Navy Sounds All-Clear for Solomons

A new study warns that one result of more farmers growing corn could be more pollution washing off farm fields in the form of nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizers used for the crop.

Farmers in the bay watershed will plant 500,000 additional acres or more of corn in the next five years, the study predicted. Because fields of corn generally produce more polluted runoff than those of other crops, such an agricultural shift would be a problem for water quality in the bay, according to the study, whose sponsors included the federal government and an environmental group.

Ethanol, a fuel made from processed and fermented plant matter, has been embraced by some who seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In his State of the Union address in January, President Bush called for its use in motor fuels to be increased sevenfold by 2017.

But ethanol's boom has also produced a variety of unintended, and unwanted, consequences. Because the primary ingredient at U.S. ethanol plants is corn, the price of that grain has shot up, making everything from tortillas to beef to chocolate more expensive.

Governments around the bay have pledged to cut their output of nitrogen by 110 million pounds by 2010. But the study estimated that an ethanol-driven increase in cornfields could add 8 million to 16 million pounds of pollution.

Senior Center Scores

St. Mary's County's Northern Senior Center received two awards from the Maryland Association of Senior Centers at its annual awards ceremony last month.

The awards recognize excellence in senior center programming and are designed to honor and promote outstanding efforts made by senior centers throughout the state.

First-place honors went to the Northern Senior Center's April Fool's Day Fun event. The event was one of eight entries from across the state for countywide programs.

The Northern center also received an honorable mention award for its Relaxation Retreat. That was one of 19 entries in the Health, Wellness and Nutrition category.

The Northern Senior Center is in Charlotte Hall, just north of the Veterans Home. The center is open Mondays through Fridays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The center is part of the county Department of Aging.

State Protects Farms

Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) announced Monday that the state Board of Public Works approved purchase of 32 easements protecting 3,615 acres of prime farmland in 10 counties for just over $21 million in state and local funding. This approval brings the total farmland protected in perpetuity by the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation to 259,229 acres.

In this round of decisions, an easement protecting a 72.5-acre tract in St. Mary's County was among those approved.

Staff writer David A. Fahrenthold contributed to this report.