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Debris, Pollution Enter Bay After Conowingo Dam Opens Gates

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DARLINGTON, Md. WBOC – WBOC reports that Rain and flooding decimated neighborhoods and towns in Northern Pennsylvania earlier this week. Now, all that water flowing down the Susquehanna River has reached the Conowingo Dam, rising fast and forcing engineers to open up six dam gates on Wednesday. Exelon, the dam’s owner, expects to open more gates as water levels peak on Thursday.

Dirty water, tainted the color of chocolate milk, blasted through the gates of the Conowingo Dam (WBOC Photo)

Dirty water, tainted the color of chocolate milk, blasted through the gates of the Conowingo Dam, sending 207,000 cubic feet of water per second by the evening along with debris and pollution into the Chesapeake Bay, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

According to Governor Larry Hogan’s Office, several state agencies are in contact with Pennsylvania, pushing the state to cleanup any debris before reaching the dam.

Hogan also says they’re watching closely and waiting for Exelon to open up to nine gates by Thursday.

Just two weeks ago, up to 22 gates were opened at the Conowingo Dam to relieve itself of water and debris.

Jay Ford and CBF push DEQ to Action on Poultry Operations

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It was announced that  the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality will commit to water quality monitoring of key poultry operations on the Eastern Shore.

Eastern Shore resident, Jay Ford, representing The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, is responsible for bringing the concerns about poultry operations to the attention fo DEQ.

“There are still a lot of unanswered questions about the risks to waterways from poultry operations,” said Jay Ford, an Accomack County resident who recently joined CBF as its Virginia Voices Outreach Coordinator after many years of leadership with Eastern Shorekeeper.  “Fortunately, DEQ is taking a very positive step forward. This monitoring program will verify that these new poultry permits effectively control pollution. We are grateful to DEQ Director David Paylor, Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources Matthew Strickler and others in the Administration of Governor Ralph Northam for this monitoring commitment,”  Ford said.

 

Giant Hogweed reported in VA and Carolina: Much worse than Poison Ivy

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Giant Hogweed, a very large invasive plant, is so dangerous that it can cause third-degree burns and blindness– and it was found last week in Virginia. The Massey Herbarium at Virginia Tech confirmed the identity of the plant after a homeowner spotted a stand of it near Winchester, Virginia.

A giant hogweed in North Carolina. (Photo courtesy of Terry English, USDA APHIS PPQ, Bugwood.org)

The Virginia Department of Transportation has also received reports of sightings, and in 2016, it was found in Caldwell County, North Carolina. “Now that there’s a confirmed sighting, we need to be on the lookout,” Ken Slack, a VDOT spokesman, told the Washington Post. “We have to make sure folks don’t get into it … don’t go after it like a weed.”

Giant hogweed can grow up to fifteen feet tall and has a clear, toxic sap that makes human skin and eyes dangerously sensitive to sunlight if it makes direct contact. Telltale signs of the plant are its height, white umbrella-shaped flower canopies, a green hairy stalk with purple splotches, and huge incised leaves that can grow up to five feet across. In a note on its Facebook page, Isle of Wight County, Virginia, said the plant “makes poison ivy look like a walk in the park.”

Native to Asia, giant hogweed has been in the United States for decades, notably in the Northeast and Pacific Northwest. And while the Winchester plants are the first confirmed in Virginia, Dr. Jordan Metzgar, curator of the Massey Herbarium, says there’s no need to panic.

The hogweed in question was deliberately planted on the property decades ago as an ornamental addition, and the plant doesn’t appear to have yet become widespread. If you think you see giant hogweed, Metzgar suggests calling your local extension agent to confirm its identity, since it is often confused with cow parsnip or even Queen Anne’s lace, which is much smaller.

And whatever you do, do not DIY giant hogweed removal with your weed whacker.

Eastern Shorekeepers announces its Annual State of our Waters conference

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Eastern Shorekeepers announces its Annual State of our Waters conference. Congressman Scott Taylor, Secretary of Natural Resources Matthew Strickler, and VIMS Associate Dean of Research and Advisory Services Mark Luckenbach will join us at the Eastern Shore Community College to discuss the latest news on our Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic waters as well as answer questions from our community.
When: May 31st @ 6:30 pm
 
Where: Eastern Shore Community College, Workforce Development Building
There have been many natural resource successes for us to celebrate but there are still many challenges moving forward. This is your chance to ask questions on topics that concern or interest you regarding our waters. Come on out and get a state, federal, and scientific perspective on the waters that sustain and support us here on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.

Lots of dolphins showing up in the Chesapeake Bay

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The effort to better track movement of dolphins through the bay and its tributaries began last June, and since then, over 900 sightings have been reported.

“We were only expecting maybe 25 to 30 [dolphin sightings] a year,” said Helen Bailey, a research professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. “We had over 900 reported last year, and we were able to verify nearly 450 of those.”

To report a dolphin sighting, go to the Dolphin Watch website.

Scientists say dolphins used to visit the bay more frequently. Published reports of sightings date back into the 1800s. But as pollution degraded the Chesapeake’s water quality through the 20th century, they became more rare.

Researchers are exploring whether more dolphins are swimming up the bay, possibly invited by clearer waters, abundant submerged grasses and rebounding fisheries. Through a website they set up to collect sighting reports — and a smartphone app that will launch soon — the researchers are learning that the beloved creatures venture miles upstream in rivers such as the York and Potomac, and as far north as Annapolis and the Bay Bridge.

“It’s very likely they’re following fish into the bay. Hopefully, that’s a good sign,” Bailey said. “It doesn’t look like it’s just amusement from the coast into the bay.”

VIMS adds first James-drainage snakehead to Fish Collection

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David Malmquist, VIMS – A northern snakehead—the non-native fish whose 2004 appearance along the Potomac River watershed unleashed a wave of public concern—has for the first time been found within the James River drainage in Virginia. The James is Virginia’s largest Chesapeake Bay tributary.

The fish was collected on April 27 from Lakeview Reservoir near Petersburg by biologists with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. It has now been deposited in the Virginia Institute of Marine Science’s Nunnally Ichthyology Collection, where it joins two other snakehead specimens.

“We now have three wild-caught specimens of Channa argus in the collection,” says Curatorial Associate Dr. Sarah Huber, “the one we just got from the James River drainage, one from the Potomac River drainage where the fish made its first Virginia appearance, and another from Chesapeake Bay near the mouth of the Little Wicomico River.”

The species is now established throughout the lower Potomac River watershed, and has been observed in the lower reaches of several other Maryland rivers as well as the lower stretches of the Susquehanna and Delaware rivers.

VIMS Associate Professor Eric Hilton, Curator of Fishes for the Nunnally Ichthyology Collection, says it’s likely that snakeheads could spread within the James River watershed once introduced. “Lakeview Reservoir is on Swift Creek, a tributary of the Appomattox. It can easily spread from there to at least the freshwater portions of the James River itself,” says Hilton.

A northern snakehead (Channa argus) from the Nunnally Ichthyology Collection at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. (Sarah Huber/VIMS)

A broader expansion is less probable, but not impossible. “Snakeheads are restricted to some degree by not being able to live in full strength sea water — or even the mainstem of the Bay,” says Hilton. “But it’s possible they can get from the mouth of one tributary to another along the Bay shoreline.” [Read more…]

Weed-killing robots: Could they end the use of Herbicides on the Eastern Shore?

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Living and working between two waters, ways to limit run-off is always a top priority. AI-powered weed hunters could soon reduce the need for herbicides and genetically modified crops.

Status of U.S. Fisheries

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NOAA Fisheries has released the 2017 Report to Congress on the Status of U.S. Fisheries managed under the science-based framework established by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA).

At the end of 2017, the overfishing list included 30 stocks and the overfished list included 35 stocks. Overfishing remains near all-time lows and we reached a new milestone with the number of overfished stocks at the lowest level ever—just 15 percent of assessed stocks. The number of stocks rebuilt since 2000 increased to 44. NOAA Fisheries tracks 474 stocks or stock complexes in 46 fishery management plans. Each year, assessments of various fish stocks and stock complexes are conducted to determine their status. These assessments include stocks of both known status and previously unknown status. Based on assessments conducted by the end of 2017, six stocks were removed from the overfishing list and six were added. The additions are the result of stock assessments or data showing catch was too high, including international harvest on certain stocks that the United States has limited ability to control. Six stocks were removed from the overfished list and three were added based on stock assessments that indicated population sizes were too low. As required by the MSA management framework, the councils are developing management measures to end overfishing and rebuild all stocks added to the overfishing and overfished lists.
Specific changes to the status of stocks in 2017 include:

Benefits of Sustainable Fisheries Management
Sustainable fisheries management is an adaptive process that relies on sound science, innovative management approaches, effective enforcement, meaningful partnerships, and robust public participation. Sustainable fisheries play an important role in the nation’s economy by providing opportunities for commercial, recreational, and subsistence fishing, marine aquaculture, and sustainable seafood for the nation. Combined, U.S. commercial and recreational saltwater fishing generated more than $208 billion in sales and supported 1.6 million jobs in 2015. By ending overfishing and rebuilding stocks, we are strengthening the value of U.S. fisheries to the economy, our communities, and marine ecosystems.

Closing Nuclear Plants is killing the Environment

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According to a new report by the environmental group Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, renewable energy won’t be able to make up for the loss of carbon-free electricity resulting from a wave of nuclear-power plant closures in the coming decades.

This group’s report, which also includes policy proposals, represents a growing urgency among some environmentalists that carbon-free nuclear power should be part of the equation addressing climate change; how to address concerns, such as what to do with radioactive waste is part of the equation.

The report notes that  nuclear reactors that have already shut down are being replaced mostly by natural gas, “sending U.S. emissions in the wrong direction.” Noting that any federal policy driving nuclear power is unlikely in the near term, the report says action by states and corporations will be key. Some states are already taking action, and New York’s electric-grid operator floated a proposal last week about how it could put a price on carbon emissions within its system, which would help nuclear plants. Nuclear energy’s carbon-free attribute may not be attractive enough for cities and companies without coming up with a federal answer to store spent fuel: “solving the long-term waste challenge will likely be important to win support for nuclear power from cities and businesses,” the report states.

“The nut we really want to crack is how renewables and nuclear can work together for each other’s mutual benefit. We need to have 80% renewable energy by 2050. We’re not going to get there if renewables and nuclear are fighting each other.” — Doug Vine, senior energy fellow, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions

Nuclear power provides 20% of America’s electricity, though more than 50% of its carbon-free power.

Global Warming: We’re all gonna burn, we’ll just take turns

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Global average temperatures have risen about 1.1 degrees Celsius since preindustrial times. At current rates, they could exceed 1.5 degrees by 2030. And global greenhouse gas emissions, after a brief lull from 2014 to 2016, are rising again.

 The worst-case scenarios, nudging up to 4 or 5 degrees, seem unlikely at this point.

Even if countries can live up to their pledges in the Paris climate agreement, we’ll hit the year 2100 somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 degrees. New LSE research reveals all countries signed up to the Paris Agreement now have at least one national law or policy on climate change, but in most cases it is very little.

While as of 2015, renewable energy provided 19.3 percent of final global energy consumption. Excluding traditional biomass (burning wood for heat and cooking), it was 10.2 percent. Without hydro, that was 6.6 percent. Wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass electricity together accounted for 1.6 percent.

Clearly, demand is still outstripping production.

A report from several international agencies, including International Energy Agency (IEA), International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) shows that possibility of cutting global greenhouse gas emissions in the years and decades ahead is bleak.

Despite big gains in renewables deployment and cost reductions, and the expansion of carbon pricing, curbing CO2  is not happening nearly fast enough to prevent highly dangerous levels of warming. Emissions risen slightly last year after a 3-year plateau.

“Global energy scenarios reflecting current and planned policies show that the world is far from being on track to achieve the targets of SDG 7.”

Another analysis in the journal Nature finds that “the world is on track for more than 3 °C of warming by the end of the century…Renewable energy is indeed undergoing a revolution, as prices for things such as solar panels, wind turbines and lithium-ion batteries continue to plummet. And yet it is also true that the world remains dependent on fossil fuels — so much so that even small economic shifts can quickly overwhelm the gains made with clean energy.”

“The good news is that clean-energy technology is at last making substantial strides. The bad news is that the pace isn’t nearly quick enough,” writes Nature‘s Jeff Tollefson. “Because so much energy comes from coal,” Tollefson writes, “slight fluctuations from year to year can wipe out massive gains in renewables.”
“The creature in the sky
Got sucked in a hole
Now there’s a hole in the sky
And the ground’s not cold
And if the ground’s not cold
Everything is gonna burn
We’ll all take turns, I’ll get mine too
This monkey’s gone to Heaven” –Pixies, This Monkey Gone to Heaven
This Vox analysis was used in this story.