Assateague Coastal Trust

Assateague Coastal Trust

JUDGE DENIES PERDUE’S MOTION TO DISMISS CLEAN WATER ACT CASE
Husdson Farm pollution site

Husdson Farm pollution site

Court Sides With Environmentalists In Ongoing Effort To Clean Up The Chesapeake

July 20, 2010 - A federal court today denied a motion by poultry giant Perdue to dismiss a case brought against it for polluting the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The claims against the Maryland-headquartered company, which are based on the Clean Water Act, were brought by a local environmental organization, the Assateague

, and

Alliance, an international coalition of grassroots water activists. In the fall of 2009, Coastkeeper and Waterkeeper staff discovered alarming amounts of several pollutants, including e. coli and fecal coliform, pouring from a Perdue-contract factory farm on the Eastern Shore of Maryland into local waterways that fed into the Pocomoke River and, ultimately, the highly polluted Chesapeake Bay. The charges against Perdue’s factory farm were filed in January 2010. The Court’s decision means that the case will continue to its next phase of litigation.

IT’S TIME TO HAVE FUN AT JOLLY ROGER AND CLEAN UP OUR BAYS TOO!

July 7, 2010 - Join us for 'Benefit the Bays" discount day at Jolly Roger Amusement Park (30th Street Location) -- where you can play all day and help save the Coastal Bays! Buy your "All Day Pass" wristbands today -- and on Sunday, August 15th enjoy half-price entry to Jolly Roger's Splash Mountain water park, mini golf course, and amusement rides! (Sorry - Speedworld is not included in this fantastic deal.)

This year ACT is pleased to have WMDT Channel 47, The CW3, OC Wasabi and The Green Room Beer & Wine shop helping us sponsor this event. Click here for "All Day Pass" wristband prices and locations to buy them!

Splash Mountain Water Park 10:00am - 6:00pm

Amusement Rides 2:00pm - 6:00pm

Miniature Golf 10:00am - 6:00pm

<<< See our commercial being aired on WMDT Channel 47!

KEEPER OF THE COAST
Photo by: David Harp

Photo by: David Harp

July 14, 2010 - "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

This Margaret Mead quote can sum up a lot of what is happening in advocacy groups across the nation and across the world. First, there are small groups of people with a mindset to change things. Eventually, those small groups start up in other places, and eventually those many small groups can make some big changes.

Kathy Phillips knows that all too well. Anywhere in the world that Phillips goes, she can meet a friend. Phillips is part of a global network of

s who are protecting the waters of the world for the rest of us.

Phillips is executive director of the Assateague Coastal Trust and also the

. Within the Chesapeake region, there are 15 "RIVERKEEPER" programs, and because the coastal bays are the object of Phillips’ protection, she is called the COASTKEEPER. The waters she is responsible for are the inland bays just behind Ocean City, MD., and Assateague Island. This spring she was set to start her Swimmable Bays project and will test water quality samples in the northern coastal bays. She will work with the lab at Salisbury University to analyze bacteria and will post her findings online for the public.

"Ocean City and Assateague monitor the swimming beaches," Philips explained. "And the county monitors one swimming area. They do bacteria monitoring there, but all the rest of the bays, where people Jet-Ski and clam and raft, there is no real public database to see bacteria levels."

Read the full article written by Monica Scott

NOW or NEVER
Photo by: David Harp

Photo by: David Harp

July 14, 2010 - "With renewed commitment from federal and state leaders, we may finally clean up the Chesapeake Bay - but only if citizens do their part."

"Kathy Phillips seems an unlikely adversary for the Eastern Shore's poultry-growing factory farms, an industry she calls "Big Chicken." She is 61 years old, an avid amateur surfer who moved to Ocean City for the waves in 1978. Phillips still bodyboards when she gets a break from her job as the Assateague

, the local representative of the nationwide nonprofit

Alliance. She is probably the only waterkeeper who's in the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame."

Read the full article written by Heather Dewar of the Urbanite.

JOIN US SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 ON ASSATEAGUE ISLAND FOR MARYLAND COAST DAY
Beach Garbage

Beach Garbage

July 7, 2010 - It’s that time of year again - to start planning for our annual MARYLAND COAST DAY and COASTAL CLEAN-UP! And once again we hope you’ll join us for this day long event on Saturday, September 18, 2010 on Assateague Island.

The day begins at the Assateague National Seashore north parking lot at 8 a.m. where volunteers will head out along the beach in dune lines to collect trash. Each volunteer gets a free Coastal Clean-Up t-shirt and trash bags. If you find large items like tires, lumber or a VW engine block (yes, this actually happened once!) there will be staff available to pick it up with a truck. In last year’s Coastal Cleanup, 2,500 volunteers collected approximately 35,000 pounds of trash.

ACT SUPPORTS GULF COAST DISASTER RELIEF EFFORTS, BUT ALSO SAYS WE NEED TO DO MORE LOCALLY
BP Slick Ground Zero (Photo credit: photo property of John Wathen, Hurricane Creekkeeper. Reprint by permission only.)

BP Slick Ground Zero (Photo credit: photo property of John Wathen, Hurricane Creekkeeper. Reprint by permission only.)

June 4, 2010 - The events of the past six weeks, as we watch BP’s oil spill consume the rich natural resources in the Gulf of Mexico, claim eleven lives, and adversely impact local communities and economies, has greatly affected the Assateague Coastal Trust Board of Directors. Every day we see another news report that exposes how corporate greed, lax regulatory oversight and lack of enforcement led up to what will no doubt become the greatest environmental disaster in American history.

Laws that were supposed to protect people, natural resources, and local economies were weakened, waived, or totally ignored. Now eleven oil rig workers have died and we must watch as entire marine and coastal ecosystems are fatally impacted, which in turn will impact fisheries, which in turn will impact local community economies, which in turn will impact families. The enormity of the situation defies description. More than ever, we can clearly see that shortchanging environmental protection in the name of free markets, deficit reduction or economic growth will inevitably backfire with disastrous consequences for everyone.

We are very fortunate to live in an area that is not heavily impacted by chemical or oil-based industries. The fragile ecosystems of our Coastal Bays watershed and on Assateague Island are not affected on a daily basis by toxic air emissions or polluted discharges running out of pipes into our waterways.

But this does not mean we can sit back and feel confident that our watershed and our waterways are safe. Just as life has changed forever in the small communities along the Gulf, we must take some of the responsibility for what is happening down there and work harder locally, not only to protect our coastal watershed, but to strive towards a more environmentally sustainable way of life.

MAJOR LAWSUIT FILED TO PROTECT MARYLAND WATERWAYS
Hudson Farm Aerial View

Hudson Farm Aerial View

With Perdue Factory Farm Failing to Respond, Assateague Coastkeeper and Waterkeeper Alliance Sue Hudson Farm and Perdue for Violating Clean Water Act

OCEAN CITY, MD - March 2, 2010 - Assateague

and

Alliance announced today that it has filed a lawsuit in the federal District Court of Maryland, against Alan and Kristin Hudson Farm - a Perdue-contract chicken factory farm in Berlin, MD - and Perdue Farms, Inc., for illegal discharges of harmful pollution into the Franklin Branch of the Pocomoke River, which empties into the Chesapeake Bay.

The filing of the litigation follows a failure by Hudson Farm and Perdue to correct the violations during the 60-day period after a notice of intent to sue was filed on December 17, 2009.

"Hudson Farm and Perdue had the opportunity to stop the pollution that puts state residents and the waterways of Maryland at great risk," said Assateague Coastkeeper Kathy Phillips. "Unfortunately, they chose to ignore this reasonable approach and instead Perdue sought to create the false impression that our concerns were unfounded." She added, "Illegal pollution is illegal pollution and that is what we are dealing with in this situation. Since Perdue has not seen fit to respond to our notice, we had no choice but to respond to their recalcitrance with this next step in the legal process."

There are no articles available at this time for the Delmarva Youth and Family Magazine.

June 20, 2008 -- County Sets Deadline For Comprehensive Rezoning
By Cara Dahl, Staff Writer

August 15, 2008 -- New Showell Homes' Water Quality Impact Debated
By Cara Dahl, Staff Writer

May 22, 2009 -- State Waterkeepers and Assateague Coastkeeper, MDE Settle Runoff Lawsuit
By Cara Dahl, Staff Writer

May 29, 2009 -- County's Department Merge Calls For Layoffs
By Cara Dahl, Staff Writer

June 16, 2009 -- ACT Files Challenge To County Closed Meeting
By Cara Dahl, Staff Writer

September 15, 2009 - Get the Dirt Out reports successful summer monitoring program

Baltimore Sun

June 9, 2009 -- Water Hazard
By Tim Wheeler

June 10, 2009 -- Heads Roll in a Planning Department, Protections Fall
By Tom Pelton, Chesapeake Bay Foundation

There are no articles available at this time for the Shore Progress.

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- The Progger

The Assateague

is an on-the-water advocate who patrols and protects the Maryland and northern Virginia eastern shore coastal bays, including the St. Martins River, Assawoman Bay, Isle of Wight Bay, Sinepuxent Bay, Newport Bay, and Chincoteague Bay, standing up to polluters and guaranteeing everyone's right to clean water.

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November 20, 2009 - Nearly four years after the Worcester County Comprehensive Plan was adopted in 2006 by the County Commissioners, its implementation has finally been voted upon...well, sort of.

While missing the mark on many aspects of the Comprehensive Plan, (these award winning concepts such as TDRs, Impact fees, alternative energy initiatives, and protection of flood plains from development were not implemented) the County's new zoning code and zoning map was approved on November 3, 2009.

With very few changes to the text of the Zoning Code, and one or two changes to the Comprehensive Zoning Maps - the Worcester County Commissioners voted unanimously to adopt the new zoning ordinance. Commissioner Cowger was the lone dissenting vote to approve the Zoning Maps.

Assateague Coastal Trust's efforts to strengthen the language in the code for protection of our waterways and our natural resources remained as suggested in our public comments and as amended by the Planning Commission and Staff.

Get the Dirt Out (GTDO) is a NEW project being implemented by local Waterkeeper programs, across the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays watersheds, to protect our waterways from damage caused by sediment-laden runoff from construction sites and land development. ACT is participating in this extremely important program and has created a website specifically for this purpose. To read more about this project or to help us by volunteering, click here to be automatically transferred to the GTDO website.

Grow Berlin Green (GBG) is a NEW 3 year campaign to encourage Berlin residents, businesses and government officials to connect the community to conservation. The campaign will be managed by a coalition of Assateague Coastal Trust (ACT), Lower Shore Land Trust and Maryland Coastal Bays Program, but it will be driven by community education, empowerment and action, said Steve Farr, development director for ACT and the project director of GBG. For more information on the Grow Berlin Green Project, click here to be automatically transferred to the GBG website.

Kids + Outdoor Adventure = Coast Kids! Join Coast Kids Today

Join Coast Kids Today

Join Today! Or Renew Your Membership!

Jolly Roger Benefit the Bays

Sunday, August 15, 2010
10:00am to 6:00pm
Jolly Roger Amusement Park
Ocean City, MD

Coast Kids: Tour Gordon’s shellfish farm and go crabbing at Public Landing

Saturday, August 21, 2010 from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM

Learn how shellfish are farmed and harvested in the Chincoteague Bay at Gordon’s shellfish farm. After the tour we will catch some wild crabs ourselves at the Public Landing pier. The pier has a slide in the water. Please bring sunscreen, hats, bug spray, watershoes, and bathing suits. If you have a crabbing net, please bring it. We will provide crab lines and bait. The pier has some shaded areas with tables that are great to eat a picnic lunch.

Assateague Coastal Cleanup & MD Coast Day

Saturday, September 18, 2010
Assateague National Seashore

2007 Annual Report

Click on the 2007 Annual Report Image to view it as an Adobe PDF file.

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