Exelon Yields to MDE Extortion

Nice dam you have there, it would be a shame if we wouldn't let you use it

The Maryland Department of the Environment says Exelon Corp. will pay up to $3.5 million to fund more study of the Conowingo power dam's effects on Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay water quality.

The agency threatened last month to deny a permit renewal because the Chicago-based company hadn't fully supported its assertion that the dam's reduced ability to trap sediment was harming the Chesapeake Bay, about 10 miles downstream.
. . .
The Army Corps of Engineers has concluded that dredging the river to improve the dam's sediment-trapping ability could cost billions and have relatively little effect on the bay.

The old conventional wisdom was models said that the filling of the pool behind Conowingo Dam was the worst possible thing that could happen to the Bay. The new conventional wisdom is models say that it's not so bad, what we really need to do is stop agriculture in the Chesapeake watershed. I'm sure the truth is somewhere in between.

As Dane-geld goes, 3.5 million isn't all that much. I'm sure Exelon can find a contractor who will get to an answer acceptable to the state for that much.