Environment

Over the decades, millions of tons of polluted sediment have settled into the lake behind Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna River, posing a massive engineering and environmental dilemma. But what to do about it? We examine that issue, along with the top environmental matters before the Maryland General Assembly, with Bay Journal reporter and Midday contributor Rona Kobell. Plus: winter wonders of the Chesapeake.

This segment originally aired October 9, 2012.

In our December edition of Midday on the Bay, environmental reporter Rona Kobell presents case studies in failed planning and bad ideas that haunt people and places in the Chesapeake region today: The unleashing of a home-building frenzy on Kent Island without a public septic system; the construction of a highway over the Jones Falls in Baltimore; the design of a stormwater system that protects our basements but delivers loads of pollutants to our rivers and streams.

Days are getting shorter--time to put the garden to bed.  Here, our garden guru Anne Raver gives some tips about how to get ready for the next season, and what bulbs to plant for next spring--and what plants can help keep you going through winter.  Anne recommends planting some indoor narcissus and the gaudy red amaryllis. 

As Ken Burns prepares to release his two-part, four-hour documentary about the ecological calamity that intensified the Great Depression, Midday contributor Rona Kobell looks at lessons learned about land conservation after the Dust Bowl. Our November edition of Midday on the Bay includes a conversation with Susan Shumaker, associate producer of  "The Dust Bowl," and a look at how Maryland and other states protect agricultural lands in the Chesapeake region.

Baltimore Sun reporter Scott Dance is in an Ocean City hotel, watching the surf push past the dunes. He tells Tom Hall the latest as Hurricane Sandy moves west toward shore.

A lawsuit that could change how chickens are raised around the country goes to federal court today.  The Waterkeepers Alliance is suing Perdue over uncovered sludge on the Hudson farm on the lower shore.  We'll talk about what's at stake with a reporter who's covering the trial.