The 10% blamed aren't at fault for this pic

Technology is a wonderful thing. 

Of course, we all hear how horrible it is.  Techonology watches our every move ready to catch us doing something wrong.  But that same technology catches the "powers that be" when they are lying.

There are reams of "research" claiming the 10% of Maryland's population on the Eastern Shore is the source of pollution killing The Bay.  Surprisingly, a home on a one-acre lot produces more pollution runoff to The Bay than a 300-acre farm produces, but that fact matters none when pointing fingers of blame.

Maryland (or should we say, western shore of Maryland) has, once again, proposed new regulations to "save the Bay", and the hardest hit victims of the latest "save the Bay" effort is the family farmer.  Just as past regulations has all but killed the independent watermen, this latest legislation is aimed to kill the independent farmer.

So where is the pollution really coming from?  Again, technology is a wonderful thing and the satellite image doesn't lie.  The runoff to the Bay from a March 2011 storm clearly shows where the problems are - the western shore, Virginia, and Pensylvania. 

The first argument will be "But phosphate pollution doesn't show up on satellite images."

No, it doesn't.  But if you can see the sediment runoff, a major killer of Bay grasses that leads to disappearing fish and crabs, it's not hard to vizualize the amount of phosphates from chemicaly treated lawns and gardens included in the runoff.  The Eastern Shore shows "clean" water, that is, no sediment runoff, which would lead one to believe that runoff from the fields, poultry farms, and pig farms is being filtered through the soil and forested buffer zones as prescribed.

It's time to stop pointing fingers at the watermen and farmers of the Eastern Shore as the cause of the death of the Bay and time to start pointing fingers at the western shore, the ninety percent of Maryland.  Clean up this satellite image and then get back to us ten-percenters on the Eastern Shore to do more to clean up The Bay after you got your house in order.






Posted by Five Drunk Rednecks

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