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			Saturday, July 11, 2009 News Clipping Archives *Maryland / Regional* Heat Claims MD's First Victims of 2009, Including a 23-Month Old Left in Car (The Baynet) Summit To Find Better Long-Term Help For Autistic Kids (WBALTV.com) Health education center presents awards during annual meeting (Cumberland Times-News) County's emergency operations center to get more space, tech upgrade (Baltimore Sun) Columbia man who killed mother wants out of state mental hospital (explorehoward.com) ‘Energy Shots’ Stimulate Power Drink Sales (New York Times) Beach closed in Severna Park, thousands of fish die in Deale (Annapolis Capital) Bravo grows in Baltimore (Daily Record) *National / International* F.D.A. Approves Eli Lilly Blood Thinner, With a Warning (New York Times) *Opinion* Guest column: Constellation addresses fly ash issues (Annapolis Capital Commentary) *Maryland / Regional* Heat Claims MD's First Victims of 2009, Including a 23-Month Old Left in Car The Baynet Saturday, July 11, 2009 MARYLAND - The first two 2009 heat-related deaths in Maryland have occurred, per the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Maryland’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner describes one of the victims as a 23-month-old Howard County child left unattended for several hours in a vehicle car seat with an exterior daytime temperature of 85 degrees. A 74-year-old Prince George’s County man with cardiovascular disease complicated by hyperthermia was found inside a dwelling with an indoor temperature of more than 99 degrees. “The very young, the very old and people with chronic health conditions are at much greater risk when temperatures rise,” said DHMH Secretary John M. Colmers. “Heat-related deaths are avoided by applying a little common sense. Don’t leave anyone alone inside a parked car, especially on a hot summer day. Seniors and people with serious health conditions should take any opportunity available to avoid prolonged periods of extreme temperatures. Neighbors who regularly check on vulnerable neighbors and relatives on hot summer days can be real life savers.” The St. Mary’s County Department of Aging has a Heat Emergency Plan for seniors and may keep one, two or three senior activity centers open during later hours during “heat emergencies.” The Heat Emergency status is derived from heat, humidity and the heat index and is determined by the National Weather Service. For more information about the Plan, contact the Department of Aging at (301) 475-4200, x1050. Copyright 2009 The Baynet. Summit To Find Better Long-Term Help For Autistic Kids Experts To Create Better Autism Resources WBALTV.com Saturday, July 11, 2009 BALTIMORE -- Health and education experts are meeting in Baltimore to retool the state's approach to autism. They want to streamline resources to make it easier for families to find long-term treatment and support. "It's somewhat disjointed. We need more coordination," said House Speaker Michael Busch, D-Anne Arundel County. Autism rates are soaring in Maryland. Currently, there are 7,500 autistic children in Maryland's educational system compared to 1,600 in 1999. "We have a wave of people crashing into the system when resources are scarce," said Nina Wall-Cote of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Public Welfare. State officials are trying to improve the efficiency of services for autistic children, adults and their families. "Our goal is better integration with government and the private sector in preparation for the demographic wave as it moves forward," said John Colmers, secretary of the state Department of Health and Mental Hygeine. Doctors currently don't know why that wave continues to build. Colmers said one in 150 children in the state are somewhere on the autism spectrum, with the rate approaching one in 90 for boys. Even so, he said he doesn't think vaccines are to blame. "The best available evidence is there is no relationship between vaccines and autism," he said. While research continues into the cause, the group of experts is focused on early intervention to produce the best possible outcomes. "We need to focus on what works and invest more in what does work and less in what doesn't," Colmers said. The summit comes on the heels of legislation that created the Maryland Autism Commission that will study the effectiveness of statewide services. Copyright 2009 by wbaltv.com. All rights reserved. Health education center presents awards during annual meeting Cumberland Times-News Saturday, July 11, 2009 CUMBERLAND — This year’s Western Maryland Area Health Education Center award winners included professionals at the Western Maryland Health System and University of Maryland School of Medicine. Board members, partners and friends met at the Cumberland Country Club for the AHEC’s 33rd annual meeting. Dr. Sue Raver, Allegany County health officer, presented the Jane A. Fiscus, MD Community Health Leadership Award to Nancy Forlifer, at WMHS, for her tireless efforts to improve the community’s access to health care. The John M. Dennis Award was given to University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Leslie Robinson, MD, for her work in support of AHEC’s mission. The Distinguished Service Award was presented to the WMHS’ Chuck Barrick, RN, BSN, in recognition of his partnership with the pipeline program and his commitment to providing high-quality job-shadowing experiences to the region’s students. In addition to these annual awards, the Geriatric Award was presented for the first time to the Garrett County Inter-Agency Committee on Aging for its sustained and highly successful partnership. The meeting was attended by the agency’s partners from Western Maryland and across the state. Guests were greeted by AHEC Executive Director Susan Stewart and Board of Directors Chair Jenn Wilson. Keynote speaker Michelle Clark, project director of the State Office of Rural Health, shared the development of the state’s agenda for rural health, highlighting “grow your own” programs like AHEC’s Health Professions Education Pipe-line Programs. AHEC caucuses awarded members who are exemplary in their field of practice. The Nursing Caucus Award was given to Bea Lamm, University of Maryland School of Nursing’s Governor’s Wellmobile, and WMHS’ Jeannie Seifarth for their work to advance the field of nursing and nursing education. Ruth Yoder, retired, was recognized by the Social Work Caucus as Social Worker of the Year. The Nurse Practitioner Caucus selected Mary Tola, Brady Health Center, as Nurse Practitioner of the Year. Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc. County's emergency operations center to get more space, tech upgrade Balto. Co. emergency operations to get more space, tech upgrade By Mary Gail Hare Baltimore Sun Saturday, July 11, 2009 Baltimore County's 20-year-old emergency operations center is slated for a $14 million modernization that will nearly double its space, upgrade its technology, enhance its connections with other jurisdictions and shorten response times. On a recent tour of the center, federal legislators delivered a promise of $3 million to help pay for the renovations. The funds will help the center move from an analog to a digital system with upgraded phones, computers and radios that will expand communications capabilities in emergency situations across the county and into the surrounding region, officials said. "The funds will buy technology and training and make this system ready for the 21st century," said Maryland senior Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski. "Lives are on the line, and this center needs help as quickly as it can get it. We also want to make sure we are protecting our first responders." Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger stressed the critical role of public safety, calling it the foundation of all government work. "You have to start with 911," he said. "Federal dollars give emergency responders the resources they need." The 911 Communications Center is staffed around the clock by 192 employees who handle nearly 1 million police, fire and emergency calls annually from a sprawling basement headquarters in the county courthouse. Maryland's congressional delegation secured $1.5 million for the project this year and anticipate another $1.5 million in fiscal 2010. The county hopes to receive about $2.5 million from the Maryland Emergency Number Systems Board and will fund the remaining costs. The County Council approved $1.5 million is this fiscal year for design of the center. The remaining costs will likely be included in a referendum to the capital improvements program once construction begins, officials said. Officials toured the training center and then followed guides through a long tunnel that connects classrooms to the hub of the activity - the fire and police dispatch center. "911 is no longer simply a switchboard," said County Executive James T. Smith Jr. "In 2003 with Hurricane Isabel, we learned how essential it is to gathering facts on the ground." As she watched dispatchers handle numerous calls, Mikulski said she was impressed with the calm, steady tone of voice that responders used to assure callers. "The talent is ready now," she said. "We have to get the technology ready." The county is reorganizing two floors of space in the Circuit Courthouse and will begin construction on the new center once that effort is completed. Consolidating the agency on two floors will be more practical than the current space that is divided by a circuitous tunnel, said Marie Whisonant, center chief, who expects the 911 Communications Center to be operating in its new quarters by the end of 2011. "We will have the best of all worlds, while this project is going on," Whisonant said. "We can work in this space, while construction is going on in the new space." Copyright © 2009, The Baltimore Sun. Columbia man who killed mother wants out of state mental hospital Asks to be moved to private facility; prosecutors say he remains a threat Columbia Flier By Mike Santa Rita explorehoward.com Saturday, July 11, 2009 Prosecutors and defense attorneys clashed Friday in Howard County Circuit Court over whether a Columbia man who stabbed and beat his mother and another woman to death in their Columbia home in 2001 should be allowed to move from a state mental hospital to a private facility, a step that could ultimately lead to his freedom. In February 2001, Benjamin Hawkes, 34, pleaded criminally not responsible in the bludgeoning and stabbing deaths of his mother, Mary Jane Hawkes, 59, and Teena Wu, 18, a family friend who was living in her home at 4360 Wild Filly Court, in the Dorsey Hall neighborhood. Diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic, Benjamin Hawkes has been housed at the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center in Jessup since the slayings. According to a statement of facts submitted by Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Murphy at the time of his sentencing, Hawkes said he killed the women because they followed a fascist ideology, and that he was trying to “act for all the people in America ... to make things better.” On Friday, Murphy told Judge Diane Leasure that Hawkes posed a real threat of recidivism and should not be moved to a new facility. “You have to look at the past to see what the future might look like to Mr. Hawkes,” Murphy said. But Hawkes’ attorney, Bradley Hersey, told Leasure that Administrative Law Judge Michael Wallace had already approved Hawkes for release from Clifton T. Perkins following the recommendation of three psychiatrists, who had deemed him a low risk to the community. Hersey noted that Hawkes has already taken classes at Howard Community College and has been exposed to the community. State mental health officials have not yet determined to what private facility Hawkes would be moved. Hersey said the move could be the first step toward releasing Hawkes. Leasure did not issue a decision on whether Hawkes should be moved but said she would issue a written opinion. Hawkes was living with a friend four miles from his parents’ home at the time of the murders. Mary Jane Hawkes, who was a piano teacher, was boarding Wu in her home while the younger woman attended classes at Howard Community College, with plans to pursue a career in music education. The two met while attending the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Ellicott City. The Hawkes’ daughter Katie, who was 17 at the time of the killings, was at home Feb. 11 with her mother and Wu when Benjamin Hawkes walked into the home dressed in a robe and an American flag draped around his neck, according to the statement of facts. He grabbed a kitchen knife and began stabbing his mother and later hit her with a sledgehammer while she was in the family room, according to court records. The court records also detailed how Katie Hawkes called 911 from a locked bedroom upstairs. Benjamin Hawkes broke into the bedroom and told her to leave the house. When she did, the phone line to 911 was left open and recorded Wu’s screams as Benjamin Hawkes stabbed and bludgeoned her. When police arrived, they found a calm and cooperative Benjamin Hawkes standing naked in the kitchen, covered in blood, while loud instrumental music played on a stereo in the family room. Hawkes later told police he was fighting fascism by killing his mother, and that if he didn’t kill her he would be a bad example to the world. “I felt sickened by the act of what I had to do,” he told police in a taped confession. He explained to police he was told to spare his sister’s life by the “people who are helping me fight injustice. ... I hear voices and see signs.” Copyright 2009 explorehoward.com. ‘Energy Shots’ Stimulate Power Drink Sales By William Neuman New York Times Saturday, July 11, 2009 COLLEGE PARK, Md. — The power drink of the moment costs 20 times as much per ounce as Coca-Cola, comes in a tiny bottle and tastes so bad that most people hold their noses and down it in a single gulp. Despite all that, sales of “energy shots” are soaring in the middle of a recession. The two-ounce drinks, which give people a concentrated dose of caffeine, B vitamins and amino acids, were all but unheard-of four years ago. Today they are the hottest drink category in the country, with sales expected to almost double this year from last, to about $700 million. The shots are meant for people who want a jolt of caffeine without having to drink a big cup of coffee or one of the 16-ounce energy drinks that have become ubiquitous. They go down fast, more like medicine than a beverage. That is part of the appeal to their most devoted consumers: students cramming for exams or partying into the night, construction workers looking for a lift and drivers trying to stay awake. Near the University of Maryland the other day, students thought nothing of paying $3 or more for a shot. That is $1.50 an ounce; at that price, a 20-ounce bottle of Coca-Cola would sell for $30. “It helps me stay up all night when I have work to do,” said Matt Sporre, 20, a sophomore chemical engineering major who said he drank shots three or four nights a week when school was in session. “Those things are going to be the death of my generation,” he added. “Too much caffeine.” Mr. Sporre and several others students said the shots worked well in combination with Adderall, a prescription drug for attention deficit disorder that is popular on college campuses. The Adderall helps them focus, they said, and the shot keeps them awake. Several students said they sometimes downed an energy shot before going out drinking. Others said the shots helped them stay awake during long drives home from school. Two members of the university’s wrestling team said some of their teammates drank the shots before matches to get an energy lift. A 7-Eleven store on Knox Road, just off the Maryland campus in College Park, has become one of the top sellers of energy shots among the 5,700 United States stores in the 7-Eleven chain. The store’s owner, Million Mekonen, said that sales spiked during finals in May, when the store sold close to 400 shots in a week. But students are not the only users. Steve Cisko, 26, a construction worker renovating a dormitory, stopped in at the 7-Eleven and bought a shot made by AriZona Beverage for $3.99. “I do demolition; it wears you out,” he said. “Sometimes I’ll take two at a time in the afternoon. Every guy I work with uses them.” Sales of the shots are rising even as sales of traditional energy drinks like Red Bull have flattened out. Bill Pecoriello, chief executive of Consumer Edge Research, estimated that shot sales could reach $700 million this year, nearly double last year’s $370 million, not counting sales by Wal-Mart Stores. The estimate was based on sales data collected by Information Resources, a market research firm. The market is dominated by a tiny company in suburban Detroit called Living Essentials, which began test sales in late 2004 of a product called 5-Hour Energy, packaged in small plastic bottles. Today, 5-Hour Energy accounts for about 80 percent of the rapidly expanding market, according to Mr. Pecoriello. The company’s unlikely success — it has only one other product, an antihangover pill called Chaser — has forced the big beverage makers to play catch-up. Last month, Red Bull introduced a two-ounce shot, and Dr Pepper Snapple began test-marketing a three-ounce version of its Venom energy drink, called Venom Bite. Coca-Cola introduced a shot last year based on its NOS energy drink. Many smaller companies have jumped in too, often offering products with similar names, like 6 Hour Power, Fuel 7 Hour Energy and Mr. Energy 8-Hour Energy. Living Essentials has spent heavily on advertising to build the market and hold its position against newcomers. It expects to spend $60 million this year on television advertising for 5-Hour Energy. It has also gone after several of its competitors in court, challenging labels or product names it said were too close to its own. The most vigorous legal battle pits Living Essentials against a Texas company called Custom Nutrition Laboratories and includes accusations of betrayal, stolen secrets and other skullduggery. The two companies worked closely together from 2004 through 2007. At Living Essentials’ request, Custom Nutrition developed the formula for 5-Hour Energy and then manufactured and bottled it. Living Essentials handled the marketing, distribution and sales. Then, in late 2007, Living Essentials fired Custom Nutrition and replaced it with another manufacturer. Now both companies claim ownership of the product’s secret recipe, although only Living Essentials continues to produce it. Last month a federal magistrate judge ordered the two sides to try to mediate their dispute. “We invented the product,” said Baxter W. Banowsky, a lawyer in Dallas for Custom Nutrition. “Whatever profits they’ve made from the sale of the product encompassing our formula, they should be turned over to us.” Carl F. Sperber, a spokesman for Living Essentials, said the company would not comment on the litigation, which involves cases in state and federal courts in Texas. Unlike older energy drinks, 5-Hour Energy and most other shots do not contain sugar. Their crucial ingredient is caffeine. But Living Essentials and many of its competitors will not reveal exactly how much of it is in the products, saying only that it is about as much caffeine as in a cup of coffee. The caffeine in coffee can vary widely, from about 80 to 175 milligrams in an eight-ounce cup. Living Essentials makes broad claims for 5-Hour Energy, saying that it is “packed with B vitamins for energy and amino acids for alertness and focus.” Nutritionists were skeptical of such claims, however. Marion Nestle, a nutrition professor at New York University, said that while some of the nutrients in 5-Hour Energy were known to play a role in the body’s metabolism, most people got enough of those nutrients in their regular diet and that ingesting elevated amounts had not been shown to have any beneficial effect. “It sounds like a great placebo to me,” she said. “You can gulp this down and you feel like you’re doing something. And I’ll bet you ask people and they say they feel better. It’s got caffeine — why not?” One thing is certain: people are not buying the shots for the taste. “Terrible!” said Barry Ray, a 21-year-old from Hyattsville, Md., as he sampled a Red Bull shot. “But it’s good. It wakes you up.” Joe Gere, a New Jersey entrepreneur who produces a shot called Xfuel, said there was not enough water in a two-ounce shot to dilute the bitter taste of the caffeine and nutrients. But shot makers concede that a medicinal flavor and the small, pill-bottle size are all part of a shot’s appeal. “Five-Hour Energy’s not supposed to taste fantastic,” said Mr. Sperber, the Living Essentials spokesman. “This is supposed to be a functional product, not something for flavor or something for refreshment.” Copyright 2009 New York Times. Beach closed in Severna Park, thousands of fish die in Deale By Pamela Wood Annapolis Capital Saturday, July 11, 2009 It's that time of year: Local waterways are suffering from too much bacteria and too little oxygen. As a result, a Severna Park beach is closed to swimmers due to high bacteria, while thousands of dead fish were discovered in a south county creek. Advertisement Swimming is off-limits at Lower Magothy Beach, off South Drive on the north shore of Cattail Creek in Severna Park. County health officials tested the beach twice this week and found high bacteria levels both times. Bacteria can cause people who swim or swallow water to get sick. The county measures enterococci, and for Lower Magothy Beach the maximum allowable level is a count of 158 probable colonies. A sample taken on Monday registered 278. A retest on Wednesday counted 500, said Elin Jones, a spokeswoman for the county Health Department. Lower Magothy Beach is one of about 100 beaches tested by the Health Department. Two consecutive high counts are required to trigger a beach closing. In addition to the county program, several environmental and community groups work with Anne Arundel Community College to test dozens more sites. While this is the first time the Health Department's sampling turned two consecutive high counts, AACC's Operation Clearwater has recorded several high counts. Just this week, for example, Bonaparte Beach on the Severn River in Herald Harbor registered 416 through Operation Clearwater. Holly Hills in Edgewater off Bear Neck Creek registered 476 this week. Both sites were above their limit of 104. Bacteria ends up in the water due to human or animal waste. There are several possible sources, including dog or goose waste, aging septic systems or failures in the sewage system. Yellow warning signs have been posted at Lower Magothy Beach, and alerts were sent out to an e-mail list and over the Twitter Web service, Jones said. Paul Spadaro, president of the Magothy River Association, lives just a few doors down from the closed beach. Though this is the first beach closing in the 20-plus years he's lived there, he wasn't surprised. Magothy volunteers recorded low oxygen levels in the waters in recent weeks, indicating problems in the water. He was expecting a massive die-off of fish, called a "fish kill." "It serves as a wake-up call," Spadaro said. "We're at a crossroads. Either we start reacting now, or for generations our beaches will be closed and it will be just a memory that our bay was clean." Meanwhile, thousands of fish did die in Tracys Creek near Deale this week, according to the Maryland Department of the Environment. MDE inspectors responding to a report found 7,000 dead fish in the creek yesterday. The fish were from 11 different species. The fish apparently died after a bloom and then a sudden die-off of algae. When algae die, they suck oxygen from the water, making it impossible for fish, crabs and oysters to live. MDE is testing samples of the algae as part of its investigation, said agency spokeswoman Dawn Stoltzfus. Algae blooms are driven by too many nutrients in the water. Nutrients end up in the water from farms, urban and suburban stormwater runoff, septic systems, sewage plants, air pollution and human waste dumped from boats. Copyright 2009 Annapolis Capital. Bravo grows in Baltimore Staff and wire reports Daily Record Saturday, July 11, 2009 Bravo Health Inc., a Medicare Advantage plan with more than 250,000 members, has decided to keep its headquarters and operations center in Southeast Baltimore, the mayor's office announced. The company, which currently employs about 570 workers at the 3601 O'Donnell St. location - the former Gunther Bottle Building - will expand by 30,000 square feet, bringing its total square footage to more than 117,000 square feet, and create an additional 200 jobs. The lease with Obrecht Commercial Real Estate is a win for the Baltimore Development Corp., which worked for several months with Bravo and the building's owner to retain the company in the city. Copyright 2009 Daily Record. *National / International* F.D.A. Approves Eli Lilly Blood Thinner, With a Warning By Associated Press New York Times Saturday, July 11, 2009 WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration approved a highly anticipated blood thinner from Eli Lilly on Friday, though the drug must carry the agency’s sternest warning because of its risk of causing bleeding. The approval makes Lilly’s Effient the first real competition to the blood thinner Plavix, which is made by Sanofi-Aventis and Bristol-Myers Squibb and is the world’s second-best selling medication behind the cholesterol pill Lipitor. The F.D.A. delayed its decision on Effient several times during an 18-month review as agency officials weighed the drug’s benefits and risks. A Lilly study of more than 13,000 patients found that Effient prevented more heart attacks than Plavix, but caused more internal bleeding. The F.D.A. said Effient would carry a boxed warning to alert physicians to the risks of “significant, sometimes fatal, bleeding.” The boxed warning is reserved for issues that can cause serious injury or death. Effient should not be taken by patients with a history of bleeding, stroke or who are undergoing an operation, the F.D.A. said. “Physicians must carefully weigh the potential benefits and risks of Effient as they decide which patients should receive the drug,” said Dr. John Jenkins, director of new drugs for the F.D.A. The drug offers an alternative treatment for preventing dangerous blood clots that can lead to heart attack or stroke, Dr. Jenkins said. The boxed warning could curb sales, but not to a large extent, said Les Funtleyder, an analyst at Miller Tabak & Company, an institutional trading firm. “The F.D.A. has been a lot more liberal with black box warnings than it was in the past, and in a way the black box has lost some of the meaning it had when it was rare,” Mr. Funtleyder said. “But it still has the ability to somewhat limit sales.” Company studies showed 7 percent of patients taking Effient had nonfatal heart attacks, compared with 9.1 percent of patients taking Plavix. Despite lower rates of certain heart attacks, the actual rates of death for the drugs were similar. Lilly, based in Indianapolis, developed Effient, known chemically as prasugrel, with the Daiichi Sankyo Company of Japan. They will share revenue. Wall Street analysts said Effient sales could reach $1 billion annually, compared with $4.9 billion in sales for Plavix last year. Like Plavix, Effient prevents blood platelets from sticking together and forming potentially dangerous clots. But while Plavix is approved for use in a wide range of patients, Effient is approved only for those undergoing angioplasty, a procedure in which an inflatable balloon is used to clear arteries clogged with plaque, which are often propped open with a stent. Approval of Effient was considered crucial for Lilly because patents protecting its four best-selling drugs expire by 2013. Stock in Lilly rose 32 cents, to $33.32 a share. Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company. *Opinion* Guest column: Constellation addresses fly ash issues By John Long Annapolis Capital Commentary Saturday, July 11, 2009 The Capital recently published a story regarding Constellation Energy's plans to purchase property at an established landfill on Fort Armistead Road in Baltimore City. Advertisement The story accurately described our plans to safely place coal combustion byproducts from the generation of electricity at our Baltimore-area coal-fired power plants on the property. However, the account was incomplete in that it did not address Constellation Energy's proactive efforts to communicate this land purchase with local communities, or the reasons this particular landfill is an ideal location to safely manage these byproducts with the health and welfare of the nearby community and environment as a priority. First, a few facts. Coal-fired power plants produce approximately 40 percent of the electricity generated in Maryland. Constellation Energy owns and operates three large coal-fired power plants in the Baltimore area, which help meet the growing demand for electricity. These plants produce nearly 800,000 tons of coal combustion byproducts per year. These by-products are a powdery substance that remains after coal is burned. More than 60 percent of the byproducts produced by Constellation Energy's coal-fired power plants is recycled and used in cement and concrete products. The remainder is placed in landfills permitted for such materials. As we meet the requirements of recent clean air regulations, we expect to capture and dispose of even more. To meet federal and state requirements for the safe and environmentally sound disposal of these byproducts, Constellation Energy has entered into a contract to purchase 65 acres of the Hawkins Point Plant Landfill on Fort Armistead Road in Baltimore City. We propose using the site to place the byproducts from our three Maryland coal plants as soon as the fall of 2010. We have retained a Kentucky firm with 15 years of management experience and a stellar environmental record to operate all of our coal byproduct facilities, including Fort Armistead. Constellation Energy began working with the owners of this property more than a year ago, and throughout this process we've been open and candid about our plans. To that end, we have proactively reached out not only to Anne Arundel County residents and legislators, but Baltimore City residents and other key stakeholders as well. We regularly meet with Anne Arundel County and Baltimore City community and professional associations and recently discussed this issue as part of general community meetings with groups including the Southern Baltimore Community Advisory Panel. We will continue this outreach in the coming months. In addition, the state of Maryland has a very clear process for permitting such a site, a process that includes ample opportunity for public and community input - something we value, encourage and will actively advocate with our neighbors. If approved, the Fort Armistead Road site will be built and operated utilizing proven engineering principles and will meet or exceed all state and federal regulations. The site already includes a 70- to 100-foot-thick base of clay, which acts as a natural liner. A synthetic liner will also be installed and any liquid that is filtered through the coal byproducts will be removed by an engineered collection and pumping system. A watertight cap, a series of groundwater monitoring wells and other precautionary steps will be taken to provide for the continuous safety and health of the community. From an environmental and safety perspective, the Fort Armistead Road landfill is an ideal location that can help Maryland address the need to meet energy needs and the need to safely address the byproducts of that energy. As someone who lives in Anne Arundel County, I am keenly aware of the need to manage these byproducts in a professional and absolutely concerned manner that ensures the health, safety and welfare of our community. Anything else is unacceptable. Constellation Energy is and has always been unwavering in our commitment to environmental stewardship. Anyone suggesting that we have not been completely open and absolutely committed to doing what's right with regard to the health and safety of the community and the environment is not telling the whole story. The writer is president of Constellation Power Source Generation. Copyright 2009 Annapolis Capital. BACK TO TOP


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