1999 promises to be a very active and successful year for the Conservation Committee. We have targeted three areas that we feel need our focus in the coming year. First, are the state legislative campaigns that the committee has selected. Second, are the forums and workshops that have been planned or are in the planning process. And third, is the active networking with other Sierra Club Chapters and other organizations working on similar issues. The overall goal for the coming year is to involve more of our members in the Conservation Committee. We are spread pretty thin and our resources are limited, so not only is this an update, but an appeal for help as well.

The Maryland Chapter will be working on several bills that will have enormous influence on our daily lives. First is a "Smart Transportation" Policy. We are working on a strategy that we are confident will relieve highway gridlock, influence how we spend our transportation funds, change the way we look at mass transit, and offer "smart" solutions to how we get from one place to another. In the past, the state has passed a gas tax; (1) to raise revenue and (2) to raise the price of gas in the hopes of getting people to think before driving their car.

These taxes have never worked. As you have probably noticed, even with the higher taxes, the price of gasoline keeps coming down. If another gas tax is offered we will oppose it unless it goes to fund non-highway alternatives.

We will not support any new highways. We are taking a stand to protect wetlands, forests, undeveloped land, and other ecologically sensitive areas. We will not support any new extensions or connector routes. On transportation funding, we want less funding for highways, more funding for mass transit and more funding for hiker-biker routes that connect communities together similar to the Crescent Trail. We also would like to see these trails made with crushed stone that will pack and allow rain to percolate. And, we would like to work on something which would tax Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT).

Second, the Chapter has selected Confined Animal Feedlot Operations (CAFO's) as an extremely important issue. We are all familiar with the Perdue and Tyson chicken operations on the Eastern Shore. Legislation was enacted to restrict the nutrient run off associated with these factories. But, that legislation doesn't kick in until 2002. What was not enacted was legislation that would restrict hog factories. More importantly, these operations are, for the most part, operating without a permit. And, the crux of the issue is that there are no effective regulations in place that establish a means of dealing with all of the manure.

If we took all of the chicken litter produced in one year just from the operations on the Delmarva peninsula and loaded it into boxcars, it would fill 11,560 boxcars and would stretch from Philadelphia to Washington. The fact is that these animal factories are producing an enormous amount of waste, faster then can be used as fertilizer, faster then can be shipped out to other locations in need of fertilizer, and faster then agencies can effectively deal with them.

Besides manure there are other issues associated with CAFO's. There is the health of the growers who are in constant contact with steroids and antibiotics. There is the economic injustice of companies such as Perdue showing millions of dollars in profits while the grower averages $16,000 a year.

Despite the recent agreement reached between EPA and the producers, we feel strongly that voluntary compliance won't work. And, a maximum fine of $40,000 is a sham. We want the producer to pay the full fine under the Clean Water Act. In addition, We don't want to see the producer pass the fine off on the growers and ultimately back to the consumer. It's not fair, it won't work, and we won't accept it. The producer pays!

There are over 20,000 permit applications waiting to be processed. That is only a fraction of what is needed. The Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Agriculture estimate that only about 10% of the CAFO's currently have National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits. They freely admit that there is a serious problem.

We feel that the moment is right to ask for a "time out". Let the EPA write meaningful and enforceable regulations and catch up on the permit applications before any new permit applications are accepted. It won't hurt Big Chicken at all. With the collapse of many of the foreign markets the demand for chicken and pork overseas has fallen off dramatically.

Third, there are several possible pieces of legislation that are being watched closely. Among them is the Utilities Deregulation Bill. On the surface, it should work for the benefit of the consumer. Studies have indicated that deregulation is not all that it is cracked up to be. Moreover, we should be more concerned with the utility companies "cleaning" up their emissions. Neither BG&E nor PEPCO will be able to meet their reduction of NOX emissions by 2002. We will have to watch and see how this one plays out.

1999 also will be the year of the workshop. We have three areas that we will be concentrating on throughout the year. The first is "Water Quality" which will cover Storm water Management, Wetlands, Water Source Protection, Stream Water Quality, and a return to "Maryland's Forgotten Bays". It's a lot to cover, but we will try and do one every month. The second is "Air Quality" which will focus on stack emissions and tailpipe emissions as well as the regulatory process. And the third is "Smart Transportation" which will focus on alternatives and solutions.

The purpose of these workshops is to bring our members up to speed on where we are today with respect to these issues and where we want to go. My feeling is that many of our members are reluctant to work on a committee simply because they feel they don't know enough about the issue.

My goal is to remove trepidation and lack of information as an excuse. Watch for announcements of workshops in the next issue of the Chesapeake or contact me if you want to get involved right now.

The last area where we felt we needed to focus was networking with other organizations. Certainly, we work with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Audubon Naturalist Society and others every year in the General Assembly.

This year, Chris Bedford struck up an amazing relationship with the Chicken Growers Association (the good guys) and the local churches on the Eastern Shore. It is relationships like this that build communities and foster working partnerships that are of more value to environmental sustainability then many of the laws and regulations in effect today.

The "Restore the Core" campaign that is an ongoing strategy has the potential of linking the environmental community with the inner cities and more of the local churches. And, finally, the CAFO's issue has brought many of the Sierra Club chapters together to take this campaign to a regional level. When you think about it, no matter what we do in Maryland, the Chesapeake Bay is still downhill from every state around us. This coming year we are going to ask you, not only for your money, but for you to become directly connected with what you value most; a safe and healthy environment.