BALTIMORE – Industrial facilities dumped 1.36 million pounds of toxic chemicals into Maryland’s waterways, according to a new report released today by Environment Maryland. The report, Wasting Our Waterways: Industrial Toxic Pollution and the Unfulfilled Promise of the Clean Water Act also cites that 226 million pounds of toxic chemicals were discharged into 1,400 waterways across the country.
“Maryland’s waterways are a polluter’s paradise right now. Polluters dump 1.36 million pounds of toxic chemicals into Maryland’s lakes, rivers and streams every year,” said Ewa Krason, Field Organizer with Environment Maryland. “We must turn the tide of toxic pollution by restoring Clean Water Act protections to our waterways.”
The Environment Maryland report documents and analyzes the dangerous levels of pollutants discharged to America’s waters by compiling toxic chemical releases reported to the U.S. EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory for 2010, the most recent data available.
Major findings of the report include:
· Industrial facilities discharged approximately 922,688 pounds of chemicals linked to cancer into the Curtis Creek in Maryland.
· The Gunpowder-Patapsco Watershed is ranked 43rd in the nation for highest amount of total toxic discharges, with 1,339,183 pounds discharged in 2010. That is 98% of the toxic chemicals released into all of Maryland’s waterways in 2010.
Environment Maryland’s report summarizes discharges of cancer-causing chemicals, chemicals that persist in the environment, and chemicals with the potential to cause reproductive problems ranging from birth defects to reduced fertility. Among the toxic chemicals discharged by facilities are arsenic, mercury, and benzene. Exposure to these chemicals is linked to cancer, developmental disorders, and reproductive disorders.
“There are common-sense steps that we can take to turn the tide against toxic pollution of our waters,” added Krason.
In order to curb the toxic pollution threatening the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, Environment Maryland recommends the following:
1. Pollution Prevention: Industrial facilities should reduce their toxic discharges to waterways by switching from hazardous chemicals to safer alternatives.
2. Protect all waters: The Obama administration should finalize guidelines and conduct a rulemaking to clarify that the Clean Water Act applies to all of our waterways - including the 10,000 miles of streams in Maryland and 4 million Marylander’s drinking water for which jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act has been called into question as a result of two polluter-driven Supreme Court decisions in the last decade.
3. Tough permitting and enforcement: EPA and state agencies should issue permits with tough, numeric limits for each type of toxic pollution discharged, ratchet down those limits over time, and enforce those limits with credible penalties, not just warning letters.
“The bottom line is that Maryland’s waterways shouldn’t be a polluter’s paradise, they should just be paradise. We need clean water now, and we are counting on the federal government to act to protect our health and our environment,” concluded Krason.
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This article mentions using "common sense". If 98% of Maryland's water pollution comes from the Gunpowder-Patapsco Watershed, then concentrate on eliminating the pollution from the manufacturing facilities in that area. STOP going after the Eastern Shore homeowners who use septic systems and all of the farmers. Agriculture is still the number one income producing industry in the state of Maryland but the number of people agriculture employs on the front line of farming is only about 3% of the state's employment. So, Ag is an easy target. The environmentalists can attack the Ag industry and easily out vote them on any issue. The Ag industry is so easy to blame because it doesn't have enough voices to speak for it. Go to the real source of the pollution to clean up our waterways and bay.
ReplyDeleteYou mean to tell us the problem IS NOT chicken manure from the eastern shore farms? GASP!!!
ReplyDelete3:35 PM I agree with you they always are blaming the Poultry Growers ans our Farmers. I have been saying for 10 years big business in Baltimore contributes to pollution of our waterways.Why are they not held to the same standards as Poultry Growers and Farmers where is there nutrient management plans what the hell is MDE thinking when they say it is Poultry and Farmers. They are held to strict standards by the MDE.The blame is easy to put on those two groups maybe they need to put the blame where it lays.It is easier for them to target those two groups because they do not have as much money as the big businesses do.They can pay there way through the system the old saying still applies Money talks and Bull**** walks.
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