Going Green!

The Supreme Court of the State of Delaware this week affirmed the March 2011 decision of the Delaware Superior Court that ruled in favor of Sussex County in the case of Sussex County vs. the State of Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC), over the agency’s authority to impose its Pollution Control Strategy.

One day in the very near future, Millsboro Public Works Director Kenny Niblett will attend a baseball game at the local Little League Park, possessing intimate details of how the grass is kept so green and so lush at his town’s very own “field of dreams.”

The Holistic Health Fair will return to the Cape Henlopen High School in Lewes on Saturday, March 17, 2012 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Residents and visitors alike are invited to come and discover local resources that support and enhance health and vitality, and green infrastructure at the 18th annual Holistic Health Fair.

I dread the end of the gardening season each year. The thought of months of gray drabness is so depressing. No flowers? Bare trees? What’s a gardener to do? Well, plenty, actually.

With autumn leaves beginning to fall, DNREC’s Division of Air Quality is reminding residents that burning leaves is prohibited statewide. The leaf-burning ban, in effect since February 1995, is important to protect people from harmful chemicals that are produced by open burning, officials said.

In a chemical-laden world – from the cosmetics women wear and the chemicals in dry cleaning to the more obvious pollutants, such as smoke stacks and cigarettes – it is easy to get exposed to something dangerous. What’s not as easy is knowing if and/or when that something could lead to serious and lasting side-effects, or even disease.

Activity on a parcel of land just east of the intersection of Routes 17 and 26, across from Hocker’s SuperCenter, has been drawing curious glances and questions from passersby in recent weeks.

U.S. Sens. Tom Carper and Chris Coons, and Rep. John Carney (all D-Del.) recently attended a meeting hosted by Carper to discuss the future of the offshore wind industry in the U.S. with key stakeholders from state and local governments, as well as members of the private sector.

U.S. Sens. Tom Carper and Chris Coons, and Rep. John Carney (all D-Del.) recently announced a total of $1 million in Department of Energy (DOE) funding to help train undergraduate- and graduate-level engineering students at the University of Delaware in manufacturing efficiency.

Legislation enhancing financial penalties for polluters who repeatedly break Delaware’s environmental protection statutes has become law, Attorney General Beau Biden announced this week.

Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) recently introduced legislation to provide financial incentives for investment in offshore wind energy. Joining Carper and Snowe as cosponsors were Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).

Broiler chickens are produced by the millions in industrial facilities concentrated in just a handful of states, and much of the waste they produce ends up polluting the nation’s waterways. These are just two issues highlighted in a new report released this week by the Pew Environment Group.

DuPont Professional Products has issued a warning to professional landscapers via their Web site to not use Imprelis, a DuPont-manufactured herbicide, near Norway spruce and white pine trees, amid concern from landscape professionals that the herbicide may damage the trees. The U.S.

A bill that will lead to stronger enforcement of Delaware’s environmental protection laws – and stiffer consequences for polluters who repeatedly break those laws – passed the state Senate late on June 30.

On June 9, Gov. Jack Markell announced that, after 14 months of effort, the state of Delaware, was teaming up with California-based fuel-cell manufacturer Bloom Energy, along with Delmarva Power and the University of Delaware, to bring Bloom manufacturing to the state.

Apples
September-October
n T.S. Smith and Sons
Bridgeville (302) 337-8271

Every night, thousands of people dine at restaurants in Sussex County, Del., particularly in the summer. And every night, thousands of plates with food waste get scraped into garbage cans, where they are hauled away and added to the landfill – a landfill that isn’t getting any bigger, but is certainly getting much fuller.

Last June, the University of Delaware commissioned a 256-foot Gamesa wind turbine at its Lewes campus. Since then the university has been doing various studies involving the turbine, including studying the impact of turbines on avian and bat populations.

U.S. Sens. Tom Carper and Chris Coons, and Rep. John Carney (all D-Del.) this week welcomed an announcement that NRG/Bluewater Wind had extended the deadline in their agreement with Delmarva Power for an additional three months.

Polluters who ignore Delaware’s environmental laws and illegally send harmful chemicals and substances into the air, land and water face stronger enforcement actions and greater financial consequences under legislation passed recently by the state Senate.