Riverkeeper
Healthy Bay = Healthy Economy
(Posted by Fred Tutman.)
On May 20, 2011, Waterkeepers Chesapeake, along with other Maryland-based Waterkeepers staged an historic event in Annapolis at the City Dock. Firing up their patrol boats, the Riverkeepers, accompanied by a crowd of supporters, motored into Annapolis in a Flotilla of Boats in order to make a point. On the day the Governor was signing (or vetoing) new legislation in the Maryland statehouse, this group of water advocates wanted to make sure that both the public and the legislature understood that time is running out to save our waterways. It’s time for deeds–not just promise–in order to bring about necessary change.
Read MoreArsenic With a Side of Chicken
(Posted by Kathy Phillips.)
Arsenic is a poison. It’s a metalloid or ‘heavy metal’. It is a carcinogenic. Its use in pesticides has been banned in the U.S. since 1988. But when it comes to food production, it is quite allowed.
Read MoreWhat Does Agribusiness Have to Hide?
(Posted by Scott Edwards.)
When it comes to big agribusiness and access to public information, the Chesapeake region is sadly part of a disturbing pattern that exists all across the country. And signs are it might be getting even worse.
Polluting industries are generally subject to a good amount of public transparency and disclosure about their practices, what types of materials they handle, how they dispose of their wastes, etc. Unfortunately, agribusiness has always enjoyed a level of state-sponsored secrecy that serves to undermine this general right of public access. The poor excuses for concealment offered by state departments of agriculture and environment and industry range from national security to trade secrets or, more often than not, no excuse at all.
Read MoreDon’t Confuse Agri-Business With Family Farms
(Posted by Fred Tutman.)
I am deeply upset about what appears to be an unavoidable collision course brewing between Chesapeake Bay advocates and a relatively small segment of the agricultural community that has a big footprint in Maryland and in the Chesapeake Bay. It is a confrontation that is causing huge rifts between champions for water quality and advocates for the future of “true” agriculture in the state. It is a fight that is fast making enemies of those who really should be allies.
Read MoreBig Poultry Needs to Clean Up After Itself
(Posted by Scott Edwards.)
As of 2008, despite the trumpeting of significant progress made in agricultural discharges of nutrients into the Bay, the industry was still pumping 100 million pounds of nitrogen and over 8 million pounds of phosphorus per year into the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Read MoreMaking Conservation Pay
(Posted by Bob Parks)
Many on the Western Shore of Maryland assume that the Eastern Shore is all chicken houses, but of course that’s not the case. The Upper Eastern Shore is, in fact, primarily grain farming. The Clean Water Act, however, does not regulate grain farming. Simply put, grain farming is the ultimate nonpoint source of nitrogen and phosphorus. You cannot identify (or regulate) the farmer whose field is sending nitrogen into the ground water that ends up in the rivers and the Bay.
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