Maryland Says It Intends To Deny Permit To Continue Operating Conowingo Dam

Map of Maryland highlighting Cecil County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A week after a report found that dams in Lancaster County and Maryland are no longer trapping polluting farm and urban stormwater runoff, the Maryland Department of the Environment says it plans to deny a water-quality permit renewal to the Conowingo Dam.

Exelon, the owner of the hydroelectric dam on the Susquehanna River in Cecil County, Maryland, has been seeking relicensing renewal from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The dam also needs a water-quality permit from Maryland to operate.

The state’s Department of the Environment says Exelon hasn’t fully supported its contention that the dam’s reduced ability to trap sediment is not harming the Chesapeake Bay, about 10 miles downriver, the Associated Press reported.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/maryland-says-it-intends-to-deny-permit-to-continue-operating/article_c91f5770-7198-11e4-bd9a-071fc8f2b5d3.html

Animal “Mass Die-Offs” Nothing To Panic Over

Image via Wikipedia

Evidently, according to AP Writer Seth Borenstein, the recent conspiracy theories about the blackbirds in Arkansas, crabs in the Chesapeake and red tilapia in Vietnam are internet hype and to be taken with a grain of salt.  These “die-offs” happen in nature all the time. 

With the advent of the internet age and instant access to information, people are more aware now of what happens across the globe at any given moment of the day.  This “access” to information leads some people to speculate outrageous things.  According to scientist and the Federal government, these die-offs are nothing to be alarmed over.

To read the entire article  click here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40961721/ns/us_news-environment/?gt1=43001