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Friday, Dec. 5, 2008
Gazette
Gansler's river audits turn to Great Seneca
Environmental effort supported by community's 'eyes and ears'
By Douglas Tallman
A river runs through Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler's effort to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.
After three other "river audits," he continues the series next week with a stop at Great Seneca Creek, the largest watershed found within Montgomery County.
"There's no better way to save the river than to go to the river itself," Gansler said.
He already has conducted similar audits to identify environmental problems on the Chester and Pocomoke rivers on the Eastern Shore, and on the Monocacy River in Frederick County. The events include meetings with elected officials and environmental groups, and each has included a town hall meeting.
"We establish relationships in the watershed with people who become our eyes and ears, who call us up with issues," Gansler (D) said.
He likened the audits to efforts to clean up bad neighborhoods.
"The way people can point out crack houses and the grandma who gives you cookies, people know who the major polluters are," he said.
The audits have led to environmental actions.
A few months after the April audit of the Chester, the state announced a settlement with Velsicol Chemical Co. of Chestertown, an action that had started the previous November.
The company was ordered to clean up contaminated soil at its site, improve its wastewater treatment system, reduce the phosphorus it discharges and pay $200,000 to the Maryland Clean Water Fund.
Robert W. Parks, executive director of the Chester River Association, called the settlement "very favorable," and he attributed it to Gansler's audit. During a boat ride on the Chester, Gansler spoke with association staff about the strategy to bring the Velsicol action to conclusion.
During the Monocacy audit in September, the office learned about an allegation that a property owner in northern Frederick County dams the river each year for a party, said Erin Fitzsimmons, Gansler's special assistant for the environment. The attorney general's office is continuing that investigation, she said.
Each audit has shown problems specific to the river, as well as revealed some common problems, Gansler said. For example, the rivers have had issues with sediment control and habitat degradation.
Gansler said the audits have revealed how the state needs to upgrade its wastewater treatment plants.
Four jurisdictions — Montgomery, Prince George's and Baltimore counties and Baltimore city — are operating under federal consent decrees regulating their discharges because of sewer overflows, Fitzsimmons said. Other counties and municipalities are having their discharges monitored under state or administrative orders.
Ed Merrifield, an activist with the Potomac Riverkeeper, said he wanted one thing from the Great Seneca Creek audit: "In the long run, a cleaner Great Seneca Creek."
The Great Seneca, the smallest of the waterways audited this year, has much of its watershed protected by Seneca Creek State Park.
"There's a lot of little things that need to be taken care of" on the creek, Merrifield said.
Not long ago, the creek was polluted from lead shot from a gun club that leased parkland. The creek needs follow-up monitoring, he said.
The audits ultimately could help the state meets its goals in cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay.
"If we clean up the Bay, the economic benefit and what comes out of the bay, the crabs and oysters, would be enormous," Gansler said.
Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler will visit Gaithersburg and Great Seneca Creek on Thursday as the fourth of his river audits. He will spend the day hearing from local environmental leaders, residents, students and elected officials. He also is planning a town hall meeting at 5 p.m. in the activity center at Bohrer Park, 506 S. Frederick Ave.
The public is invited.
