Development
COMMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE DRAFT 2025 CHESAPEAKE BAY WATERSHED AGREEMENT
The Draft omits references to the most critical commitment of the Bay states and EPA in the 2014 Watershed Agreement—to meet the TMDL and fully implement each state’s WIP. This omission tarnishes the entire process as this TMDL has guided restoration for 15 years, and supposedly still does. Meeting the reductions in N,P,S is the most important commitment in the 2014 Agreement as well as its predecessor, the 2000 Bay Agreement.
Read MoreGERALD WINEGRAD: LARRY HOGAN’S SELF-DEALING AND ANTI-ENVIRONMENTAL REGIME | COMMENTARY
Hogan still portrays himself as a small business owner. But HOGAN enterprises reported more than $2.5 billion in real estate deals since 1985. His enterprises are still touting their ability to grease the skids for government approvals and entitlements. HOGAN’s website claims: “If you want to determine the best strategy for taking your property through the governmental entitlement process as well as achieve the best development potential and highest return on your investment, you only need to turn to HOGAN.”
Read MoreEfforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay are a study in cowardice and political expediency
There is more very bad news for all of us in Chesapeake Country: the bay watershed lost 20,000 acres of forest a year (2013-2018). Maryland led the way. A new study also shows that developed impervious areas in the watershed increased by 50,651 acres from 2013 to 2018. This is mostly from new structures, roads, driveways, parking lots and runways.
Read MoreEnding population growth is a mark of progress
Economic growth does not require population increases. We can grow our economy by using education and technology to increase productivity. We live in a world of finite resources with food, water, and health care insecurity. With slower or zero population growth, we can make greater progress toward resolving economic and environmental issues and boost our productivity as a nation and the quality of life for all of us. Calling for population growth to increase the number of workers flies in the face of the need to find employment for the 6.3 million currently unemployed.
Read MoreHelp Return the Patuxent River Commission to Protecting the River
from Fred Tutman (the Patuxent Riverkeeper) and Barbara Sollner-Webb (President of the West Laurel Civic Association) You may have seen recent articles in the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun and Laurel Leader about the Patuxent River Commission — this is an update and call to action. The Patuxent River Commission (PRC) is Maryland’s only governmental river…
Read MoreWe must save the forest to save the Chesapeake !
Written by Gerald Winegrad, The destruction of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem began more than 400 years ago with the clearing of forests and later, the filling and draining of wetlands. About 66% of our tidal and freshwater wetlands were destroyed, including thousands of acres drained with federal and state funds to create farmland. The Eastern Shore…
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