Agencies Urge Calvert Cliffs to Pay for Oyster Damage

Dredging of Habitat For 3rd Reactor at Issue

Maryland environmental agencies recommend that a nuclear energy company pay $45,000 per acre for any damage done to an oyster reef and surrounding habitat protected by the state since the 1980s as part of a plan to build a third reactor at Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant.

A portion of the oyster reef, off the shores of the Lusby area plant and Flag Ponds Nature Park, would be dredged during the plant construction, according to UniStar Nuclear Energy's application for approval from the Maryland Public Service Commission. A certificate from the commission is required to build the reactor, which would nearly double Calvert Cliffs' electricity-generating capacity.

Natural Oyster Bar 19-2, as it is identified by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources on state maps, was the subject of an acoustic bottom survey in August by the Maryland Geological Survey. The survey, which was submitted in October to the commission, found "suitable oyster habitat" within the proposed dredging project.

UniStar officials disagreed in the summer that they should have to provide a costly mitigation for the dredging. They said yesterday that they are discussing the issues with state officials.

Maureen Brown, a company spokeswoman, said UniStar officials are "maintaining a constructive dialogue with federal and state agencies" to reach a resolution but would not comment further until the next round of testimony is submitted to the state Nov. 21.

UniStar "has sought to reinforce its commitment to environmental stewardship and preserving the Chesapeake Bay habitat to the greatest extent possible," Brown said.

The proposed dredged area near the oyster bar would be used for barge, water intake and discharge facilities.

During public discussion this summer, an ecologist working with UniStar said Baltimore Gas and Electric was given permission in 1968 to move a large portion of the oyster bar to another area and pay $200,000. He said that area should have been removed from state resource maps.

But the state formally identified and mapped oyster bars to be protected in the 1980s, according to the recent testimony to the commission by the state's Power Plant Research Program. The testimony supported the program's recommendations in July to require mitigation of the oyster habitat.

The August survey included seismic profiles, solar imagery and grab samples of the entire oyster bar. The various tests found hard-shell and hard-clay bottom, two live oysters and other crustaceans. Hard bottom is the best environment for spat, or baby oysters, to settle and grow on, according to experts.

The previously dredged area within the bar for the power plant was "predominantly mud" and contained gases that indicate an unlikely oyster environment, according to the report.

"From this experience, it would not be unreasonable to expect that future dredged channels would develop similar conditions unfavorable to benthic shellfish communities, particularly if deeper than 25 feet," according to the report by Maryland Geological Survey officials.

The state's conditions also would require UniStar to pay for a portion of the acoustic survey and to get further analysis and approval from the Maryland Department of the Environment and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

"It is clear that the environmental aspect [of the survey] is better than, 'Is there an oyster there?' " said Susan Gray, project manager for the Power Plant Research Program. "It was a habitat survey."