BGE and Your Trees

It was the perfect day today - low humidity, soft sun, warm enough to soothe your muscles but cool enough to keep you outside. The birds seemed particularly cheery, or at least chirpy, today. I even managed to do a little weeding, though in my haste I interrupted two ladybugs in the midst of their intimacy. They scrambled (well, she did, he meanwhile hitchhiked, grasping her carapace for dear life) to the underside of a blade of grass to continue their tryst in greater discretion.

A wee bit later, the doorbell rang and a friendly BGE tree guy stood there, innocently enough.

"Hi. I am ... Do you have a moment to step outside and walk your yard with me. I'd like to talk to you about the trees I want to take out."

So here was this perfect day, suddenly becoming very dark. I know what these gentle BGE guys are about, and know they must be trained in the best tactics of anger-deflection and confrontation-avoidance. 

So I was somewhat prepared to go with him where I didn't want to go. Indeed, I was with him for about the first 25 words of his "Hi" speech, steeled against the reality of radical trimming that needed to be done to assuage the Maryland Public Services Commission and the public against BGE's horrific response to our too frequent and too long outages.

It is the trees' fault, we are told. Too many are too weak and too close to the wires. The solution to sketchy service: trim 'em back. Only, what my friendly neighborhood BGE tree guy was telling me (Baltimore Orchard Project me; tree planting me) was that trimming would not suffice in my case. He needed to take the trees down! Splice, dice and chew them up.

When I got over feeling like I had been punched in the stomach, I slipped on my shoes and strode the front perimeter of my yard with him.  Nine white pines and one locust needed to go, he said. Not stable. Most of the pines are over 100 feet high and top heavy (from years of BGE trimming).

Now, let's assume for a moment that I did not buy my house in part because I loved the trees; or that cutting four trees down wouldn't leave a broad, bare swath at the base of my driveway just a stone's toss away from the stream that runs on the other side of my neighbor's yard with nothing holding the soil in place. Let's even assume that most of these pines are on their last legs and would be coming down on their own willy-nilly at some inopportune time in some inconvenient way.

I had two questions for my friendly BGE guy:

1) Will they be replacing the trees?
2) And where? My property or elsewhere?

A bit of background before I offer up the answer. Baltimore County - like every other county in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed area - is under EPA mandate to come up with ways to reduce pollution (from sediment, nitrogen and phosphorous) in stormwater runoff. One major way of achieving this reduction is increasing the number and robustness of our trees.

So, on the one hand, we are going to be spending millions of dollars in our county over the next five plus years wrestling this water pollution dragon to the ground, in part hoping to utilize the presence and planting of trees to capture, hold and filter the water.

Now, along comes BGE, with the support and indeed the mandate of the state's PSC, in the midst of a rampage of not only pruning but taking down (taking out, in the words of my visitor) whole, mature trees with root systems that run deep and sure.

So, I asked, are you replacing the trees? And the answer, incredibly enough, was, "No."

"How many trees are you taking down county wide?" I ask.

"Don't know," was the answer.

"Is there somewhere on the web I can read more about this project?" (Perhaps a fuller picture would emerge through the communications office. After all, this guy is an arborist, not a policy-maker.)

"Sure, the program is called CBCERT. You can look it up."

So, I did. 'Taint there. If it is, I haven't been able to find it. There is some mention of the PSC, but the scope and reach and impact of this tree removal program is not there.

Has anyone done an environmental impact analysis of this grand scale tree removal, I am wondering. You would think that would be important.

But just as BGE didn't come around to sink their wires into the ground when FIOS came around to bury theirs ("Why not," I asked? "If the reason we have to cut the trees is because our electric wires are above ground and if they are above ground because of the expense in burying them - which is what I was told, then why, when someone else is coming around to bury thousands of miles of wires in the ground, why don't you piggy back on that?" Answer: the world just doesn't work that way.), so the PSC and, evidently our own  Dept of Environmental Protection and Sustainability have either not taken this on or have not been successful in winning a commitment of funds or action that would guarantee the replacement of every tree that is being removed.

If you are still reading this, you are indeed a dear friend.

So here is what we have to do:

1) If the BGE guys come around to chop down your trees, ask them for a voucher to help you go out and buy a replacement tree. Then go out and buy one! Only this time make sure it is a wire-friendly variety (ie, low enough to live under the wires, even if it needs to be constantly trimmed) or don't plant it near the wires.

2) Contact Vince Gardina, Director of the Dept of Environmental Protection and Sustainability, and your council members to talk to them about what efforts are being made to assure that every single tree that is taken down will be replaced somewhere appropriate in the county.  We cannot afford to lose so many trees for all sorts of reasons, not least being our stormwater management mandate.

Let me know how it goes!

You Should Know...

Friends, I received this alert from our District 11 representatives concerning an expansion of a local gas pipeline through our neighborhoods and protected land. The Falls River Community Association has more information on their cite; and they are working on organizing local community opposition.

Check out their link as well.


May 4, 2012

Urgent Alert - Columbia Gas Proposing Construction of Major Gas Pipeline Through Owings Mills, Greenspring Valley, Falls Road Corridor, and Northern Baltimore County

Pipeline Threatens Environment, Wildlife, and Individual Homes Across Area


From Senator Bobby Zirkin, Delegates Jon Cardin, Dan Morhaim & Dana Stein



Dear Friend,

We are writing to alert you to a proposal by Columbia Gas to construct a major natural gas pipeline through many parts of our District.  The route being proposed by this Corporation may have serious impact on many of our homes, communities, and natural environments in the 11th District.  We are writing to you with serious concerns and urge you to educate yourself about this project.

A number of constituents and community organizations have raised questions about the impact of this project.  We are working to insure that everyone is as fully informed as possible and that citizens know where to raise those concerns.

The proposed pipeline by Columbia Gas would involve digging ditches across a 21 mile path, impacting over 300 acres, following a path of their current line which was built many decades ago.  Columbia is not required to follow this path.  Construction of this magnitude would impact natural environments in its path, necessitate clearing of trees and vegetation, cross streams and wetlands, and impact wildlife.  Although lobbyists from Columbia Gas assure that they will mitigate damage, we are not convinced of this.  Environmental impacts could be severe and long-term.

Further, the project will have a serious impact on property rights and individual homes.  If approved, Columbia can add an additional 25 foot easement on properties.  This means that Columbia would essentially take for their own an additional 25 feet of someone's property.  Citizens will be forced to deal with many months of heavy construction throughout our area.  Homes may be forced to deal with the loss of forest and the natural environment.  If the project is approved by FERC, citizens could be forced to remove structures such as playgrounds and decks.  Citizens may face the choice of being paid money for the removal of such structures or eminent domain.

We are not at all persuaded that this project is necessary.  Even assuming that a line is necessary, we believe that any line should be built with minimal impact on the environment and the community.  In addition, we believe that to date, the process followed by Columbia Gas has, at best, met a minimal standard of transparency.
   
Please take the time to educate yourself and your community on this issue.  Whether you are personally affected or not by the specific route, we all share in the tremendous value of our beautiful environment and community and we should be united in this effort.
   
Columbia Gas must make application through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the national agency that regulates interstate energy matters.  We are working hard to understand how state and local governments, community organizations, and citizens can impact those decisions.
   
It is important to send written comments to FERC.  They may be sent to:  The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Attn: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, 888 First St. NE, Room 1A, Washington, D.C. 20426.  You can also comment on line at www.FERC.gov and follow the link to "Documents and Filings."  There is an "eFiling" link that may be followed.  In any comment, reference Docket Number PF12-6.  This is critical as comments must be filed by May 16 in order to be taken into account in the "pre-filing period."
   
There are two meetings scheduled on this issue where you may offer testimony as well as learn details.  The first is May 8 at 7:00 pm at Oregon Ridge Lodge, 13401 Beaver Dam Road, Cockeysville, MD 21030.  The second is May 9 at 7:00 pm at Youth's Benefit Elementary School Cafeteria in Fallston.
   
Because FERC is a federal agency, we recommend contacting your federal officials.  Please contact Congressman John Sarbanes (202-225-4016), Dutch Ruppersberger (202-225-3061), Elijah Cummings (202-225-4741), or Andy Harris (202-225-5311), depending on where you live.  And also contact U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (202-224-4524) and Barbara Mikulski (202-224-4654).
   
Columbia Gas fully intends on moving forward with this major new gas pipeline in our community if FERC allows them to do so.  Note that this is for gas transmission only and it will not provide any benefit to our community in any way.  Your utility bills will not go down as a result of this project at all.  Constructing the line in the heart of our area will have serious impact from Owings Mills to Greenspring Valley to the Falls Road Corridor to Cockeysville to Northern Baltimore County to Fallston.
   
As this is a federal interstate project, it is unclear what impact our efforts will have.  But we believe it is critical to try to influence this process before FERC grants approval and it is too late.


Sincerely,

Senator Bobby Zirkin
Delegate Jon Cardin
Delegate Dan Morhaim
Delegate Dana Stein

Cleaning House

What better way to cleanse your house and your spirit than by getting rid of old things - and doing it the right way!

BJEN held the Jewish community's first electronic recycling event three years ago. Since then, we have helped safely recycled literally tons - mounds and mountains! - of materials that have since become part of our culture's technological recycling stream (parallel to nature's recycling stream).

We are very proud that now, several congregations are sponsoring their own community recycling events.

This Sunday, check out Beth El's electronic recycling (E-cycling) and document shredding event.

Shredder Truck & Ecycle
Sunday, May 6
Back Parking Lot at Beth El Congregation
9:00 a.m. - 12 noon

$10 processing donation is requested.

Shabbat shalom!

I forgot to tell you: we had a six-foot long black snake in our kitchen the other day. Actually, it was on tax day (which seemed appropriate, some long dark arm of government reaching into our private domain).

Evidently, the snake snuck in while the door was open during a lengthy delivery of windows.

It was immediately clear that the snake, once it got its bearings, wanted no more to do with me than I wanted to do with him. So he slithered beneath the overhang of our cabinets and proceeded to slink under our sofa in the sitting room. And stayed there 'til the nice man from critter cop came with a grabber, gloves and a bag and snatched the snake, ever-so-gently, bagged it and took it out to release it.

My friend, Charlie, has since told me that the (1) the snake was not dangerous and that (2) the state is interested in such stories. Preferably with pictures.

The Natural History Society of Maryland and the MD Department of Natural Resources are jointly conducting a five-year reptile population project called MARA: The Maryland Amphibian and Reptile Atlas.

"The goal of the MARA project is to document the current distributions of Maryland’s amphibian and reptile species using a systematic and repeatable approach.... The information gained through your volunteer effort will be used to promote the conservation and protection of Maryland’s 90+ species of frogs, toads, salamanders, turtles, lizards, and snakes. Understanding the current distribution patterns of amphibians and reptiles within the state is needed to create effective conservation strategies."

So, if you bump into a snake while out walking, mowing, or hanging your laundry out to dry (just thought I'd mention this now that summer is coming), please take a photo of it and send it along to MARA at atlas@marylandnature.org.



They can even tell you what kind of snake you saw. 


Happy hunting.

Getting from Here to There

Quote of the week:

"We are a Star Wars civilization [with] Stone Age emotions, … medieval institutions… and god-like technology. And this god-like technology is dragging us forward in ways that are totally unpredictable." E. O. Wilson in an interview with Grist.org. 

Not a bad assessment. We know our emotions and our structures lag far behind our curiosity, imagination and scientific discoveries. 

The question is how do we - and the world - stay safe while we build the future of our dreams?

My sense: stay with the basics - 

* care for each other - remembering the legacy of the past, honoring those here today and protecting those to come tomorrow; 

* pause a moment to think things through; then talk about it with those who might agree AND those who might not agree; 

* be passionate but not impatient

* speak out boldly and often when necessary  (E.O. Wilson also asked in that interview why the youth of today weren't on the streets protesting to protect the world that their leaders and parents are consuming before their eyes? Environmentalism was a cause of social protests in the '70's. Why not now?

Add your own wisdom and spread the word.