Environmental Impact Concerns Prevented Potomac Sewer Fix

By way of John Sexton at Hat Hair, Massive DC Sewage Spill Caused by Environmental Review That Dragged on for Years

So this was one of the worst sewage spills in American history and naturally people wanted to know why this happened. Today the Washington Post has a story answering that question. It turns out the damage to the section of the pipeline that failed had been known since 2018. But instead of immediately getting to work, the National Part Service decided it needed to perform an environmental review which dragged on for years and prevented the repairs from being made.

D.C. Water asked the National Park Service for permission to fast-track repairs in 2018, after inspectors found widespread corrosion and detached rebar in one area of the six-foot-wide concrete pipe that runs under federal parkland in Maryland, records show. The utility sought to strengthen a three-quarter-mile section that included the point that later ruptured...

But the National Park Service’s environmental review dragged on for years and was still not complete when the pipe collapsed — a delay that experts said appeared to flout a 2020 federal rule requiring such examinations be done within one year...

A review by The Post of more than 2,600 public utility documents reveals how concerns about the removal of trees and vegetation, along with other environmental impacts, postponed repairs to the Potomac Interceptor. The pipe continued to degrade for more than seven years before it failed on Jan. 19 and released one of the largest spills of untreated wastewater in U.S. history.

Northern Long-eared Bat

 

This happened because the NPS was concerned about the trees and an endangered bat species.

In September 2021, during President Joe Biden’s first year in office, the utility informed the Park Service that the project would probably require removing not three trees, but about 260. The utility promised to replant hundreds of trees, replacing the diameter of those lost, inch-for-inch.

Park Service officials replied that they had “critical concerns” about the trees, partly because they might serve as a habitat for the endangered northern long-eared bat.

The bat typically lives in caves and mines but can rest in shaggy bark and crevices of trees along the C & O Canal in warmer months.

Ultimately, the Park Service decided it needed to do a major review of the site because the plan involved work at another spot a short distance away thus compounding the environmental impact.

A law passed under the Trump administration required the NPS to finish its review in one year from the date it announced it was necessary, but instead the review just dragged on for years even as continued inspections of the pipeline showed it was deteriorating. In fact, the section which eventually failed was cause for an emergency meeting in December 2024.

On Dec. 12, 2024, D.C. Water officials met with Park Service officials to deliver an urgent request, according to a D.C. Water presentation prepared for the meeting. The utility said it needed approval to begin repairs on the most critical 800 feet that appeared to be in imminent danger of failing.

The Potomac Interceptor “needs immediate repair in which the rapid degradation of the pipe has made it a high priority task to prevent collapse,” read the first item on the meeting agenda.

Crews finally got to work last fall and finished a small section. The plan was to continue the work on the next section of the pipe this summer. Instead, the pipe failed in January. So this disaster was the direct result of an ecological review that took seven years.

The tendency for government to put off needed work is just astounding. I wonder how are the trees and bats getting on now? 

Chesapeake Bay National Park Not Yet Dead

 Bay Journal, Chesapeake advocates eye 2025 for new Bay recreation area

Congress dashed hopes for a Chesapeake National Recreation Area to be created this year by leaving town without finalizing action on what’s long been a priority for Bay advocates.

Although the Senate unanimously approved the measure Dec. 18, the House did not act, pushing consideration into 2025 after the next Congress is seated.

While the bill did not come up for a vote in the House, it did have bi-partisan support and advocates expressed optimism that the measure had momentum to build upon. Now, though, the legislation will have to be re-introduced in both the House and Senate.

“We’re closer than ever to elevating the Chesapeake Bay to iconic American landscapes like Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Great Smoky Mountains and the Grand Tetons,” said Joel Dunn, president and CEO of the nonprofit Chesapeake Conservancy.

The recreation area would be managed by the National Park Service and unite a series of voluntary participating sites that would tell different parts of the Bay’s natural, cultural and historic stories.

“The Chesapeake Bay is a national treasure full of rich history and plays a crucial role in the region’s ecology and economy,” said Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), one of the bill’s sponsors. He said the proposed recreation area would “honor that legacy and help foster responsible stewardship and economic growth in the watershed region.”

Supporters say the proposed recreation area would highlight stories that often go untold, including those of indigenous peoples; free and enslaved Blacks; the role the Bay played in the earliest days of the Maryland and Virginia colonies; and the key role the Bay has played and continues to play in the region’s environmental health and economy.

But, while they promise not to infringe on other uses of the Bay, I'm afraid of the camel's nose under the tent. 

No Chesapeake Bay National Park

 At least this year. Capital Gazette, Bill creating Chesapeake National Recreation Area dies in Congress

After passing the U.S. Senate, a bill that would have established the Chesapeake National Recreation Area fell short in the 118th Congress. But advocates are hoping to ride the momentum into next year.

The bill would have linked natural and historical sites in the Chesapeake Bay watershed under the banner of the National Park Service, including several sites in the Annapolis area.

“We’re closer than ever to elevating the Chesapeake Bay to iconic American landscapes like Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Great Smoky Mountains and the Grand Tetons,” wrote Joel Dunn, outgoing president and CEO of the Chesapeake Conservancy, in a statement. “As advocates look to the next Congress, this momentum has brought together a bipartisan coalition of elected officials, local communities, national and regional advocates with a shared goal.”

On Dec. 18, the bill received unanimous support on the floor of the U.S. Senate, but the House of Representatives did not vote on the bill before leaving Washington for the holidays.

I can't say I'm heart broken. While the plan for the various sites for the Chesapeake Bay National Recreation Area weren't too intrusive, I worry about mission and area creep, and the tendency for advocacy groups to attempt to ban activities they deem unpark like in areas adjacent to said parks. 

Chesapeake Bay National Park?

Capital News Service, Senate panel passes bill making Chesapeake National Recreation Area a national park unit

The Chesapeake Bay area is one step closer to becoming part of the national parks system.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday passed the Chesapeake Bay National Recreation Area Act, moving it onto the Senate floor.

The measure, sponsored by Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen, would create the Chesapeake National Recreation Area in Maryland and Virginia and make it part of a network of sites overseen by the National Park Service.

“In Maryland, we know the Chesapeake Bay is a national treasure,” Van Hollen said in a statement. “And creating the Chesapeake National Recreation Area will celebrate that fact while also bringing major benefits to the Bay.”

“Not only will this open up more equitable public access to the Bay, the (Chesapeake National Recreation Act) will also mobilize additional federal support for restoration, shine a light on the untold stories of its history, and support greater economic opportunity in the region,” the senator said.

One of the key goals of making the Chesapeake National Recreation Area part of the national parks system is to boost national pride in the bay and its history, amplifying the stories of historically underrepresented groups such as Indigenous and Black people.

And you can't do that without making it a National Park, after all.

Of course, it will not be a National Park in the sense that Yosemite and Yellowstone, just to name two of the best known national parks, whose territory is completely under the control of the Park Service and closely regulated. It will be a National Park in Name Only, with a few visitor centers, and a lot of web presence, and no doubt a cloud of Federal employees doing the things that Federal employees do. I can hardly wait for them to tell me I can't fish in "their" waters, or collect fossils on "their" beaches.

Chesapeake Bay National Recreation Area Comes Closer

Da Balmer Sun, Van Hollen, Sarbanes introduce legislation to create Chesapeake National Recreation Area

Members of Maryland’s congressional delegation have introduced legislation to establish a Chesapeake National Recreation Area that would include several historical landmarks around Annapolis.

The Chesapeake National Recreation Area Act, sponsored by Democrats U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen and U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes, would establish the area with headquarters in Annapolis and in Hampton, Virginia.

Burtis House

“Think of the really important geographic historic landmarks we associate with the National Park Service. The Chesapeake Bay belongs in that category. It’s a national treasure, and it should be designated that way,” Van Hollen told The Baltimore Sun on Thursday. “If we get this national recreation status, it will bring with it the assets of the National Park Service. That means park rangers and more national park personnel and programs.”

The legislation would enable the park service to provide staff and programs at a trio of Annapolis landmarks — the Burtis House, a 19th-century cottage next to the Annapolis City Dock where Captain William Henry Burtis rented fishing boats; Whitehall, an 18th-century mansion first occupied by British colonial officers, and the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse, built in 1875 near the mouth of the South River. It is the last screw-pile lighthouse on the bay in its original location.

I've fished at the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse a few times with Pete. A great spot in summer, if you can get there before the Annapolis crowd. The cottage and mansion don't excite me that much.

The city of Annapolis acquired the Burtis House in 2020, while Whitehall is a private wedding venue. The lighthouse is operated by the The Annapolis Maritime Museum & Park. According to Van Hollen’s office, the owners or managers of the sites have expressed interest in being included as initial sites in the recreation area. The legislation would allow the park service to acquire the landmarks, as well as any other potential sites through purchase, a donation or a partnership with the existing owners.

The recreation area would also include the North Beach adjacent to the Fort Monroe National Monument on the bay in Hampton, according to Van Hollen’s office. In 1619, the first enslaved Africans in mainland American colonies were brought to the site.

Ft. Monroe National Monument

The idea for a Chesapeake National Recreation Area, a different distinction than a national park, was first brought up in the 1980s in a commentary in The Capital by then-Anne Arundel County Executive Jim Lighthizer, according to a news release from Van Hollen’s office.

The legislation does not specify funding amounts from the federal budget for the recreation area. It would not allow the National Park Service to supersede state authority in fish and wildlife management efforts or acquire property from unwilling landowners.

That makes me feel a little better. But it is the camel's nose. 

“The Chesapeake Bay is as spectacular as Yellowstone or Yosemite, as great as the Great Smokies and as grand as the Grand Tetons. Establishing the Chesapeake National Recreation Area expands resources for environmental protection, and makes it clear that the United States cherishes the Chesapeake, the birthplace of American identity,” Chesapeake Conservancy President & CEO Joel Dunn said in a news release.

New Park Land for Slower Maryland?

 Bay Journal, Federal wildlife refuge looks to expand in Southern Maryland

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced in early March that it is looking to conserve up to 30,000 acres of land over the next 30 years in five counties: Prince George’s, Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s.

Officials envision creating a “landscape scale” refuge similar to the Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia, said Dan Murphy, chief of habitat restoration and conservation in the service’s Chesapeake Bay Field Office. Established in 1996, that refuge encompasses about 10,000 acres in a series of mostly unconnected tracts across five counties along the river corridor.

As was done for the Virginia refuge, USFWS officials plan to identify a large acquisition boundary in Southern Maryland, then target the most ecologically important parcels within it for protection by either buying them from willing sellers or paying them to surrender development rights via conservation easements.

The move comes as development presses in on the Patuxent Research Refuge, the only national wildlife refuge in the region. Its 13,000 acres spanning Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties sit midway between Baltimore and the District of Columbia.

Prince George’s County is looking to develop 97 acres of forest and ponds between the refuge and Bowie State University.

Just last year, an effort by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to sell 105 mostly wooded acres bordering the refuge got put on hold after refuge supporters protested.

Murphy said the announcement of the regional refuge plan wasn’t triggered by any specific threats to the Patuxent refuge but more out of a desire to preserve critical habitats that are in danger of being degraded or destroyed. The idea, he said, grew out of former President Obama’s 2009 executive order directing all federal agencies to develop a coordinated strategy for protecting and restoring the Bay.

Over the last dozen years, USFWS staff have identified roughly 180,000 acres of ecologically valuable land in the region that is currently unprotected, Murphy explained. At the same time, he said, they recognized that the Patuxent Refuge was being increasingly hemmed in by development and in jeopardy of becoming an “ecological island.”

The service says it is primarily concerned with safeguarding native animals and plants that are in jeopardy of disappearing from the region. All of them face the threat of habitat loss from land use changes, climate change, competition from invasive species and other external population stressors.

The five counties targeted by the USFWS plan were among the fastest growing in Maryland over the last decade, trailing only Howard and Frederick counties.

Murphy said the USFWS plans to focus on protecting habitat in the watersheds of Mattawoman and Nanjemoy creeks, Zekiah Swamp and the St. Mary’s and Patuxent rivers. They’re also keen to protect more of Calvert County’s crumbling Bayshore cliffs, which are home to endangered Puritan tiger beetles.

The Puritan Tiger Beetle has been used as an excuse to prevent cliff protection here at Calvert Cliffs. A house was condemned because they weren't allowed to shore up the cliff that was encroaching on the house.

In addition to the tiger beetles, the five-county area is home to several other endangered or threatened species. Dwarf wedgemussels hang on in Nanjemoy Creek and McIntosh Run in Charles County.

Increasingly rare plants, namely swamp pink and a flowering legume called sensitive joint-vetch, grow in the region’s remaining marshes, while endangered northern long-eared bats lurk in its forests. The tidal waters also provide critical habitat for Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon.

The service hopes over the next 30 years to protect about one sixth of that vulnerable acreage, using the federal Land and Water Conservation and Migratory Bird funds. Those funds draw revenue from sales of federal duck hunting stamps, wildlife refuge entrance fees, import duties on arms and ammunition and the sale of offshore oil leases.

Lands purchased to become part of a national wildlife refuge will be removed from the property tax rolls of the counties in question, but the USFWS pointed out that it annually reimburses localities for some of its lost real estate tax revenue.

"some"

I think I'd have to see what tracts of land they have their eyes on, and how they intend to restrict their usage before I decide whether it's a good or bad idea.

 

Chesapeake National Park Being Pushed

AP: Push underway for national Chesapeake Bay recreation area

An effort is underway to make the larger Chesapeake Bay area part of the National Park Service. The Virginian-Pilot reported Saturday that it would be called the Chesapeake National Recreation Area.

Behind the effort is a group of conservation nonprofits, community leaders and lawmakers who are working to draft legislation in Congress.

It’s unclear exactly what the recreation area would look like. Proponents don’t call for the entire bay to be included. But certain land-based sites would provide public access to it.

“The Chesapeake Bay is a national treasure, and the national park system represents America’s most treasured landscapes,” said Reed Perry, external affairs manager for the Chesapeake Conservancy, which is a part of the group.

The idea has been around since the 1960s. And the park service has already established itself along parts of the nation’s largest estuary. For instance, there is the 3,000-mile Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail and the Fort Monroe National Monument in Hampton.

A federal working group has been formed to explore the possibility of designating the Chesapeake recreation area.

It's entirely unclear to me what changes this would make to the Bay, but my fear is that they would (eventually, it won't happen quickly) start to restrict hunting, fishing and general recreation in more regions of the Bay. With a Democrats on the ascendance in D.C., progress on this is much more likely than under Republicans.  

A "National Recreation Area" for the Chesapeake

 Chesapeake Bay, southern Maryland could see new federal park, heritage designations

The Maryland congressional delegation is pushing legislation to protect and enhance the natural resources throughout southern Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay area with new federal park and heritage designations.

Democratic Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, both of Maryland, and Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Towson, have mounted a bicameral effort to form a working group that would explore designating the Chesapeake Bay region as a national recreation area. This group would be made up of lawmakers and more than 30 regional organizations.

Efforts to protect the nation’s largest estuary have been floating around for decades.

In his 1984 State of the Union Address, then-President Ronald Reagan said he regarded the Chesapeake Bay as a “productive recreational area and a special national resource.”

“Marylanders know the Chesapeake Bay is a national treasure,” said Van Hollen, who is leading the working group effort. “Designating a Chesapeake National Recreation Area will highlight that reality – and bring national recognition to the importance of the Bay and its natural, cultural, historical, and recreational significance.”

“This is also a unique chance to bring new resources to protecting the Bay and to generate new opportunities to grow Maryland tourism and outdoor recreation,” he said.

Places designated as national recreation areas were initially spaces surrounding reservoirs. Now, the concept has expanded to offer visitors opportunities to experience more than just water-based outdoor activities.

Golden Gate Park in San Francisco is a national recreation area, an urban waterfront space that includes the former penitentiary on Alcatraz Island, the Sutro Baths ruins and the Presidio of San Francisco.

The Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area on the Oregon coast features the nation’s largest coastal sand dunes. Visitors can drive off-road vehicles, camp or bird-watch.

National recreation areas also often include significant natural and cultural elements.

Chesapeake Conservancy President and CEO Joel Dunn applauded the efforts of the lawmakers heading the project.

“A Chesapeake National Recreation Area would be a land-based, 21st century park, uniting new and existing National Park Service sites and trails, as well as partner parks, to increase public access to the Bay and to create a national park-worthy visitor experience for all to enjoy,” he said in a statement.

Dunn also said a Chesapeake NRA would bring economic benefits to the region.

“Along with protecting natural, cultural, and historic resources and connecting people to nature, national parks have a proven, positive economic impact on surrounding local economies,” he said. “A Chesapeake National Recreation Area would strongly support the Bay region’s outdoor recreation economy, which contributes billions of dollars annually through recreation and tourism activities.”

The Working Group is set to collaborate in the coming months over proposed legislation that eventually would lead to creating a new Chesapeake National Recreation Area.

Given that Democrats have the House, Senate and the White House, I don't doubt that they can do something. It will be interesting to see the specifics of the proposal. Maybe they could use Sparrows Point in Baltimore.