u s geological survey

Events taking place around Baltimore County

Anne Arundel County datebook

Legislators from Maryland and Pennsylvania sparred at a hearing in Annapolis Monday over whether their states are doing too much or too little to reduce Chesapeake Bay pollution.

Lakes infested by harmful algae closed to swimming; Baltimore's reservoirs safe - for now - but all are threatened by same nutrient pollution fouling the Chesapeake

The Environmental Protection Agency may be overestimating farm pollution reductions in the Chesapeake Bay, contends the Environmental Integrity Project, which also finds that phosphorus and algae concentrations in rivers on Maryland's Eastern Shore have shown no real improvement over the last decade

Fracking doesn't cause earthquakes

Oklahoma, which rarely saw earthquakes, now tops all 50 states in the number of tremors per year because of fracking

Tucked amid the woods of northern Baltimore County is one of Maryland's natural gems – the Big Gunpowder Falls, a nationally renowned trout stream that draws anglers from far and wide to try their skills and luck in the cold, rushing water.

Despite early progress reducing Chesapeake Bay pollution, levels of a key pollutant, phosphorus, have not come down in many rivers in the past decade — and are actually worsening in several, officials say.

Havre de Grace resident and Tidewater Marina owner Garrett Pensell attended the May 5 congressional hearing on the Conowingo Dam relicensing. He shares his thoughts about the relicensing and the dam's effects on the downriver ecosystem, economy and public safety.

A small army of citizen scientists is taking stock of wild bees in the forests. Organized by the U.S. Geological Survey, the first-of-its kind count is sampling more than 100 wooded sites across Maryland, Delaware, the District of Columbia and Virginia.

The Food & Water Watch organization claims that the chicken companies operating on Maryland's Eastern Shore are the Chesapeake "Bay's biggest polluters" and that they are getting a free ride on the backs of the taxpayers. The facts speak otherwise.

Jacob D. "Jake" Hornstein, a solo practitioner who practiced law in Baltimore for 67 years, died Saturday after falling outside his home at the Pomona Apartments in Pikesville. He was 92.

Environmentalists concerned about shale gas drilling in Maryland returned to Annapolis Wednesday to try again for a legislative moratorium on "fracking," as the controversial technique of hydraulic fracturing is called.

Failure of farm pollution rules is blow for Eastern Shore communities

The Chesapeake Bay's cleanup may be delayed "several decades" by the slow pace at which farm pollution is being flushed from ground water on the Delmarva Peninsula, a new study says. The research by the U.S. Geological Survey also suggests pollution control efforts on Eastern Shore farms may need to be increased in order to achieve hoped-for water quality improvements.

The county serving as backup has worked fairly well to date, and it will remain sufficient for then next few years while the water authority issue is being hashed out and decided.

Areas throughout the mid-Atlantic that were abnormally dry a week ago are back to normal after several days of rain last week.

Researchers say two-thirds of nearly 100 rivers and streams checked across the eastern United States, including the Patuxent and Potomac rivers, have become more alkaline over the past 25 to 60 years.

Climate change and other challenges facing Maryland's Eastern Shore require thoughtful decision-making

These are tough times for the ducks that winter on the Chesapeake Bay.

The Chesapeake Bay's "dead zone" this summer is on track to be smaller than usual for the second year in a row, scientists announced Tuesday. A dry spring and the long-running bay cleanup effort deserve credit, experts say.

Though some compared a CSX train derailment and explosion in Rosedale to a 2011 earthquake, it did not register on U.S. Geological Survey monitors.

A nine-year federal survey of frogs, toads, salamanders and the like found widespread precipitous declines in their populations but drew no conclusions about why.

Despite damp weather to end the month, April 2013 was drier than normal, continuing a trend of below-average precipitation that has persisted since Hurricane Sandy's deluge last October.

A pair of scientists create chemistry in Baltimore

Scientists have found abnormalities in yellow perch in three Maryland rivers that are either heavily suburbanized or rapidly developing, which they say helps explain why the distinctive black-striped fish are not thriving in those Chesapeake Bay tributaries.

A new federal report finds toxic contamination remains widespread in the Chesapeake Bay, with severe impacts in some places, which health and environmental advocates say lends support to their push in Annapolis for legislative action on pesticides and other hazardous chemicals.

After sediment threatened to squeeze the approach channel to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, the Army Corps of Engineers and Port of Baltimore improvised a solution to unclog the passageway.

Declaring that Maryland's coastal areas are increasingly at risk from rising sea level, Gov. Martin O'Malley ordered state agencies to weigh the growing risks of flooding in deciding where and how to construct state buildings. Among other things, he called for avoiding low-lying areas for new or reconstructed buildings and elevating them to avert flooding.

Considering that the goal of the EPA's Chesapeake Bay TMDL is to reduce nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment, the report's data should be a matter of profound concern.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is downplaying the impact of major storms, even though they could undo the effect of the EPA's expensive pollution diet requirements.

The 2011 East Coast earthquake revealed wider impacts than previously though possible, according to U.S. Geological Survey research.

When Sandy slammed into the Atlantic Coast Monday night, it dumped upward of six inches of rain on Harford County, causing streams, creeks and ditches to flood and raising the possibility that the Susquehanna River could swell in the coming days as the storm's remnants pass through Pennsylvania.

Fracking does not pollute water supply or cause earthquakes

The U.S. Geological Survey Saturday reported an early-morning earthquake of 2.1 magnitude in Maryland.

Carroll and Frederick county residents, civic organizations, schools, groups and property owners are being invited to take part in a stream naming contest to have their suggestions officially designated by the U.S. Geological Survey.

USGS report finds Susquehanna River dams losing ability to trap sediment, allowing more pollution to reach the Chesapeake Bay

An amateur paleontologist discovered the footprint of a nodosaur on the grounds of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

A year ago Thursday, an earthquake in Virginia was felt in Baltimore and across a third of the country, with some signs of damage still remaining.

"Cricket Crawl" enlists citizen scientists to identify cricket, katydid calls in Baltimore-Washington area

A magnitude 4.4 earthquake rattled Southern California on Tuesday night. The quake was reported at 11:23 p.m. and was centered around Yorba Linda in northern Orange County.

Fracking and earthquakes

Water that comes out of faucets in Annapolis, Leonardtown, Easton tens of thousands to more than a million years old, geologists find.

Scientists studying impact of contaminants on fish-eating birds

Appeals court ruling will allow EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions in a big win for climate change science and public health