Take it elsewhere. I won’t allow you to hijack this thread with petty insults.

The Chesapeake Bay: Our Shame and Our Hope by Chad Logan and Donald Litten for Virginia Business August 22, 2007 -
http://www.gatewayva.com/biz/virginiabusiness/ideas/misc/20070822_bay.shtml
- Donald Litten is of Litten & Sipe in Harrisonburg, VA.

The story gives a good background on issues (source, legal, costs) with the Chesapeake Bay and nutrient reduction needs. Here are some quotes that caught my attention:

“While some attempts at stemming this non-point source pollution have been made, success has been severely limited by a lack of funding and political unwillingness to regulate agricultural runoff. Instead, many lawmakers have opted to implement incentive programs to reduce water pollution, but these are habitually under-funded and under-staffed.”

“Additionally, sprawl around the urban centers in the Chesapeake Bay has further fueled nutrient runoff. Often, sprawl takes place on virgin land, clearing acres of trees and farmland in favor of housing developments. Even though farms are sources of nutrient pollution, increasingly housing developments are becoming even greater sources of runoff and nutrient pollution.”

“And so the cause of the problem is evident. As the beloved Pogo once remarked “we have met the enemy and he is us”.”

“As seen in figure 2 below, while water treatment facility upgrades have great potential for reducing nitrogen loads, they are the most expensive reductions to achieve per pound. Why then, did the state choose to promote this reduction above the others suggested in the report?…”

[The story goes on to explain why.]

Although I have heard from different people that they were surprised that the canidates knew as much as they did about water issues, I’ve heard from others that felt that the canidates didn’t know enough. I wasn’t able to attend the forum, although I was planning to, because I was at Council waiting to hear about the fate of the trees in front of Court Square Theater, Downtown Wine, and Cally’s.

By the way, Council will decide the ultimate fate of the trees at this coming Tuesday’s meeting on October 23. Whatever your opinions on the trees are, you should contact the Councilmembers and let them know how you feel. (I’ll be honest here and say that I hope the trees stay – for economic, business, neighborhood, community, stormwater management, energy savings, to cover the non-architectually noteworthy building, and provide shade to people who come downtown for events in the hot summers – however, I have my doubts that they’ll be there for much longer.)

It is a basic fairness issue, and Merck saying that they slept through the public review process that established their share of the waste load is a weak moan. I guess Merck really doesn’t care about the Shenandoah River, or the Chesapeake Bay.

I would encourage Mercks Barbara Wunder to explain Merck’s poor showing on this important issue concerning the health of the Shen.