Dan Rodricks' column on Gov.-elect Larry Hogan and the Chesapeake Bay missed an important fact: Mr. Hogan's pro-poultry industry comments and pledges are actually deeply hurtful to most Eastern Shore businesses ("Larry Hogan has a chance to be a green governor," Dec. 13).
The revitalization of communities like Cambridge and the introduction of new industries such as oyster farming are dependent on the continued health of the bay. Every marina, hotel, B&B, restaurant, bait and tackle shop and new housing development from Annapolis to Cape Charles and Solomon's Island relies on a clean and healthy Chesapeake Bay.
These and other small local businesses will all suffer irreparable harm if the bay continues to be used as the septic system for the state's chicken farming industry.
I spend the summer on the Little Choptank River near Cambridge, and I can attest that in the past few years the crab population there has been in significant decline if not outright collapse.
I catch more and more fish with scary lesions and sores. It wasn't like that 10 years ago, but today it can be gross to go fishing.
I love the bay and can think of no better way to spend a summer day than on the water with a casting rod in hand. But once the bay develops the same reputation as Lake Erie, sportsmen simply won't want to go near it and all the businesses that rely on tourist dollars will suffer.
So the issue is not just business versus environment. It is more fundamentally one type of business that threatens all other kinds of businesses. Mr. Hogan is already shaping up to be an anti-business governor-elect.
David King, Baltimore