new hogoperations. But, state officials warn, the pow erful North Carolina Pork Council

wi ll almost surely mount court challenges to any further restrictive measures.

Development . An obvious way to lessen damage from future floods is toprohibit new construction, or reconstruction of previously existing buildings, withinthe 100-year floodplain. Because of inadequate flood maps, how ever, permittingauthorities in many communi ties have limited inform ation about where the floodzones are. And while developers eagerly ravaged wetlands and other environm en-tally important areas during the accelerating resort boom of the 1980s and 1990s,many houses as well as junkyards and other sources of pollut ion also gravitated tothe river bottoms where land was cheap. The current emergency buyout programbeing mounted by the Federal Emergency M anagement Agency will reclaimsome floodplain land. Bill Holman, state environment secretary, told the CharlotteNews & Observerthat we hope the region w ill be rebuilt in a way thats moreenvironmentally sustainable. But with the state yet to come up w ith a major new

initi ative to push development up onto higher ground, skeptics foresee business asusual at the town level. The $76 mill ion in f ederal funds requested to replenisheroded beaches (in m any cases re-replenish them ), says Mi ller, could far better bespent on m oving people up out of the floodplain.

Wetlands, which once predominated the Down East landscape, do m uchto soften the effects of flood ing if l eft in their natural state. They also providehabitat for many form s of wild life. But in the development process they have beendrained, bulkheaded, flattened, and trampled. Arm oring is especially perverse,since it inhibits the m igration of marsh grasses and freezes marshes in place.Though the state forbids the construction of such structures on the oceanfront,permits to build them away from the seacoast are legal and easily acquired.Noth ing in the emergency program suggests improvement in this sector. URLs:ww w.hogwatch.org; www :enhr.state.nc.us.

Lead Sinkers (Continued from p. 4)

Susan Hitchcox, loon coordinator at the M aine Audubon Society,confirms the 50 percent estimate, adding that lead sinkers account for som emortality in as many as 26 other bird species. A law limi ting lead sinker use in NewHampshire wil l go into effect this coming January 1. Maine will fo llow suit in 2002thanks to a law passed this year. Other states are considering regulation, posingprob lems for the industry since each local law sets different standards. ThoughEPA ran into congressional flak when it tried to establish federal regulations in1984, Horak reports, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has established lead-freezones in 13 national wildlife refuges. (Continued, p.7)


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Land M easure in M aine Wins Big

In 1987, Maines voters approved a $35 mil lion bond issue to establish theLandfor Maines Future Program to buy l and for conservation w ith an emphasison w ater access. The funds were used to acquire 65,000 acres, including 171 milesof waterfront.

In hard econom ic times during the early 1990s, voters tw ice turned dow nballot opportunities to replenish the fund, and until this year the only additionalincrement received was $3 milli on awarded by the state legislature in 1998. Butthis fall, after a spirited campaign by the Nat ural Resources Council of M aineand many sim ilar groups, a whopp ing 69 percent of the states voters approved anew $50 million for the program provided a matching $25 milli on can be securedfrom other private or public sources. Program board m ember Alice Rand calledthe outcome just thrilling. M ark DesM ueles, who runs the program all butsinglehandedly f rom his desk at the State Planning Office, told the PortlandPress-Heraldthat he was expecting a healthy flow of new acquisition proposalsfrom local land trusts as well as other sorts of groups.

Site 104 (Continued from p. 1)Complaints abou t the DEIS came also from EPA and from the US Fish

and Wildlife Service, many citizens groups and indiv iduals, and especially fromthe office of Congressman Wayne T. Gilchrest (R-MD). Arguing that the dredgingproject was not needed and the environm ent would be harmed by dump ing on Site104, Gilchrest sponsored legislation calling on the Corps to conduct an exhaustiveanalysis of the plan. That bill is now law and the Corps has gone back to the books.

The time needed to complete this work, and then subject it to pub lic reviewand comm ent, means that the Site 104 project can begin no sooner than nextsummer. Skirmishing continues in the meantime. The Cit izens Against Open BayDumping has launched a TV advertising campaign. Port advocates continue toinsist that the dredge spoil destined for Site 104 is clean, and stress the im portance

to the Maryland econom y of the $2 billi on a year in salaries that the port generates.

How the issue will play out is hard to tell. Jenn Aiosa, staff scientist atthe Chesapeake Bay Foundation, has no doubt that opposition w ill persist no m atterwhat the Corps new im pact statement says. The more inform ation comes out,she says, The more concerns get raised. Theres a real question about w hether the104 capacity is needed at all. There are num erous alternative upland sites to bemore seriously considered, and there is a real question about the economic

justification for deepening the C&D Canal. Theres a state law prohib iting openwater disposal in deep trough areas. Theres a lot of opportun ity to be creativehere. The pro-Port Baltim ore Sunconceded that opponents whini ng m ight delaypermission to use Site 104. Surely, added CBF comm entator John Page Williams, We are smart enough to find a way to protect the Port w ithout sacrificing avaluable part of the Bay.

Lead Sinkers (Continued from p.6)

Maine Audubon and o ther advocacy groups, meanwhile, are working notonly for tighter rules but also to persuade tackle manufacturers to switch to non-lead alternatives (some have) and encourage consumers to use them. As pressuremounts, Horak cites a forecast from an industry leader, Doug Crumrine of BulletWeights in Alda, Nebraska: I think what will happen is the feds will allow as manyas 10 states and the US Fish and Wildl ife Service to enact different bans, and thenthey will come in and say we need to clean this up and impose a uniform federalstandard. URLs: www .asafishing.org, www.maineaudubon.org

7Species & Habitats

Construction has begun on a fish-way for shad and six other anadro-mous species at the 12-foot Little FallsDam on the Potomac, reports BayJournal. Weirs connected to a notch inthe dam, just north of the District ofColum bia, enable fish to swimthrough and spawn along a 10-milestretch of ri ver from which they havebeen blocked since 1959. ThisPotomac fishway is one element in abroader m id-Atlantic shad restorationeffort that also includes dam openingson the James and SusquehannaRivers. On the Potomac, says BayJournal, the total shad catch in the1830s was about 22.5 mill ion fi sh.Currently the river supports only10,000. URL: www.bayjournal.com

Consumer seafood gu ides proliferateas more and more com mercial fish

populations suffer from overharvest-ing and face other threats. One choicethat the Nat ional Audubon Societywil l recommend in its new entry,reports the Miam i Herald, is tilapia.The species is easy to raise on farms,eats anyth ing, grows fast, and actuallytastes pretty good.URL: www.audubon.org

In western portions of Long IslandSound during the fall, fishermenbegan finding highly unusual numbersof dead lobsters and crabs. No onecould figure out why. Now, reports the

New York Times, it appears that thecause was an infestation of a smallparasite called a paramoeba, lethal tocrustaceans but not harmful to people

News from Hudsonia, the newsletterpublished by the environmentalresearch and education institute atBard College in Annandale, NY,publ ished a spiri ted defense of themuch maligned purp le loosestrife(Lythrum salicaria). Author ErikKiviat, Hudsonias science director,admi ts that the plant is invasive,sometim es drives out native species,and threatens biod iversity. ButKiviats article also features a full-pageillustration showing the variety ofplants and animals that find loosestrifean asset for food o r other support,and advises managers to thinkcarefully before embarking oncontrols to inhibit the spread of thisstriking plant. He is neither for noragainst loosestrife, says the author simply try ing to tell the whole story.URL: ww w.hudsonia.org


8/8

Upcoming Events

January 24-28. 10th Biennial Ocean Sciences Meeting, San Antonio , Texas,

sponsored by the Am erican Geophysical Union and the American Society ofLimnology and Oceanography. URL: ww w.agu.org/

February 2-5. Aquacultu re America, New Orleans, Conference and exposition, co-sponsored by Nat ional Aquaculture Association, US Aquaculture SuppliersAssociation and US Chapt er of the World Aquaculture. URL: www.was.org

February 11-20 . Conference on Sustainable developm ent in Cuba, Pinar del RioUni versit y, Cuba. E-mail j [email protected] or [email protected]

M arch 19-23 . Nat ional Shellf isheries Association annual m eeting, Seattle ,Washington. URL: w ww.shellfish.org.

April 3-7. International Com mission on Remote Sensing of t he Interna-

tional Association of Hydrological Sciences Remote Sensing Symposium2000 , Santa Fe, New M exico.URL: http://hydrolab.arsusda.gov/

M ay 22-28. Conference on Sustainable Use of Estuaries and Mangroves:Challenges and Prospects, Recife, Brazil. URL: www.ufrpe.br/~debarros/mangrove2000hellfish.org

M ay 28-31. Aquacultu re Canada, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. Themillennial meeting of the Aquaculture Association of Canada. The theme -acquaculture in the mil lennium : innovation and sustainability. URL:www.aac2000.org

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Sustainable Development Institute3121 South Street, NW

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URL: http://www.susdev.org

Job Openings

The Marine Fish ConservationNetwork needs a Washington, DC

intern. [email protected].

The American Oceans Campaign,Washington, DC seeks an offi cemanager/admin istrative assistant.Contact Barbara Jeanne Polo, FAX(202) 544-5625.

The M arine Biological Laboratory,Woods Hole, MA, offers pro fessionalscience wr iters a variety o f sciencewriters fellowship opportunities. E-mail [email protected]

The WaterKeeper Alliance, WhitePlains, NY is looking for a develop-ment director. [email protected]

A reminder: The Chronicle of Philan-thropyprovides a search capability forits lists of job openings in fund raising,giving, managing, and technology.URL: ww w.philanthropy.com

Documents

Nov-Dec 1999 Atlantic Coast Watch Newsletter