MD Senate to Vote on Restoring James, Barren Islands

 BJ, Senate set to vote on funding for reconstruction of Chesapeake Bay islands

The Senate Appropriations Committee has signed off on $37.5 million in spending that could launch the reconstruction of James and Barren islands in the Chesapeake Bay.

The Aug. 4 approval sets up a vote before the full Senate. The legislation will then undergo negotiations between the House and Senate to merge their differing versions of the measure, which is part of the $53 billion Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill.

The current House bill does not include the James and Barren funding.

The $1.9 billion undertaking, called the Mid-Chesapeake Bay Island Ecosystem Restoration, will rebuild two eroding islands off the coast of Dorchester County, MD. In all, it will create more than 2,100 acres of new land.

The fill will be dredged from the shipping channels for the Port of Baltimore, keeping the lanes open for cargo traffic.

The funding would cover the first year of planned construction. Critically, the move transfers the effort off the “new start” phase, where projects can languish for years, said Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland.

I'm looking forward to the restoration of James and Barren Islands, although I expect it to take long enough I won't see any benefit. Don't ever forget, they aren't really doing this to restore the islands, that's just a side benefit of having to find some place (other than say, the deep channel of the bay) to dump the masses of sediment, much of it contaminated, that continue to accumulate in Baltimore Harbor.

The best part of this article was the aerial picture of James Island from 1999:

James Island was still somewhat intact in this photo from 1999.

 I first stepped on James Island back in 2000, when Georgia and I and a friend took my then new boat over, anchored in the bay on the right side, and walked from end to end (it wasn't that far). That narrow strip connecting the tow main sections was still intact, but barely, maybe a foot or two wide, and marshy (it was salt marsh sod). It's long gone, as is most of what you see here now. I was by recently with Pete, and there is a small piece of the lower island left with a few trees, and a few tree stick out of the water where the upper island is. There is also a deadly (to boats) pile of downed timber underwater at the north end. Ask me how I know. 

James Island in June 2020