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Understanding Inundation Risk

Sea Level Rise

In the State of Maryland, permanently inundated land is no longer real estate, the title is invalid. In Charles County, sea level rise is a risk for land loss particularly around Blossom Point and Cobb Island. This map indicates the present elevation of low lying areas in meters.

There is uncertainty in expected sea level rise and its timing, not only owing to uncertainty in future greenhouse gas emissions (stuff we can fix) but also owing our incomplete understanding of how abruptly ice can enter the oceans from the big reservoirs in Antarctica and Greenland.

This next figure needs some unpacking. It comes from this government report.

The blue line in (a) is the intermediate scenario reaching about 3 ft of sea level rise in 2100. But that is average over the globe. The orange patches around where we live indicate that the sea level rise we would see would be around one to two feet higher than that. Similarly, where the blue line gives about a foot for the average in 2050, we would be closer to 2 feet by then. This would make tidal encroachment on the new sewage treatment facility for Cobb Island a fairly regular occurrence by mid-century. Beach erosion for the island itself could be a serious problem for property owners even sooner.

By the end of the century, Cobb Island would be overwashed by moderate storms with some frequency bringing damage similar to that brought by Isabel, perhaps annually. The sewage treatment facility would have to have modifications to prevent inundation and roads and bridges would need serious improvements. The red line in (a) which combines everything extra bad scientists have considered thus far (worst case) gets us to this situation fifty years earlier around 2050. At the close of the next Charles County Comprehensive Plan, 2036, we’d see what we would expect in 2050 for the intermediate scenario.

Storms

This government report anticipates how often very strong rainfall events will occur as a consequence of climate change. As can be seen above, a trend is already strong in our region as Ellicott City can attest. With continued greenhouse gas emissions, the trend could grow to close to a 300% increase in our region. Strong, slow moving rain events put great pressure on our stormwater management infrastructure and may make emergency services unable to respond to calls during flooding emergencies when roads are overwhelmed. Management of this change in conditions may require enlarged culverts, strengthened water retention facilities and even raised roads. Participation in the national flood insurance program may need to be broadened as well as flood maps are revised to include more property within the 100 year flood contours.

 

This campaign is concerned with preparing Charles County for the unavoidable effects of climate change such as larger flooding events, property impacts of sea level rise and emergency preparedness for longer hotter heat waves that endanger vulnerable residents.  That is a proper local government function. But Charles County has also already taken steps to reduce the emissions that will make these effects even worse. On a broad scale, it has banned fracking for natural gas in the County and denied a permit for the construction of a fracked gas compressor station. Both these actions could help to reduce future greenhouse gas emissions. But a local government’s leverage on these larger actions is limited. We have been inspirational to other localities and indeed probably helped in forwarding the ban on fracking in the entire State. But the nitty gritty is where local government has its most concrete impacts. Here are a few proposals that get down in the weeds.

• Seek a new contract to install solar panels as shaded parking at County facilities including parks, libraries and government offices. This makes facilities more welcoming, keeping cars cooler, and will save the county money on electricity.
• Find ways to support solar coops within our electric coop for homes that may not have ideal roofs for solar.

  

• Seek to locate portions of the offshore wind industry in Charles County. This is a growth industry that will provide jobs over the coming decades. Even though Senator Middleton is supporting one of my opponents, I’d certainly seek his assistance in bringing this about.
• Heat pump water heaters can save on bills and also have rebates and tax credits.  The County’s good borrowing power and first creditor status may be helpful in smoothing out the upfront costs in making a conversion. This would give all county property owners access to the same low cost of credit that the County has earned for itself.  Similar arrangements might be made for replacing furnaces with heat pump home heating.
• County employees should have every opportunity to commute in electric vehicles and car charging infrastructure should be provided at the workplace, probably as a part of the solar installation described above.
• County contracts should be examined for opportunities to use electric transportation and hauling. Electric school busses have a clear benefit for delivering students more ready to learn compared to diesel busses. But trash hauling trucks are also available in quiet electric versions. Setting an example with the County recycling contract may lead residents to insist on quieter operations from their own haulers.
• Hyattsville’s Sergeant Hartnett is demonstrating that the Chevy Bolt is a good patrol car for police work and Maryland Department of Energy now has experience from that conversion. Charles County might be the right place to apply that knowledge to the Tesla Model 3.

Much of this is working together to smooth the way. Many hands make light work as is said in Hawaii. Saving energy makes light work too.

Electoral politics history

In 1984, I was sent by Caucus to the Maine State Democratic Convention as a Mondale delegate with the understanding that if there were a second ballot I would return to my support of Jesse Jackson.  

In the 1990s I was active in Democratic politics in Hawaii, again attending a State Convention.

I also held elective office as Treasurer of the University of Hawaii Graduate Student Organization.

In the 2000 presidential primary, having had experience with the Bush family in High School, I volunteered for the McCain campaign in Virginia. The phone banking I did clued me into the whisper campaign against McCain that culminated in South Carolina. It is sad that even today, he is bad mouthed, apparently mostly because not all of his family is white.

Moving to Maryland, I registered Green and slowly became active with the Party through the Southern Maryland Greens local. I supported Lorna Saltzman for President at our 2004 State Assembly after working with her on the Green Party EcoAction committee.

Activism

While my dips into electoral politics have been occasional, my activism has been fairly steady. As a youth, I organized litter pickups in my neighborhood inspired by Ranger Rick Magazine.

I organized against Draft Registration in High School gaining a large number of petition signatures to present to then Vice President Elect Bush when he came to speak at our school. Despite making arrangements with his advance team, he ducked the meeting and since that time I’ve understood there is something wrong with him when it comes to American Politics; one reason I supported McCain in 2000 since the whole family seems tainted perhaps stemming from a history of fascist sympathies before WWII.

The  Nietzschean will to power seemed to have infected US politics when Bush became Vice President in a very dangerous manner and I worked with community groups in Maine and student groups in New Hampshire and Arizona to bring about a nuclear freeze to stymie the most self-destructive aspects of the power frenzy at that time.

This was also a time of working for social justice. I was an organizer in the effort to persuade the Trustees of Dartmouth College to divest the College endowment from US corporations doing business with South Africa in order to end Apartheid there. This effort ran into violent opposition from the likes of the convict Dinesh D’souza and white supremacist Laura Ingraham.  Fighting the good fight non-violently!

I lived under a fully totalitarian regime in Taiwan for four years after college and witnessed the flowering of democracy there, though I took no part in that, it not being my Country. However, I think I can say that the weeping we all did together over the Tiananmen Square Massacre probably made Taiwan look at its own self more closely. Today, I try to be encouraging to the FaLun Gong protesters on the National Mall who deplore totalitarian aspects of their movement’s treatment on the Mainland.  

Because my academic training is in Physics and Astronomy including graduate level study in Planetary Science, I am able to read with detailed understanding the professional literature of climate science. Thus, I am not susceptible to misinformation directed against the results of that science promoted by fossil fuel interests. I have a clear view of both the threat of climate change and of the forces arrayed against taking action to avoid it, forces that have roots in the fascist sympathies in the US preceding WWII, the reverberations of which made my interactions with the Bush family so sour^[*].

Thus, I have been an early activist in fighting climate change, working to make it a focus of Green Party policy in the US and working with groups organized by Bill McKibben and the Sierra Club and League of Conservation Voters to counteract the fossil fuel interests.

Within Charles County, I have also worked for the preservation of forests largely in connection with preserving water quality though there is a climate aspect there as well.  I’ve supported Light Rail Transit and have encouraged the good repair of electric vehicle charging stations. I’ve also pushed for highway and road safety by getting missing signs replaced and seeking turn lanes where needed. I have also joined the fight against the proposed Fracked Gas Compressor Station in Charles County and have tried to bring coordinated action on this issue from the climate activist community.

Green Party candidates adhere to the the Ten Key Values of the Green Party.  The following ten headings describe ways in which this campaign accomplishes that.  

Grassroots Democracy

Listening

Getting the 2026 Comprehensive Plan completed on time is a key goal of this campaign. That means that the listening process and procedures must be set in motion by 2021 or 2022. This is the most cohesive example of where grassroots democracy appears in Charles County governance. Public testimony in Planning Commission and Board of Appeals proceedings is also important. It seems to me that the County has a duty to democracy in protecting these means of input. I’ve been impressed with the Board of Appeals engaging independent council so that they can get a clear view of the distinction between what is easy and what is right.

Voting

Charles County is a welcoming community and has many residents who are not yet US citizens. Our young people are also trained in civics by the time they are sixteen years old and can obtain federally compliant Maryland ID. By the age of 16 they can be emanipated or give medical consent for treatment for emotional issues. What better training in democracy can there be than to expand our franchise for voting for County Offices and Initiatives to these groups of future fully enfranchised voters? Certainly residents who live and work in Charles County with a clear immigration status have interests in County issues such as how schools are run and how property tax rates are set. How much more in touch would school board members be if they had to take student votes into account and not just student representatives? By welcoming more democracy, we can improve our local government’s fidelity to our residents’ interests.

Social Justice and Equal Opportunity

The huge hole in the County Budget that the so-called tech park purchase caused continues to hurt the residents of Charles County for which we have the most strictly laid out responsibilities, namely our K-12 students. At the time of blossoming, students in high school still have not had activity busses restored.  This means that students, whose parents are often delayed by the traffic that uncontrolled growth has made worse, cannot participate in publicly funded activities such as sports or performing arts or after school clubs that should be equally available to all students. This denies opportunity and is socially unjust.

In another transportation issue, some students walk, some students are driven by parents and some students are transported by diesel busses to and from school.  However, it is known that diesel pollution is associated with reduced cognitive development in elementary school students. http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001792

Right now, owing to mass production, the electric Nissan Leaf is the lowest cost of ownership vehicle in America. For electric school busses, a fourteen year period of ownership makes a cost equivalence if diesel prices stay steady. https://www.districtadministration.com/article/school-districts-cut-bus-costs-going-electric However, in terms of social justice, damaging our students with diesel fumes is an uncountable cost, though we may certainly begin to look at missed opportunities for scholarships for college and the diversion of County resources to dealing with the cost of delinquency as additional financial considerations. A pilot program in converting diesel school transportation to electric is needed starting as soon as possible and certainly before the VW settlement money ($75.7 million) is all assigned to projects in other counties. https://mde.maryland.gov/programs/Air/MobileSources/Documents/Maryland-Volkswagen-Mitigation-Plan.pdf

Ecological Wisdom

Charles County is a very important part of the health of the Chesapeake Bay. What the game fish eat in the Bay spawn in our streams and creeks. Our farmers control nitrogen and phosphorous burdens and seek to implement soil conservation measures to avoid silt runoff.  But unplanned and unbridled real estate development is leading to huge silt spills into the Potomac River and salinity is increasing in our surface waters owing to increased use of road salt. Our sewage treatment is subject to frequent spills causing nitrogen and bacterial pollution and even recent housing developments need remedial work to exclude stormwater from the sewage pipes. Ongoing fishing tournaments and the development of a National Marine Sanctuary point also to economic activity occurring in the County that depends on Bay health.  The Watershed Conservation District which protects the Mattawoman Creek and the headwaters of the Port Tobacco River makes a start and applying ecological wisdom at the watershed level, but we face new challenges as well. As the recent Ellicott City flooding and our own experience shows, our county infrastructure is built, in many cases, for twentieth century conditions that will not return again until the 22nd century or beyond. There are many roads in the County that spend weeks as fords now owing to inadequate drainage for the new conditions we face. Watershed level planning will be needed to address these new challenges.

Non-Violence

Violence is rising in Charles County.  Unplanned sprawl development which stretches law enforcement resources and puts upward pressure on property tax rates can be seen as a primary cause for this.  The frustrations brought home from long commutes in heavy traffic may also be contributing. Certainly, the excessive commute times brought on by uncontrolled growth are hampering participation in social institutions that help to smooth out frictions. Parents are not meeting as often in sports practice fields. Churches have to schedule events later and later or else leave commuting parishioners out. The strength of our communities is being drained by the sprawl growth we have suffered. In short, we have a mess to deal with.  

We need to take stock of how our social and governmental institutions can be better oriented to reducing violence in our county.  Already we see efforts to address the opioid crisis in our social institutions. More addiction treatment is becoming available. But we also need to be expanding understanding of mediation practices and find ways to intervene sooner when social frictions are rising. We need better tools to choose civility in our courts, in our police force, and in our public health and welfare offices. It can’t just be the mission of the libraries anymore.

Decentralization

Local level decision making is very important to Charles County and needs to be respected. An example where Charles County has been procedurally overridden is Maryland Department of the Environment’s consideration of air quality and dewatering permits for Dominion Cove Point’s proposed Fracked Gas Compressor Station. The State is not suppose to consider permit applications when the county has refused to grant a permit but has done so anyway.  The county must work to preserve its autonomy in decision making by raising objections to such encroachment.

Community-Based Economics

Charles County is blessed with a strong tradition of community-based economics in its agricultural traditions. The self-sufficiency of our Amish community strongly uphold these traditions and contribute to our farmers’ markets having some of the best produce in the State. Our Comprehensive Plan also recognizes the contributions our artists make to our quality of life. And, our natural resources are bringing about a growing contribution of ecotourism to our local economy including fishing tournaments, bicycle tourism and kayaking rental trade. Our community college is also expanding too serve our local economic needs. This is all to the good because it is local business that is the cure for the upward pressure on property tax rates caused by irresponsible sprawl development. Enhancing community-based economic activity also brings more employment to the county reducing the pressure on commuter arteries that sprawl development has also congested.  

Feminism and Gender Equity

Athletics in Charles County Schools has been moving towards gender equity and has been largely achieved in Swimming, Tennis, Track and Cross Country programs.  To some degree, mens and womens Soccer, LaCrosse and Basketball are coming into balance but it is hard to say that Softball, Field Hockey and Volleyball balance the men’s programs in Baseball and Football and Wrestling. What seems to be missing are the development programs prior to High School athletics.  Charles County extramural athletics are in fact quite limited at the Middle School level despite the existence of mostly adequate facilities. Developing a Middle School level competitive coed program in Softball, Field Hockey and Volleyball in the schools could be a useful counterpart to private Football and Baseball leagues and help to lead Charles County towards fuller gender equity.

Respect for Diversity

In addition to sprawl development, there has been an emphasis of urban style housing without adequate attention to supporting urban cultural norms.  Huge townhouse developments without community centers such as basketball courts lead to a damaging mix up. Now youth are riding dirt bikes on roads crowded with traffic because the informal woodland trails have been destroyed by sprawl development and no alternative activities have been supported owing to poor planning stemming from delayed zoning. Introducing urban culture in villages without accommodating its moraes has been damaging to the County and has failed to demonstrate respect for diversity.  Developers must be required to retrofit townhouse developments to have walkable access to athletic facilities.

Responsibility

A cornerstone of this campaign is good governance.  One of the key achievements of Peter Murphy, Amanda Stewart and Ken Robinson has been to raise the reputation of Charles County from its very sorry state four years ago.  Back then, granting institutions avoided giving grants in Charles County owing to lack of confidence in the County Commissioners to pay even the slightest attention to the law.  One of the clearest signs that these commissioners have turned thing around is the County’s new AAA credit rating. Such a rating makes accomplishing County goals much less expensive but it is very unlikely to be maintained should we return to the budget shenanigans of prior years. Keeping Charles County on an honest and responsible course is perhaps the very first reason for this campaign.

Future Focus

Because the last Comprehensive Plan was so late, owing largely to the behind-closed-doors Balanced Growth Initiative that interfered with the proper open-meetings-based development of alternatives carried out by County Staff, the zoning that the current Comprehensive Plan requires for implementation is still not complete. This needs to be completed, but also, we need clear procedures set in place to keep the next Comprehensive Plan on track for 2026 and based on the input of all County residents, not backroom deals with absentee land speculators.

Part of the next Comprehensive Plan needs to address the effects of Sea Level Rise on the County.  In places, Chesapeake Bay Critical Areas will move back into residents’ property and some mechanisms such a easements or reduced assessments should anticipate such changes.  The region near Cobb Island (see map) is at risk of losing substantial real estate without mitigation. The shifting of the saline waters in the Potomac towards Prince Georges County will affect shallow wells at the least and may also affect deeper aquifers.  These effects, like the change in intensity of rainfall, need to be anticipated and dealt with equitably in the next Comprehensive Plan.

My community involvement runs from athletics to charitable work to activism in preserving and enhancing our natural resources to supporting the arts through performance.

I’ve coached for Bryans Road Soccer Association and Upward Soccer, Umpired for Potomac River Little League and organized as team parent at SMYO when my children were younger.  

During their High School years, I participated in fundraising for Athletic Boosters, running the fifty-fifty in the football stands (red white and blue top hat) at Lackey High School as well as serving as President of the Performing Arts Boosters.

Additionally, I served as stroke and turn judge for Lackey and Torpedoes Swimming and referee for Lacky and St Charles Swimming.

Weekly, I volunteer at a Bryans Road Food Pantry and spend three afternoons a week during the school year at the Potomac Branch Library tutoring students in need of academic support.

I was Southern Maryland Organizer for the Sierra Club for the Climate March last year and have been active with the Mattawoman Watershed Society for many years. I presently represent the Society on the Tri-County Bicycle and Pedestrian Infrastructure Advisory Committee, the Choose Clean Water Coalition and the United Way.  In the past, I’ve also represented Maryland on the Green Party US EcoAction Committee and I provide testimony to County and State Agency Hearings and lobby our State Legislative Delegation on Sierra Club priority legislation. I’ve worked with what is now 350.org to bring about federal legislation on climate change and appear in Bill Mckibben’s book Fight Global Warming Now. I have also tried to support former Commissioner Hodge’s efforts to bring light rail to Charles County.  

I have performed as a singer/songwriter in support of Christ Church Old Durham, Port Tobacco Market Day and have used my appearances at other venues in DC and Southern Maryland to support community activism. I’ve sung bass for Christ Church Port Tobacco Parish and now sing at Old Durham. I love pipe organs.

As much a possible, we’ll avoid having to send old campaign signs to the landfill.  At the next Charles County Greens Meeting on Wednesday September 5 and 6 pm at the Waldorf West Branch Library, I’ll be distributing sustainable yard signs that will bring out your artistic side.

That’s right, sidewalk chalk.  Many sizes and colors to choose from including certified non-toxic.  Remember to re-energize your creativity after each rain storm. If you can’t make the meeting, let me know and I’ll bring you some. Post a picture of your sign on social media as well: #sustainablesign