Agreement Brings Calvert Funds for Emergency Planning

Commissioner Barbara A. Stinnett (D-At Large), the only commissioner who is a BGE customer, said problems have "significantly dropped." She said, "It is noticeable."

Pa. Sued Over Wastewater Cleanup of Chesapeake

Dozens of municipalities have sued the Pennsylvania state government over the cost to upgrade wastewater plants as part of a strategy to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, the Associated Press reported this week.

The lawsuit, filed in Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg on Friday, claims that wastewater ratepayers in towns across much of central and eastern Pennsylvania bear an unfair share of the cleanup costs.

The lawsuit also contends that Pennsylvania entered into an illegal agreement in 2000 with Maryland and Virginia to improve water quality in the bay, which led to the federal government making the agreement mandatory five years later.

If the agreement's 2010 deadline is not met, the federal government could enforce stricter standards, state officials said.

Many municipal officials have expressed anger that the state has not committed money to improve wastewater treatment.

Officials at the Pennsylvania Municipal Authorities Association estimate that the bill to improve the watershed's 184 largest treatment plants will total at least $1 billion.

Neil Weaver, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, declined to comment on the lawsuit but said the state will continue trying to help local officials meet the federal water quality requirements.

Pennsylvania contributes more sewage, farm runoff and other pollutants than any other state into the 200-mile-long Chesapeake Bay. The pollutants, such as nitrogen, feed algae in the bay that make much of the estuary uninhabitable for fish, crabs and oysters during the summer.

Grants Help Farms Install Conservation Measures

The Maryland Department of Agriculture reported this week that the state's farmers installed more than 2,100 conservation projects in 2007.

Farmers added to the record $13.1 million provided through the Maryland Agricultural Water-Quality Cost-Share program with more than $1.4 million of their money.

The grants "helped farmers cover the costs of installing conservation projects that will collectively prevent an estimated 2.7 million pounds of nitrogen and 149,000 pounds of phosphorus from entering Maryland waterways each year," state Agriculture Secretary Roger Richardson said in a statement.