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March/April 201 2
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The Port of Baltimore
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17
]
Wind Power
Whips Through
Review
A
major step has been taken toward
developing wind energy on the Outer
Continental Shelf off the coasts of
Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey and Delaware.
Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, U.S.
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and
Interior’s Director of the Bureau of Ocean
Energy Management (BOEM) Tommy P.
Beaudreau announced Feb. 2 at a press con-
ference in Baltimore that the Department
of the Interior’s renewable energy initiative,
which includes offshore wind power, had
cleared an important environmental review.
BOEM’s National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) assessment found that there would
be no significant environmental and socio-
economic impacts from issuing wind energy
leases in designated Outer Continental Shelf
(OCS) areas off the mid-Atlantic Coast.
In February, BOEM also published “Calls
for Information and Nominations for Maryland
Improving
Air Quality
T
he Maryland Port Administration (MPA) has provided
funding support for the Mid-Atlantic Dray Truck
Replacement Program, which helps short-haul dray
truck owners and operators working at the Port of Baltimore
replace older models with newer, cleaner-running trucks.
Funded by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), the program is administered by the Mid-
Atlantic Regional Air Management Association (MARAMA)
and the University of Maryland Environmental Finance Center.
The program provides $20,000 per vehicle as an incentive.
The applications are judged on a set of criteria, including
the age of the truck and the number of trips it takes to and
from the Port. The vehicles that are being replaced must be
scrapped so that they will not remain in service elsewhere,
and they must be replaced with trucks whose engines are no
older than 2007 models.
“The Port Administration is committed to the continuous
improvement of air emissions at the Port of Baltimore,
and the Dray Truck Replacement Program is an important
continuation of our Clean Diesel Program of the last few
years,” said MPA Deputy Executive Director M. Kathleen
Broadwater. Interested trucking companies can find more
information at
2011 Environmental
HONORS
L
ast year, the Maryland Port Administration (MPA) chalked up
many successes related to its greening efforts at the Port of
Baltimore.
The MPA won an Environmental Achievement Award from
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for several of
its environmental initiatives, including its Dredged Material
Management Program, which reuses dredged material in
innovative ways such as wetland restoration and island
re-creation; the Clean Diesel Program, which installs cleaner-
running engines in port equipment such as locomotives and
harbor craft; and the Schoolyard Greening Program, which
replaces pavement at schools with grass and trees.
Community
Cleanup
Near Port
A
cleanup day was scheduled by the Baltimore Port
Alliance Environmental Committee, in partnership with
the nonprofit Turner Station Conservation Teams, on a
tract of land along a tidal inlet between the new Sollers Point
community center and the entrance to the Turners Station Park.
The community would like to see the area, which is near
Dundalk, re-landscaped, with a fitness path for walkers.
The cleanup was scheduled for April 21.
established for terminals, there
is a list of best management
practices approved by the
Maryland Department of
the Environment and the
Environmental Protection
Agency, and that list is what
we’ll use to improve the
terminals,” Richardson said.
The MPA’s marine
terminals total some 4,000
acres, about 90 percent
of which are covered with
impervious surfaces. But the
pollution load at the terminals
is less than half of one percent
of the bay’s total TMDL load.
“We are a minor role, but
we take our part seriously,”
McMahon said.
Richardson added, “We
abut the water and we have
an obligation to be a good
steward of the Chesapeake
Bay.”
Gov. Martin O’Malley, left, was joined by
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar during
February’s wind-energy press conference.
BILL MCALLEN
and Virginia” to solicit lease nominations from
industry and request public comments regard-
ing site conditions, resources and multiple uses
of the Wind Energy Areas. These leases would
allow for the construction of giant windmills in
the water.