Following a sewage crisis in Southern Maryland, Environment Secretary Ben Grumbles was quizzed by legislators.
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Following a sewage crisis in Southern Maryland and concerns about the state’s drinking water system, Environment Secretary Ben Grumbles was quizzed by legislators.
Grumbles explained to the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee that our work always recognizes and supports the importance of proactive regulation and enforcement. We have been keeping track over the years of penalties and referrals. This is an area that we need to continue to improve.
Brian Frosh, State Attorney General (D), presented the committee with a report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It revealed that MDEs water supplies program, which oversees the state’s drinking waters systems, was understaffed. Frosh said that the report showed that MDE requires 187% more employees and 93% less funding to ensure safe drinking waters for the public.
Frosh stated that MDEs drinking water program has nearly 40% vacant positions. However, there are 71 full-time jobs available. Frosh said that there were 62 full time employees in 2011, but this number has declined to 44 employees since 2011 when 350 additional public water systems were added.
The Maryland inspector has four-times more drinking water licensees than the average inspector from other states. This includes visiting water treatment plants and examining water quality results. Frosh stated. According to the EPA, MDEs should have 126 full-time employees and $15.7million more each year.
This is the most important function the State Department of the Environment fulfills. Frosh stated that at least five-and-half million people depend on clean drinking waters for their health.
Sen. Clarence Lam (D-Howard), described MDEs poor oversight in the states drinking water supply as a public embarrassment. He stated that MDE is a public-health agency just like EPA.
Grumbles cited workforce shortages and early retirements during the coronavirus epidemic. Grumbles stated that MDE has filled 68 of the 102 inspector positions they had set out to fill. Jay Apperson, MDE spokesperson, said that 12 new staff members have been hired since July 2021 and that one employee has been transferred to the program.
An environmental watchdog group was established in October.The majority of poultry farms failed to pass their state inspections, but they were rarely penalized.According to the report, MDE only imposed fines on eight of 78 facilities that had repeatedly violated regulations and collected fines from four poultry farms.
Apperson reports that there are only three inspectors who inspect concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Maryland has 553 approved animal feeding operations.
Eric Schaeffer, executive Director of the Environmental Integrity Project, stated that none of this would be relevant if the waters of the Eastern Shore were clean. Schaeffer stated that the levels of phosphorus and nitrogen in Eastern Shore rivers has been well above the benchmarks for clean water since 2003.
He said that if these programs were functioning as intended, we should start to see it in the monitoring results. But we aren’t. He highlighted a loophole that poultry farmers have in their regulations, which allows them to ship poultry litter off of their property to be spread to other farmers without disclosing the amount.
Grumbles stated that most violations by poultry farmers were due to paperwork. Grumbles stated that he is determined to ensure that MDE does at least 50% more inspections of poultry farms, or 250 inspections total, this year. He also said that MDE will use remote video inspections to supplement the on-site inspections. Apperson reports that MDE will also hire additional inspectors to inspect concentrated animal feeding operations.
Sen. Cheryl Kagan (D.Montgomery), said that video inspections can be a bit frightening because it is easy for people to pretend compliance. Grumbles stated that video inspections won’t replace on-site inspections, but will only enhance them.
Two dozen people were sickened by a sewage leak in St. Marys County last fall. MDE took two months to issue an emergency order banning shellfish harvesting in St. George Creek.
Sen. Paul Pinsky (D. Prince Georges) asked Grumbles about why MDE didn’t act faster after the local health department notified department of the sewage leak near oyster harvesting areas. Grumbles replied, “I accept responsibility for a failure in communication.”
Grumbles stated that MDEs inspectors were aware about the sewage spillage, but they didn’t properly communicate this to people working in the Shellfish Sanitation Program. It can cause illness or make an industry look bad. Grumbles said that it was a painful lesson that we learned and that we will make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Pinsky replied, “Thank you for taking responsibility for this problem. This is probably the first time that I’ve heard of someone handling it responsibly.”
A Dorchester County plant that disintegrates chicken carcasses for pet foods was shut down last month after MDE inspections revealed a number of pollution violations. These included the release of untreated waste and sludge in a stream. The discharge permit for the plant had expired in 2006. This raises questions about whether other plants in the state may have zombie permits.
Grumbles stated that there is a backlog of zombie permits in the state and that they have a plan to clear it. Pinsky also asked Grumbles whether he had contacted Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (Republican) asked Grumbles if he had reached out to Gov. to request more funding to hire additional inspectors to reduce backlog. Grumbles replied that he had to check with his staff. Pinsky requested a copy MDEs request if it was available.
Grumbles stated that one his priorities is to addressBaltimore has two wastewater treatment plantsBlue Water Baltimore initially discovered that the Bay was being flooded with millions of gallons partially untreated sewage.
However, Sen. Mary Washington (D. Baltimore City) forced Grumbles to talk about other permits that MDE plans on looking into, outside the city.
To continue to plan Baltimore City, or just one or two [violations]Washington stated that there are hundreds upon hundreds of cases that affect all Marylanders.
