Good Ol' River Mud

"Tributaries Matter: Investigating the Biogeochemical Cycling of Reactive Constituents
in Sub-estuaries of the Chesapeake Bay"

I'll be honest. I wasn't sure exactly what I was in for with a lecture titled, "Tributaries Matter: Investigating Biogeochemical Cycling of Reactive Constituents in Sub-estuaries of the Chesapeake Bay." I was pretty confident I knew what a tributary was...and an estuary, but all that stuff in the middle? Not a clue. Yesterday we were fortunate to host Commander Joseph Smith from the US Naval Academy who was going to answer all my questions. We settled in to Litrenta, sat back, and learned some astonishing things about watersheds and sediment movement.

CDR Smith began his discussion with the Hudson River. All the way back to his time as a graduate student he has been studying the movement of sediment in estuaries. What he has learned has astonished his advisers and the wider scientific community. Instead of being like a pipe that dumps water into the oceans, estuaries experience constant movement of sediment toward the ocean and back toward the land. One example in particular encapsulated the importance of this multi-directional movement. In 2006 the Navy attempted to relocate the legendary World War II aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, but after a half hour of effort from a small fleet of tugboats, it became apparent that the ship was stuck in the mud! CDR Smith explained that this was a result of sediment being deposited in the harbor from upriver and from the ocean. The amount of sediment that settled around the ship worked out to be about 20 inches a year. This event, which confirmed CDR Smith's theory of high sedimentation rates, astonished the scientific community.

USS Intrepid with tugboats

Taking what he has learned about the tendency for estuaries to pick up materials, CDR Smith has focused his studies on nearby Blue Plains Advanced Waste water Treatment Plant to determine what sort of impact the waste water is having on the Chesapeake Bay. Specifically CDR Smith has been looking at a specific element Iodine 131. He was quick to point out that the levels at which he studied I131 were well below the levels that would cause any harm to surrounding populations. CDR Smith has been tracing I131 because it has comparable qualities (radioactive half-life) to other more harmful substances. This means that CDR Smith can more accurately model what would happen if one of the more harmful materials (heavy metals, pesticides, certain nutrients etc.) were to be released into the Bay's Watershed.

Among the many insights that Smith has gained through his work is the fact that environmental factors have a huge impact on the movement of these potentially harmful materials. Wind speed, wind direction, temperature, and pH are just a few of the factors that can influence the spread of these materials. In order to form a more complete model CDR Smith and CES Associate Director Doug Levin are working together to monitor every aspect of the Chester and the Severn. Among the many pieces of technology being used in this ambitious project are buoys that constantly collect data, and autonomous kayaks that will be able to independently patrol the rivers. This project, when completed, will make these two rivers the best known rivers in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and potentially the entire United States.

Chesapeake Bay

Article written by Rachel Field, Program and Intern Coordinator for Washington College's Center for Environment & Society. 

Kent County booth at the annual MACo convention

Earlier this month, I traveled to Ocean City for the second time this summer, this time to represent Kent County's Office of Tourism and Economic Development at the annual Maryland Association of Counties (MACo) convention.  I was fortunate enough to be accompanied by Mrs. Cunningham, of connect.the.dots. fame, who's design eye gave zest to our booth (see pic below).

After setting up our booth on Wednesday afternoon, we were feted at a cocktail reception at Fagers Island restaurant that was hosted by Funk & Bolton law offices, a wonderful social gathering that allowed for lots of networking.  I then spent all day Thursday manning our booth, meeting vendors, talking with employees and representatives from other counties, and generally spreading the word about all the good works that have been going on recently in Kent County.  There was a steady flow of visitors through the exhibit hall for most of the day.  It still amazes me the number of "giveaways" that the exhibitors provide and the convention-goers gobble up...bags and bags of them.  Thursday evening found us at the Sunset Grille in West OC dining on mahi mahi, tuna, crab imperial, and countless other goodies, all thanks to our hosts from Standard Solar.

On Friday, Mrs C and I kept up the message spreading at our booth for the better part of the day, handing out brochures along with free note pads and lemon meringue-flavored salt water taffy.  It seemed there were more families visiting the exhibit hall during this session, probably in concert with family vacation time at the beach.  The day was shorter than the previous, but still we had decent attendance in the hall.  Commissioners stopped by, and we also had a chance to converse briefly with U.S. Senator Ben Cardin who admitted that he was aware of all the cool projects going on in the county.

Our thanks to Bernadette Van Pelt and Michelle Wood of the County's Office of Tourism and Economic Development for putting together all of the display materials for us to transport down to the convention.  Also, special thanks to the Town Creek Foundation for supporting our work to help Maryland's municipalities increase use of renewable energy systems, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and move toward a healthy and sustainable future for the Chesapeake Bay region.

Briggs Cunningham mans the Kent County booth at the 2012 Maryland Association of Counties convention in Ocean City in August.

Briggs Cunningham is Climate Action Coordinator at the Center for Environment & Society, and can be contacted here.

CES at the Maryland Municipal League's annual convention

Greetings from Ocean City, Maryland!

   I have just attended the annual convention of the Maryland Municipal League at the Convention Center here in Ocean City.  There were rain storms yesterday that felt like monsoons and left the streets with at least six inches of standing water.  Once inside the convention center, however, all was dry and comfortable.  There were many municipalities from around the state represented here, as well as a whole host of commercial enterprises all looking for ways to connect to the municipalities' purchasing managers.  You can't believe the amount of freebies; folks were walking about with large, reusable bags filled with stuff.
   I was attending the annual convention as a representative of Chestertown's Green Team, giving out lots of information about the efforts made by Chestertown's government and citizens of the town to move toward a more sustainable future (see the newsletter below).  I was also handing out copies of a Community Greening Toolkit, which gives examples of the kinds of projects undertaken in Chestertown, and offers resources for other municipalities to begin their own green projects without having to reinvent the wheel, as it were.  Click on the link for more information.

   If you have any greening tips you would like posted to the Chestertown Goes Green web site, send me an email and I'll see what can be done.

Briggs Cunningham is the Climate Action Coordinator at the Center for Environment & Society, and can be contacted here.

CESs Briggs Cunningham in Chestertown Spy

Briggs Cunningham in Chestertown Spy

Briggs Cunningham of Washington College’s Center for the Environment and Society (CES) delivered a report on the Chestertown Government’s energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions for 2011 at this week’s Town Council meeting.

Climate Action Coordinator Briggs Cunningham in Kent County News

Support generated for 'aggregate' metering, Seen as a boon for alternative energy programs

By CRAIG O'DONNELL
codonnell@thekentcountynews.com
Published: Thursday, June 30, 2011 4:36 PM CDT
CHESTERTOWN — There could be an aggregate meter in your future.

To be precise, “aggregate” metering is when electrical use by some institution or group, no matter how many physical wires to separate electric meters there are, all goes into one big bucket for billing purposes.

At the moment that can’t be done in Maryland. Briggs Cunningham said last week that aggregate metering is important for solar power on farms, by businesses and by local governments, especially in rural areas.

Businesses and governments and other institutions with multiple locations have many meters. Some buildings use a lot of juice and some use a little.

Cunningham, Climate Action Coordinator at the Washington College Center for Environment & Society, said the current Maryland regulations limit how much solar electrical energy an installation can generate to, roughly, the amount used at a particular electric meter plus a little.

The Maryland Public Service Commission, which controls electric utilities, is taking comments on a decision it plans to make in the near future on whether to allow aggregate metering. The state’s net metering regulations allow generating power for on-site use and selling excess power back to the electric company. But as they stand, they force users to have a separate wind, solar or other alternative energy installation for each meter.

One piece of the puzzle is in place: Gov. Martin O’Malley signed a law in May 2011 which requires power companies to buy back excess power at the retail rate, not the wholesale rate.

With it, for example, one large group of solar panels at the Chestertown wastewater plant could be designed to generate enough power to offset the use by town hall, the water plant, and at the wastewater operation.

Without it, Chestertown would have to install and operate three or more separate systems.

One large set of solar panels somewhere in the county on school property could be designed to offset the electricity consumption of multiple school buildings.

Without it, the school board would have to fund solar panels for every individual school and office building.

It is not limited to solar. Any alternative source is eligible. A farmer could build and operate a system burning switchgrass, providing enough power for multiple buildings. Under the proposal, “One account would incorporate all meters, and any power generated onsite would be credited to the overall account,” Cunningham said.

Chestertown attorney Phil Hoon said he represents Dr. Henry Sears, who wants to install solar power for his agricultural operations. He said Tuesday the places where power is used, such as irrigation pivots, are widely scattered, and aggregate metering “makes or breaks the transaction.”

Hoon sent a letter favoring the policy to the Public Service Commission. “I’m in favor of it, both professionally and very much so personally,” he said Tuesday. “It’s what seems right for our society and culture and communities.”

The college is particularly interested in whether solar generation at 215 Washington Ave. can be designed to supply green power to more than just that one building, Cunningham said.

It allows small entities to achieve some economies of scale. A village, such as Kennedyville, could form a nonprofit coop. The residential meters for all members would be combined in one account. An array of solar panels at a suitable location would provide juice to households, instead of having solar panels set up, house by house.

Cunningham added, “The county is interested. They have facilities spread out all over the place. The schools are interested – their attorney is researching it for the board of ed.”

On the other side are the power companies. “They don’t want other people generating their own power,” said Cunningham. “One of their arguments is that they’re concerned about the stability of the power system, figuring out how much to generate” if there are many small providers of solar power.

Delaware’s PSC is also considering aggregate net metering rules.

The Interstate Renewable Energy Council notes the Delaware regulation includes: “If a customer has multiple meters under the same account or different accounts, regardless of the physical location and rate class, the customer may aggregate meters for the purpose of net metering regardless of which individual meter receives energy from a distributed generation facility, provided the system does not exceed 110% of the customer’s aggregate electrical consumption of the individual meters or accounts that the customer is entitled to aggregate.”

“As a resident of Kent County, I’ll say it would be a good thing,” Cunningham said.

According to college spokeswoman Kay Macintosh, the college has not offered its comments to the PSC and has taken no position yet.

The Public Service Commission is still taking public comments for and against aggregate net metering.

To see the PSC web page with comments which have already been submitted, type the words “Maryland PSC meter aggregation admin docket results” into Google.

Letters should reference “Admin Docket FM41” and should be addressed to Terry Romine, Maryland Public Service Commission, 6 St. Paul St. 16th Floor, Baltimore MD 21202.

Climate Action Coordinator Briggs Cunningham in the Kent County News

At their Tuesday evening meeting, Briggs Cunningham of the Center for Environment & Society delivered an audit of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions during the period July 2009 to June 2010.
He said Easton's Town Creek Foundation supported it. It follows reports done for Chestertown and Betterton.
He examined electricity use by county government and schools, county fuel use and estimated gas burned by commuting county employees.
The annual electric bill was $1,009,922, and $847,600 was spent on fuel for cars, trucks and heating. He estimated 239 employees used 42,987 gallons of gas going back and forth to work. The report's suggestions focused on conservation: a no-idling vehicle policy; buying only Energy Star products; turning off computers, lights and HVAC when leaving for the day; and a summer four-day work week to cut energy use for summertime cooling.
"How would you feel about a four-day week in the summer?" Rasin asked Planning Director Gail Owings. "I think people would be pretty happy with that," she said. As long as weekenders knew the office would be closed on Friday or Monday so they could plan accordingly, it would seem to be fine, she said.
Choptank Electric bills for the public works complex, community center and park; Worton's schools and wastewater plant sprayfield; Nicholson landfill; and "Galena transfer." Two Worton Park meters have not used electricity in years but Choptank has billed $948 and $228 each in minimum annual charges.
Rasin noted Choptank's rates seem to be much higher. Cunningham said they might be negotiable, or solar power could be installed to serve the parks, community center and schools. Any excess would be sold back to the supplier.
Craig O'Donnell, Kent County News. Used by permission.
June 16 2011

Anemometer Installed on WC Campus

Anemometer Placed on Kirby Stadium

Drew Frank '03 and Teris Pantazes '03 of Seven Seas Energy teamed up with Climate Action Coordinator Briggs Cunningham to install an anemometer atop Roy Kirby, Jr. Stadium. The device will measure and record wind speed to determine whether wind turbines are economically viable for Washington College and the surrounding community.