Navy Sounds All-Clear for Solomons

By Michael Tunison
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 19, 2007

A study of the Solomons Naval Recreation Center, once the site of a pistol range and a mortar range, has turned up no unexploded munitions, Navy officials say.

The revelation came at a public hearing at the Southern Community Center in Lusby, where Naval Facilities Engineering Command officials discussed the $1.4 million munitions removal program underway at the Solomons center.

The program, which is funded by the Navy, resulted from a 2001 directive by Congress to the Defense Department to identify and prioritize munitions sites, evaluate the hazards posed by remaining ordnance and organize a response.

The recreation center, which is open to all active and retired members of any branch of the military, is the Navy's largest outdoor recreation facility. It is also the first Navy site to undergo the initial review process since the directive was issued, said Monty Pugh, the program manager for installation and restoration at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station.

A 32-acre parcel in the southeast corner of the 300-acre recreation area is the focus of the inspection. It contains a former pistol range and mortar range and a landfill, and it will remain closed off while fieldwork is being conducted, which Pugh said should last through the end of the year.

He said research already has determined that there are no unexploded bombs on the site. He said further studies will determine whether there is contamination from chemicals that might have leaked from munitions used at pistol ranges or over-water explosive test areas.

"Likely, if there is contamination, it wouldn't be deeper than 12 inches" into the soil, he said.

Meeting on Roads

An information meeting on the Pegg Road Extension Study is scheduled for next Thursday at 6 p.m. in Meeting Room A at the Lexington Park Library, 21677 FDR Blvd.

St. Mary's County is conducting the study to determine the best alignment for an extension of Pegg Road that would connect routes 237 and 5.

The alignment begins at the existing Route 237-Pegg Road intersection and proceeds west to Indian Bridge Road. Two of the three alternatives include a further extension across St. Mary's River to the Route 5-Route 249 intersection.

The project is designed to alleviate traffic congestion in the Great Mills area and along Route 235. The extension is included in the August 2006 county transportation plan, which can be reviewed at http://www.co.saint-marys.md.us/dpw/docs/transportationplan/LongTermReport-Adopted.pdf.

Ethanol's Kernel of Concern

As farmers plant more corn to meet the demand for ethanol -- touted as a greener alternative to gasoline -- the Chesapeake Bay could be confronting a serious environmental downside.

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.