[CPEO-MEF] Military bases and Maryland's "flush tax"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Sewage spills at bases fuel debate over 'flush tax'

Military has refused to pay Md. levy aimed at bay cleanup

By Tom Pelton
Baltimore Sun 
April 10, 2005

Three military bases in Maryland have together spilled nearly 20 million
gallons of sewage into Chesapeake Bay tributaries over the past decade,
raising further questions about the military's refusal to pay the
state's "flush tax," aimed at cleaning up the bay.

An often overwhelmed World War II-era waste treatment plant at the
Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harford County has flushed 5.4 million
gallons of partly treated sewage into the Bush River over the past two
years, according to state records.

The Naval Surface Warfare Center in Charles County has received two
federal violation notices in the past six years, one for washing coal
ash from a power plant into the Potomac River and another for spilling
more than 14 million gallons of sewage, records show.

And Fort Meade in Anne Arundel County has spilled more than 200,000
gallons of raw sewage over the past four years into the Little Patuxent
River and nearby waterways, records show.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-te.md.sewage10apr10,1,3390752.story


See also the follow up article and editorial:



Military urged to pay state 'flush tax'

Lawmakers say pollution from bases obliges U.S. to help fund bay cleanup

By Tom Pelton
Baltimore Sun 
April 12, 2005

Three Maryland congressmen called on the military yesterday to end its
opposition to paying the state's "flush tax" to help clean up the
Chesapeake Bay. 

"Not only should they contribute to the flush fee, but they should
contribute in a big way to bay restoration," said Rep. Wayne T.
Gilchrest, a Republican from the Eastern Shore. 

He was responding to an article in The Sun that documented 48 major
spills totaling almost 20 million gallons of sewage into Chesapeake Bay
tributaries over the past decade from the Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground
in Harford County, the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Charles County
and Fort Meade in Anne Arundel County. 

"The article was an eye-opener. I didn't realize they had so many
spills," Gilchrest said. He called for a public hearing to be held in
Annapolis, at which directors of military bases in Maryland could
explain to the congressional delegation and state legislators the source
of their pollution and what they're doing to stop the spills. 

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-md.pollute12apr12,1,2265179.story



A taxing solution

UNCLE SAM should be ashamed of himself. 

Baltimore Sun Opinion
April 12, 2005

The citizens of Maryland, hoping to speed cleanup of the quickly
deteriorating Chesapeake Bay, agreed last year through their
representatives in Annapolis to pay a special fee for the purpose: a
monthly surcharge on water and sewer bills known informally as the
"flush tax." 

Yet the initiative is undermined because federal agencies, which operate
some of the biggest polluters in the bay watershed, are balking at
paying their share. 

President Bush should take the advice of Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest and
order the Navy, NASA and other deadbeat agencies to pay up before they
deal what the Eastern Shore congressman called a "highly detrimental
blow to the cooperative spirit of the user-fee initiative." 

After all, three military bases in Maryland have spilled a combined 20
million gallons of raw sewage into the bay tributaries over the past
decade, according to The Sun's Tom Pelton. 

...

For the entire editorial, see
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bal-ed.spills12apr12,1,4994702.story

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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