Bay Restoration Supports Good Jobs, Clean Waters

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1 Bay Restoration Supports Good Jobs, Clean Waters

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3 Introduction From New Jobs to Preserving Existing Ones, Restoration Work Pays Off In order to capture the economic impact of restoring local waterways and the Chesapeake Bay, particularly work paid for through Maryland s Bay Restoration Fund, one has to cast a big net. It quickly becomes obvious when talking to the people who do the work that the benefits they observe range from direct employment to improvements in the quality of life of communities. This report provides examples of contractors who do restoration work on the bay and in local waterways and explicitly speaks to the beneficial returns they see as they go about their jobs. This report also looks at the impact that restoration work, or in some cases, poor water quality, has had on towns, engineers, the hunting and fishing industries, septic tank installers, and ecologists. The wide-ranging perspectives, expressed fully in the interviews that follow in this report, tell the story of the multitude of benefits realized from environmental restoration work.

4 Summary of Benefits KEEPINg PEOPLE WORKINg Many companies and firms are in business with the primary purpose of conducting environmental restoration work. It s the reason Carter McCamy started his environmental services company, Environmental Quality Resources, for example. For others, such as Nancy Mayer, president of a company that builds state-of-the-art nitrogen-removing septic tanks, among other products, the restoration work, and in particular the work conducted under the Bay Restoration Fund, have given them new product lines. John Diamondidis, who owns and runs a company that provides stream restoration and stormwater remediation among other services, said, The Bay Restoration Fund puts in the money. The EPA put in the requirements and the time limits. This helps guys like us put jobs on the street. Diamondidis said, These projects keep companies working, keep people working. A StEAdy BASE OF WORK The contractors interviewed said that the Bay Restoration Fund had paid for work that helped them ride out the worst recession of our times. The fund saved us in the last couple of years, Mayer said, adding, We ve been able to keep jobs that we otherwise would have had to cut. She noted that her company works with about 50 other contractors, and that the Bay Restoration Fund helped them stay in business as well. NEW INduStRIAL NIChES Stream restoration was an industry largely created to address the damage done by stormwater runoff that pollutes our waterways and erodes our streams. Designing and manufacturing modern nitrogen-removing septic tanks created another industrial niche. Now there s another niche about to open the need to monitor and service these new tanks, which are more like mini-wastewater treatment tanks than they are like your grandfather s septic system. Septic installers say the tanks, which are highly reliable, will need maintenance and there is a need for more qualified companies that can effectively monitor and service these tanks. ExPANdEd CAPABILItIES The steady dollars from the Bay Restoration Fund have attracted environmental service contractors who previously tackled projects in different fields. Joe Berg, who does environmental consulting, said, We re now seeing construction firms that historically were involved in roads and utilities become interested in green projects and begin to acquire skills they didn t have before. That has led to a great deal more competition. Some of these companies may not have the full set of skills to do the work, Berg said As they get into it, they get on-the-job-training and develop capabilities to do a good job. Restoration work is going to increase, so the new capacity is a good thing. Not only does it broaden the base of skills of the individual companies, it adds capacity to the restoration field. ExPOSINg BuRIEd treasure All the contractors and city managers said the environmental projects they had done had effects they never anticipated. John Diamondidis spoke rhapsodically about what happens when an eroding stormwater pond is restored. 2 Clean Waters, Healthy Families

5 He put it like this: We re creating not just habitat for animals, but also a place where urbanites can come and take a deep breath. A place to give our brain a chance to relax, a place where people can take a walk, have a cook out, put a line in the water. A place to decompress. Berg called this exposing buried economic value. When environmental problems are addressed, he said, people often perceive an increase in the value of their properties and an increased sense of satisfaction. RECREAtION ANd tourism Steve Kullen, who manages Bay Restoration Fund grants in Calvert County, said the fund was paying for upgrades to a major sewage plant in the county and replacing failing septic tanks. Both help improve the quality of the water entering the bay, the Patuxent, and the county s streams, he said, adding, improved water quality equates to more swimmable and fishable water and more fish, and that equates to economic development and increased jobs. We are getting something back for this money. It s a win, win, win. the people paying for it now get environmental improvements; the people doing the work get jobs; our grandchildren get a better world. Bill Remington, a senior engineer and project supervisor the FutuRE Federalsburg, located on Marshyhope Creek in Caroline County, has used the Bay Restoration Fund to upgrade its sewage treatment plant and a mix of other environmental funds to untangle its combined sewage and stormwater pipes and address stormwater and flooding. With the improvements, we have room for growth, said George Happy Mayer, the town s grants manager. As a community it allows us to do things, and I can t say enough about it. Mayer worries that other towns may not be as fortunate because the fund may not have the money needed for their upgrades, leaving the entire burden on local ratepayers. That s another reason to protect and increase the BRF, he said, adding, Those guys need the same help we got. Bill Remington, a senior engineer and project supervisor who has worked on many sewage plant and stormwater projects on the Eastern Shore, said his firm had done several projects that were funded by the restoration fund. We are getting something back for this money. It s a win, win, win. The people paying for it now get environmental improvements; the people doing the work get jobs; our grandchildren get a better world, he said. ANd WhAt IF WE didn t do the WORK? There are costs to not undertaking this Chesapeake restoration work, the negative economic impact generated by a deteriorating environment. Those costs can be glimpsed in interviews with two men who have spent their lives on the bay. Those men, Capt. Sonney Forrest of Solomons, a 34-year veteran charter operator, and Richie Gaines of Kent Island, have witnessed a loss of jobs in charter and commercial fishing, a loss of customers to businesses ranging from hardware stores to restaurants, and a dramatic shift as the bay is becoming less a producer of valuable resources, such as seafood, and more a venue for pleasure. Both firmly believe that a restored bay would produce enormous economic effects for Marylanders. Gaines put it like this: The bay is a huge economic engine. If they were to fix that, the economy of Maryland would boom. Bay Restoration Supports Good Jobs, Clean Waters 3

6 Bay Job Opportunities Contractors: A Base for Jobs and an Opportunity to Create Public Value McCamy began his company in 1991, at a time when he foresaw that counties would be forced to do the right thing to enhance or protect the environment. Work done for the state and county governments has been a large part of his business since. The company recently finished restoration work associated with the Intercounty Connector in Prince George s and Montgomery counties. The $4 million job employed 60 people from March until December, McCamy said. These are projects we need if we are to continue to employee 125 people, McCamy said. Over many years, Carter McCamy has seen the art and science of stormwater management change from the goal of moving water off a site as fast as possible to keeping most of it on the site for as long as possible. During that time he s built his company, Environmental Quality Resources, LLC into a 125-person, multi-disciplinary, environmental construction company that does stream restoration, wetland mitigation, reforestation, shoreline stabilization, and stormwater management. The economic impact that he sees from his work goes well beyond the people he employs. Every project requires fuel and materials, and the money from the projects flows to McCamy s suppliers and their employees and into the community. And there is this, McCamy says: From a community and state perspective, the fact we are improving the environment and making it healthier for critters has an economic impact. One of our biggest industries is tourism, and visitors are attracted here because of our improving environment. McCamy figures that what we spend on environmental restoration comes back 10 times over. CLEAN WAtER FuNdINg PROgRAMS the Bay Restoration Fund, an important source of funding for clean water programs, was created by Governor Ehrlich in It provides funding to upgrade Maryland s largest wastewater treatment systems, to install nitrogen-removing septic systems, and to plant cover crops all to reduce nitrogen pollution. the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays trust Fund was created by Governor O'Malley in 2007, and it provides funding for non-point source pollution control projects, such as projects to restore streams and reduce polluted stormwater runoff, as well as cover crops. the State Revolving Loan funds are provided each year by the Maryland Department of the Environment for drinking water and water quality projects. In 2009, Maryland received additional State Revolving Loan funds through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that were invested in drinking water, water quality, and green infrastructure projects. 4 Clean Waters, Healthy Families

7 CRuMBLINg WAtER ANd SEWER PIPES MAKE headlines Maryland s aging sewer and water infrastructure, some pieces of which are nearly 100 years old, is in desperate need of repair. Burst pipes and water mains, and the damage they cause, are becoming far too common in the news. AgINg INFRAStRuCtuRE PutS BIg hole IN REStORAtION WORK Recent reports from Baltimore and Baltimore County shed light on just how badly we need repairs to aging sewage infrastructure. Tim Wheeler, one of the region s best environmental reporters, reported in December that although each jurisdiction is spending a billion dollars to repair their pipes, the magnitude of the problem is far greater. Wheeler noted that a team from the Center for Watershed Protection and city and county workers slogged 18 miles of streams in the city and county checking for dry-weather discharges from 81 storm drain outlets. They detected sewage and other pollution in four out of five. Their conclusion: up to 15 percent of the nitrogen in urban watersheds could stem from failing pipes that let a steady flow of untreated sewage into streams. Upgrading Maryland s 67 major treatment plants will pay off, but we ll also need to repair failing infrastructure. Bay Restoration Supports Good Jobs, Clean Waters 5

8 The work has also paid off for the environment, McCamy said. If you go back and look at the historical record, you ll see the bay is improving. I feel like we ve had a lot of impact. We ve created habitat and reduced pollution loadings. It s incredible where we ve gone with the science. John Diamondidis, president of Highway and Safety Services, Inc., a construction company that builds and retrofits stormwater systems and does stream restoration and landscaping, also sees the effort to restore Chesapeake Bay as an engine for employment. The Bay Restoration Fund puts in the money. The EPA put in the requirements and the time limits. This helps guys like us put jobs on the street, Diamondidis said. There s always going to be the environmental work, and I hope it will keep us fertile, hopefully, until we get out of the recession. Environmental work makes up a big part of Highway and Safety Services book of business, Diamondidis said, and is a major factor in his ability to employ 93 people. His company has done major drainage improvement projects in Montgomery and Prince George s counties erosion control, stormwater management pond retrofits and stream restoration, wetland creation, and reforestation work. We re saving property from being washed away, he noted. Diamondidis sees another benefit, one that can t be valued in dollars and cents. We re creating not just habitat for animals, but also a place where urbanites can come in and take a deep breath. A place to give our brain a chance to relax, a place where people can take a walk, have a cook out, put a line in the water. A place to decompress, he said. Both men said they viewed the water quality funding programs as a critical component for the state s environmental restoration work. It will let us continue the good work of restoration, Diamondidis said. Both also said they thought the funds should not be diverted to other uses and remain purely for restoration work. 6 Clean Waters, Healthy Families

9 towns: Setting Examples and Preparing for the Future efforts to address environmental needs it had a vision of becoming one of the greenest cities around. Undeterred by size (the community includes just 1,500 residents who are sandwiched between other towns located along the Anacostia River), the town worked to become a green community. Edmonston and Federalsburg may be located a Bay apart, but they have several things in common. Both are small towns, located on the banks of rivers, think green, and have benefitted from state and federal funds that paid for much-needed infrastructure upgrades that solved local problems and addressed environmental needs. Guy Tiberio, administrator for the Town of Edmonston in Prince George s County, said that when the community began its continuing The town s signature project is Decatur Street, what town officials call America s first real green street. The street incorporates sidewalks that use small rain gardens, permeable bike paths, and cross-walks to catch runoff; LED streetlights powered by windgenerated energy; and many trees and shrubs. The town continues to build stormwater retention wetlands and other projects to address flooding along the river. It s an ongoing process to create a green town, said Tiberio. He noted a new Ecostar roof on city hall, high efficiency lighting, six more stormwater retention structures, and information to teach people how to stop polluted stormwater runoff. StORMWAtER INFRAStRuCtuRE REduCES FLOOdINg damage, COStS While reducing polluted stormwater runoff has long been a goal for improving water quality, it also reduces the damage and costs from flooding. A 2011 article in The Journal for Surface Water Quality Professionals, Green Infrastructure Benefits for Floodplain Management, comes to the following conclusions: Green infrastructure, or low impact design, to reduce stormwater can provide substantial benefits regarding flood protection In two case study scenarios, using an application used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, green infrastructure stormwater controls reduced flood damages by about 40 percent (from $13 million to $8 million and $17 million to $10 million) Infrastructure that keeps stormwater runoff onsite reduced losses from flood damage by between $6,700 and $9,700 per acre Actuaries should consider stormwater infrastructure to potentially reduce flood insurance premiums Bay Restoration Supports Good Jobs, Clean Waters 7

10 how the Bay Restoration Fund has Been Spent SEPtIC PROJECtS In addition to county funding, the Maryland Department of the Environment recieved $17.7 million to upgrade septic systems. Total Funding: $48.7 million 8 Clean Waters, Healthy Families

11 WAStEWAtER treatment PLANt upgrades Total Funding: $520.7 million Bay Restoration Supports Good Jobs, Clean Waters 9

12 The city has relied on a mix of local, state, and federal funds. To do the street work, Edmonston relied on local bonds and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. Tiberio said the town s projects generate work for contractors. But he noted the value of the work goes beyond the dollar value. These projects have been done to capture the rain, to keep the poisons on the road from running into the Anacostia. We want pure clean water going into the Anacostia, Tiberio said. They ve also given the town a sense of pride. We re a tiny community with a tiny tax base, noted former mayor Adam Ortiz at the time of the Decatur Street s dedication. If we can do this, any place can, and every place should. George Happy Mayer, the Main Street and grants administrator for the town of Federalsburg in Caroline County, has the same attitude. He says that the environmental work the town has done, much of it with the aid of the Bay Restoration Fund, has improved the town s prospects for growth, addressed environmental needs, and cured local problems like flooding. We are right at the headwaters of Marshyhope Creek, and when stormwater overflows or our sewage discharges, it affects everything downstream, Mayer noted. When the Bay Restoration Fund was created, Federalsburg worked hard to get in line for sewage plant upgrades. It became the 17th plant to receive funding, and the work, which included the installation of Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR) and Enhanced Nutrient Removal (ENR) technologies, has been completed. Maryland s Enormous Wastewater Infrastructure Needs: According to the 2009 Report Card for America's Infrastructure by the American Society of Civil Engineers, Maryland has $5.44 billion in wastewater infrastructure needs. With the improvements, we have room for growth, Mayer said. As a community it allows us to do things, and I can t say enough about it. I am glad we were aggressive enough to get on the line early. Mayer worries that other towns may not be as fortunate because the restoration fund may not have money to fund the required upgrades, leaving the entire burden on local ratepayers. That s another reason to protect and increase the fund, he said, adding, Those guys need the same help we got. ENR? BNR? In the sewage treatment world, two acronyms crop up regularly ENR and BNR. Both are processes for taking nutrients out of wastewater. BNR stands for biological nutrient removal, a process that uses bacteria to convert nitrogen and phosphorus to forms that are not harmful to the environment. Nitrogen and phosphorus are two of the three most damaging pollutants in the bay, along with sediment. There are different ways of doing BNR, but they all aim to dramatically cut down on the nitrogen and phosphorus in the discharged water. The BNR process removes more than 90 percent of pollutants. ENR, which stands for Enhanced Nutrient Removal, goes a step farther and can allow sewage treatment plants to remove higher levels of nutrients. 10 Clean Waters, Healthy Families

13 Mayer said support for the Bay Restoration Fund is strong, so long as the money raised by the fees on septic tanks and sewage connections goes toward the environmental work the fund is meant to do. the Engineer: A Win, Win, Win Situation People don t like it when funds like the transportation fund get raided to pay for other kinds of state needs. They want the funds to go where they were intended, he said. It s put us in position to be a sustainable, growing community. It s also a kind of a duty to do what we do. the river defines our community, and we ve taken a stewardship position. George Happy Mayer, the Main Street and grants administrator for the town of Federalsburg in Caroline County The town has also almost completed work to separate its stormwater and its sanitary sewer lines. That work has been done with a mix of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and State water quality revolving loan funds. This work will really get us to the point where we know what is going on with stormwater, Mayer said. He said the new stormwater system included receptacles at the end of the pipes that capture silt and debris and keep it out of the Marshyhope. The projects have also stopped severe property flooding in the town. The environmental work has kept contractors and workers employed, but he s most excited by what it means for the city s future. It s put us in position to be a sustainable, growing community. It s also a kind of a duty to do what we do. The river defines our community, and we ve taken a stewardship position, Mayer said. Bill Remington, a senior engineer and project supervisor, has been designing projects to capture nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment all across the Eastern Shore. The firm he works for, Davis, Bowen, and Friedel, Inc., an architecture, engineering, and surveying firm in Salisbury, has designed stormwater systems and sewage treatment plants for towns including Snow Hill, Federalsburg, Delmar, and Crisfield. The wastewater treatment plants have reduced their nitrogen output to one-sixth or one-seventh of what they were, and stormwater structures have trapped dirt and eliminated nutrients, Remington said. Most of this work has been funded by the Bay Restoration Fund. Remington said the bay fund has meant about $3.5 million of work for the firm. I would say that it has retained jobs that would have been lost, he said. His firm s work has also led to work done by contractors. The fund did preserve jobs and it did something really good for the environment and for our grandkids. We are getting something back for this money. It s a win, win, win. The people paying for it now get environmental improvements; the people doing the work get jobs; our grandchildren get a better world. Bay Restoration Supports Good Jobs, Clean Waters 11

14 hunting and Fishing: Bay Ambassadors See a Steady Loss and a Potential Boom yellow fin trout of 10 to 12 pounds. They re mostly gone. People paying hundreds of dollars to fish want more than two striped bass in a day s outing. As a result, Forrest said, interest in fishing is declining. A lot of guys have gotten out of the charter boat business in Maryland or down-sized to a smaller guide business. I d say our industry is 60 to 70 percent off from 2007, Forrest said. Richie Gaines remembers the time when diners all along the shore would be full of men eating a hot breakfast well before dawn, preparation for a day spent in duck blinds. All the motels would be full; the diners would be filled up. You couldn t get in to them in the morning early to get a cup of coffee. All the hardware stores used to sell shotgun shells and gear. All that activity, it s mostly gone now, he said. Gaines, a light tackle fishing guide from Kent Island and avid waterfowl hunter, said, Maryland used to be a huge destination for people to come to duck hunt, from one end of the bay to the other. But as the underwater grasses went, so did the ducks. They just pass through now. They re here and few days, then they are gone. Something similar can be said about fish, said Sonney Forrest, a charter boat captain and fishing guide in Solomons. A charter captain, he wants to catch his limit, and he s got to do it two times a day, for one fishing party in the morning, one in the afternoon, if it is going to be profitable. And he wants to get the big fish. But once he s got his striped bass limit, what s he do then? There used to be a lot of species you could fish for: 10 to 12 pound bluefish, flounder, croaker, sheepshead, puffer fish, speckled trout Some of that is the economy; some of it is the lack of fish and the lack of options in fishing. And because the bay s not the vibrant producer it used to be in finfish and shellfish, we don t have the people. When we used to have a lot of people wanting to go fishing, all the hotels and motels would be full, the restaurants would be full, convenience stores and gas stations were busy at 4 a.m. in the morning, but not now. The bay has changed and so goes the livelihood of many that depended on the bay. Gaines agrees. When we had a healthy bay, a charter boat captain could go for rockfish and when they got their limit they d go after croakers and flounders. You could do a whole day of fishing like that. There were big fleets in places like Chesapeake Beach and Solomons. Then the oyster beds died off. Now, the entire food chain is in trouble. The little red worms that lived on the beds, they died back. The crabs fed on them, and the stripers fed on crabs. A dead bed, that s a dead bottom. The whole industry that used to do that kind of fishing, that s gone. It s bothered your average angler, too. He d take his boat out for a day and he d be able to fish for sea trout, croaker, flounder. That was the bread and butter. Those people aren t making those trips anymore. The fish aren t there. Forrest said that the decline in fish species has led to a decline in the number of commercial fishermen as well. We used to have a lot of pound netters, gill netters, crab potters, oystermen. Those 12 Clean Waters, Healthy Families

15 numbers have decreased significantly. Now watermen are backing away it can t sustain them. They ve got to find another employment. We are losing the history of Maryland along with them. All my ancestors from the 1700s have worked the bay; I may be the last generation to do so if we can t clean it up soon. Recreational fishing remains a big business in Maryland. According to a study titled The Relative Economic Contributions of U.S. Recreational and Commercial Fisheries done by Southwick Associates, an economics firm, for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership in 2006, marine recreational fishing had the following estimated economic impact in Maryland in 2004, the latest year for available data at the time of the study. The report noted that in the six years between 1998 and 2004, the numbers of fishing trips in Maryland declined by five percent. Gaines said that he s fished and hunted the bay from the Susquehanna Flats to the capes, the whole bay, not just a slice of it. He figures the bay is lucky. Our problem is not heavy metals, or things that will last for 300 years. That s the good news. Our problem is nitrogen and phosphorus and sediment. Look at the Potomac. When they improved the Blue Plains sewage plant the river started coming back fast. The same can happen in the bay. All my ancestors from the 1700s have worked the bay; I may be the last generation to do so if we can t clean it up soon. Sonney Forrest, a charter boat captain and fishing guide. Both men said a restored bay could generate an economic upturn for the state. Charter fishing brings people to the area. It s good for the hotels, the restaurants. Charter captains are ambassadors to the bay, Forrest said. The bay is a huge economic engine. If they were to fix that, the economy of Maryland would boom, Gaines said. Both said they thought the Bay Restoration Fund was needed for restoration work to progress, and both said the fund should be used only for restoration RECREAtION FIShINg VALuE IN MARyLANd (Southwick Associates) State Maryland Angler Expenditures $461,213,196 Sales Impacts $372,063,673 Income $158,937,028 Jobs 4,922 Federal tax $43,719,586 State tax $34,818,748 Bay Restoration Supports Good Jobs, Clean Waters 13

16 COMMERCIAL FIShINg LICENCES, By type, FROM Clam Harvester Conch, Turtles and Lobster Crab Harvester -- > 300 pots Crab Harvester -- > 600 pots Crab Harvester -- > 900 pots Finfish Harvester Fishing Guide - Non-Resident Fishing Guide - Resident Hook and Line Limited Crab Catcher Master Guide Oyster Dredge Boat Oyster Harvester Unlimited Tidal Fish COMMERCIAL FIShINg LICENCES, total, FROM ,000 10,000 8,000 6,000 Total Authorizations 4,000 2, Clean Waters, Healthy Families

17 Septic tanks: New technologies Create Work, New Opportunities return of the county s significant fin and shellfish industry, Kullen said. Kullen said there s a perception that property values increase when the new, nitrogenremoving tanks are installed, just as high-end home improvements help property values. Like many rural counties, septic tanks are a big deal in Calvert County. There are more than 28,000 onsite septic tanks in the jurisdiction and more than 5,300 of them are within the critical area the areas abutting bay tributaries that protect water quality and provide wildlife habitat. Steve Kullen, the watershed planner and Bay Restoration Fund grants manager for Calvert County, said that the county has annually replaced about 75 failing and failed septic tanks in the critical area. In total, about 300 systems have been upgraded to the latest, best nitrogen-removing technology, and at least 250 of them have been installed with grant monies from the Bay Restoration Fund. This would not have been possible without the Bay Restoration Fund, Kullen said. The restoration fund is also being used in the county to upgrade the Town of Chesapeake Beach Waste Water Treatment Plant to ENR (Enhanced Nutrient Reduction) status with the latest nitrogen reducing technology. Both upgrading the plant and replacing the failing septic tanks helps improve the quality of the water entering the bay, the Patuxent, and the county s streams. Improved water quality equates to more swimmable and fishable water, and that links to increased economic development through expanded employment opportunities, more tourism, and the possible the fund saved us in the last couple of years. We ve been able to keep jobs that we otherwise would have had to cut. Nancy Mayer, President of Mayer Brothers, Inc. The Bay Restoration Fund dollars can only be used to replace failing tanks, Kullen said, and most homeowners won t choose to upgrade their tanks unless they are failing. If we used the funds to replace all septic tanks failing or not we would see an economic boom for the installers and an overall environmental boost in our watershed, Kullen said. Like all the other counties in the state, Calvert faces the task of greatly reducing the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment entering the local streams and the Bay in order to meet the requirements of the Environmental Protection Administration s new pollution diet for the Bay. Officials said they see the Bay Restoration Fund as a critical part of the funding needed. Bob Johnson of Atlantic Solutions, the companythatsellsandinitially servicestheadvancedseptic systemsusedincalvertcounty, saidtheefforttoreplacefailing tankshadprovidedmuch-needed worktoexcavationcompanies andseptictankinstallers. Bay Restoration Supports Good Jobs, Clean Waters 15

18 He said he also expected the increasing numbers of the new tanks would create a new, small industry of companies that maintain and monitor the systems. I expect we ll see small, start-up companies develop this expertise. Or perhaps plumbers or septic tank installers will add it to their lines of work, Johnson said. Nancy Mayer, President of Mayer Brothers, Inc., a company that makes pre-cast concrete products, said that the restoration fund has seen her company through the economic slowdown of the past few years. Mayer Brothers is the manufacturer of one of the nitrogen-reducing systems widely used in Maryland. Over the past few years her company has sold 700 systems, 600 of which were supported by the restoration fund. The fund saved us in the last couple of years, Mayer said, adding, We ve been able to keep jobs that we otherwise would have had to cut. Mayer said her company employs 20 people but works with 50 contractors across the state. The restoration fund work has saved some of them. If we didn t have this work, all these people would be in trouble, too, she said. Mayer said she was concerned that the amount of money earmarked for septic tank replacement may be reduced, or that new eligibility rules could significantly reduce demand. 16 Clean Waters, Healthy Families

19 the Ecologist: Expanding Capacity; Buried Economic Value Funding for clean water projects, combined with the economic downturn, has not only provided a base of work for some contractors, it has broadened the field of contractors interested in the work, said Joseph Berg, a senior ecologist at Biohabitats, a firm based in Baltimore City that does conservation planning, ecological restoration, and regenerative design. For the companies already in the field, the fund has provided more base work. We re now seeing construction firms that historically were involved in roads and utilities become interested in green projects and begin to acquire skills they didn t have before. This broadens their abilities and allows them to pursue more projects, and that makes the work more competitive. Where we used to see maybe six firms interested in a job, we now see 60. He said he d seen the same sort of shift in the consulting field, where landscape architects and others who formerly worked on commercial and residential projects are now pursuing environmental work. Study FINdS habitat REStORAtION generates BIg REtuRNS According to a 2011 report by Restore America's Estuaries, Jobs & Dollars: Big Returns from Coastal Habitat Restoration," coastal habitat restoration produces jobs at higher rates than many other sectors, including oil and gas, road infrastructure, and green building projects. The report found: Coastal habitat restoration typically creates between 20 and 32 jobs for every $1 million invested. In comparison, road infrastructure projects on average create seven jobs per million, oil and gas return just five jobs, and green building retrofits produce 17 jobs per $1 million invested. That makes wetland reconstruction and improvement, rebuilding depleted oyster beds, removal of obsolete dams and other obstacles to fish passage, tree planting and floodplain restoration, and invasive species removal all good investments. Habitat restoration jobs are local, the study noted, and bring dollars to local businesses. In one of the report s case studies, a watershed restoration project in Oregon, 80 percent of money invested in the project stayed in county; 90 percent stayed in state. Restoration not only creates direct jobs. It also stimulates indirect jobs in industries that supply project materials such as lumber, concrete, and plant materials, and induces jobs in businesses that provide local goods and services, such as clothing and food, to restoration workers. Bay Restoration Supports Good Jobs, Clean Waters 17

20 Some of these companies may not have the full set of skills to do the work, but as they get into it they get on-the-job-training and develop capabilities to do a good job. Restoration work is going to increase, so the new capacity is a good thing. In Conclusion: Clean Water Pays Off Berg said environmental restoration work often had another broadening effect on communities and individuals it can uncover hidden values and kindle new interests. For example, he said that stream restoration projects, or projects that rebuild stormwater retention ponds, often uncover buried economic value. That s where people go to walk the dog or simply get outside. People become more satisfied with where they live. They perceive an increased value of their property. And they often get out and enjoy the improvements. We ve seen folk become birdwatchers, Berg said. For years, we have heard about the proven environmental benefits of projects that clean up Maryland s rivers and streams: safe places for families to swim and to fish, protected drinking water, and improved habitat for fish, shellfish, ducks, and many other animals, to name just a few. But particularly in these difficult economic times, which have devastated families and town halls alike it s time we start to pay attention to the enormous economic benefits of restoration work. The true value of programs that fund projects that improve water quality comes across in the voices in this report. Whether it s paying for the work done by engineers and construction workers to upgrade sewage treatment plants, replace septic tanks, and reduce stormwater runoff, or promoting innovative technologies through installing advanced nitrogenremoving septic systems, or helping towns repair aging infrastructure so their communities can once again thrive, Marylanders across the state see the direct impacts of this work. There are still more benefits that flow from the work. Homeowners perceive increased property values when environmental problems are addressed. Residents are more satisfied in their communities when streams are restored and green spaces created. Merchants and professionals benefit as the dollars from the work flow through communities to purchase expertise, labor, technology, fuel, and all the supplies needed to do the work. New industrial niches are created with the introduction 18 Clean Waters, Healthy Families

21 and expansion of new technologies such as nitrogen-removing on-site systems. Conversely, there is a steep price to pay if we allow our rivers, streams, and the Chesapeake Bay to remain in poor health. Those are the stories we do not want to hear: economic harm to fisheries that once provided rich sources of income to Marylanders, damage to our strong tourism and outdoor recreation industries, and declining property values. We would lose something else as well. We would forever lose a piece of our Maryland heritage. We are losing the history of Maryland, is how veteran charter operator Sonney Forrest puts it. The Bay Restoration Fund and all of Maryland s efforts to restore clean waterways are our best defense against loss, and they are our best investment in a healthy future. They pay off. As Maryland s citizens and elected officials consider investments in restoration work, it s critical they keep in mind the strong economic upside of clean water. Bay Restoration Supports Good Jobs, Clean Waters 19

22 PhotoCredits Cover Top right: Tom Pelton, Chesapeake Bay Foundation Bottom left: Tom Zolper, Chesapeake Bay Foundation Page 1 Bottom: Tom Pelton Page 4 Tom Zolper, Page 7 Town of Edmonston, Maryland Page 11 Tom Pelton Page 15 Tom Zolper Page 16 Middle: Nancy Mayer, Mayer Bros., Inc. Top: Tom Zolper 20 Clean Waters, Healthy Families

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