Good News - Bad News

14 Sept, 2009

by Dr. Peter deFur

Summer draws to a close here in the greater Chesapeake Bay area, on the edge of the gateway to the mountains. Hot steamy days of August have given way to warm and not so humid afternoons and cool evenings. Our typical summer weather held off until August when we saw some near-100 degree days that seemed to stretch into the evenings and the next day. But that weather is gone with our vacations and time at the beach or in the mountains.

Over the summer we saw an unusual mix of good news and bad in our region and the nation. On the good side, here in Virginia, the blue crab situation seems to be some improved over recent years, and the harvest has not been so low as to drive prices through the roof any farther. My own experience finds them still sweet and tasty. The fall harvest is one of my favorites because the crabs are often larger and heavier after a summer of growing. But the not so good news is that Maryland and Virginia are trying to buy crabbing licenses from crabbers who have not used them in years, to reduce excess crabbing capacity from overwhelming the population should everyone with a license choose to get back in business. Maryland’s effort failed miserably and Virginia’s is just getting started. We’ll see how that works out.

Oysters in the Bay are still in deep trouble, but two rays of light continue shining. The legal wrangling over introducing non-native oysters into the Bay seems to be over, ending years of trials and attempts to restore Bay oysters by bringing in a non-native species. I have long opposed the non-native option because of our experiences with such plans in the past (none are completely successful) and our knowledge of all that can go wrong (think of Murphy’s law- anything that can go wrong will go wrong). The courts and managers made the right decision here, with a lot of scientific input.

And there are early reports that an oyster restoration project in Virginia has gone right. Scientists and managers have reported (in Science magazine no less) that an 85 acre project on the Great Wicomico River is producing oysters that are not all succumbing to parasitic disease. The results are only for a few years, and longer is needed to insure that this success can be sustained. We’ll keep an eye on the project with hope for future oyster stew.

Lawmakers in Washington are apparently bent on proving once again that it costs more to fix a problem later than to prevent it in the first place. According to the September issue of the Bay Journal, federal legislation on transportation will not include new requirements for preventing stormwater pollution resulting from road and parking projects. Stormwater is a huge problem because the water carries toxic chemical from asphalt, dirt, fertilizers (pollutants in the water) and too much water flow (scours the streams). Nationally, cities, states and EPA all are trying to control pollution from stormwater, so it makes no sense whatsoever for Congress to fail their responsibility on this point and include stormwater requirements in road work.

Federal legislation to curb global warming sits in the Senate, after moving through the House earlier this year. The imperfect legislation out of the House needs to be cleaned up and passed in the Senate if we are to make progress and leave our children a better legacy than now seems likely. There is no doubt that the globe is warming and that human activities are at least largely at fault for the rapidity of the warming. This news is less than good- it alarms and sobers.

Finally, as we head to the end of the federal fiscal year, it has come to our attention that EPA is now using a new method for measuring PCBs in water. This method will allow permit holders and managers to measure all the forms of PCBs at lower levels than previously measured. The use of this method was held up for years by dischargers who were leery of complying with regulations. The use is long over-due and will result in the realization that PCB pollution is worse than previously believed. But, on the good side, we’ll have another tool to find sources and monitor progress in reducing discharges.