The City Council on Tuesday approved a "control gate" at the foot of Aetna Mountain Road in the Cummings Cove development in Lookout Valley.  Alan Solon, a partner in the development of the remainder of Cummings Cove as well as a thousand acres on top of the mountain, said the gate was needed to prevent trespassers and to protect private property.  Steve Leach, city public works administrator, said the old dirt road up the mountain is regularly used by Jeepers and four-wheelers. He said those using the road have destroyed survey markers as well as stolen material at building sites.  He said those using the road have trespassed on private and created extensive erosion problems.   NPDES rules and regulations require the use of erosion control blankets, turf reinforecement mats, hydraulic mulch, silt fence, straw wattles and other erosion control products to eliminate sediment from leaving a jobsite >1 acre in size.  Sedimentation ponds, lined with high-strength geomembrane liners, help control high flow areas from overburdening these erosion control measures during large storm events.

Source: SacBee - Scientists who for decades reported that famously clear Lake Tahoe was turning murkier have discovered that its clarity actually has been stabilizing since 2001.  Using a new, more sophisticated statistical analysis of environmental data, researchers also determined that a reduced rate of visibility loss in the lake was likely the payoff from decades of erosion control, purchases of environmentally sensitive land and restrictive building rules designed to curb runoff.  NPDES rules and regulations require the use of erosion control blankets, turf reinforecement mats, hydraulic mulch, silt fence, straw wattles and other erosion control products to eliminate sediment from leaving a jobsite >1 acre in size.  Sedimentation ponds, lined with high-strength geomembrane liners, help control high flow areas from overburdening these erosion control measures during large storm events.

KENDRAPARA, May 12: Expressing deep concern over abysmal lack of disaster preparedness, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) charged the government agencies of jeopardising the safety of people in natural disaster prone Kendrapara district.  “It’s a failure of disaster preparedness mechanism in Kendrapara district. The government has not learnt lessons from the past blunders.” alleged Kendrapara MLA Mr Utkal Keshari Parida while briefing reporters here recently.  "The government was forced to transfer the then Collector during 2005 flood for utter negligence charge. Nothing has changed in the mind set of officials exposing the people to unpredictable Nature," he observed.  Kendrapara, one of the most cyclone prone districts, is presently without an emergency officer. The emergency wing of the administration has almost come to a standstill. While the region is reeling under heat wave, it is not equipped with instrument to measure day temperature. "What has one to say, the telephones of the wing have stopped functioning," he said.
As many as 26 HAM radios, vital communication link during disastrous hours, have turned dysfunctional. Those had been installed in the aftermath 1999 super cyclone in remote seaside villages considered highly vulnerable to cyclonic strike.  Sea is turning violent and eating into large coastal areas of this district. Major areas in Rajnagar including the block headquarters town are now threatened by sea erosion. But the government measure to arrest the erosion is conspicuous by absence. The saline embankments that checkmate the ingress of tidal waves are lying highly vulnerable. "Funds spent for its repair have been embezzled by officials and BJD leaders exposing the residents to onslaught of nature’s fury," he said.
While flood is a recurring feature in this part of the state, flood control mechanism has abysmally failed here. The flood-induced breaches on the river embankments have not been given facelift. More than the half of the river embankments are in enfeebled state and are highly susceptible to possible flood.  Simply introducing erosion control products to the coastal areas like erosion control blankets, hydraulic mulches, turf reinforcement mats, etc. would greatly diminish the cyclones' effects.
"There has been a rampant misuse of flood control grant from the centre," said Mr Parida citing the cases of refurbishment of irrigation bungalows owned by the irrigation department. "The flood control grants were diverted for repair of government rest houses and installation of air conditioners," he added.
As many as 26 mechanised vessels provided to the district by the state port engineering department have turned idle. "The engaged employees and crew members are left with no work to do," Mr Parida said. These vessels come in handy for relief and rescue operation during flood and ingress of tidal waters into this coastal region.
Besides the funds to provide relief to people from heat wave have been largely misused. The Sarpanch of each of the 230 gram panchayats have received Rs 5,000 for heat wave control measures. Barring a few exceptions, the funds have served as pocket expenditure for the PRI members. "The district administration has also failed to judiciously use the special relief commission grants for heat wave relief measures," Mr Parida said.

Source: StarNewsOnLine.com - Beaufort | The board's stated mission is to protect the coast's natural resources, not private property.  But two seemingly unstoppable forces - beach erosion and costal development - are placing increasing pressure on the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission to take steps to help private land and homes on threatened shorelines.  Faced with the growing economic and political problem of disappearing beaches, a small committee of coastal regulators and officials met Friday to discuss what options are out there. But the choices aren't necessarily quick, cheap, palatable or environmentally friendly.  "There's no silver bullet," said commission Chairman Bob Emory, who is a member of the small advisory committee.  With most of the state's beaches fully developed, pulling threatened homes back from encroaching waves isn't a viable option. Local officials said telling residents to abandon their homes isn't realistic either.  Beach nourishment is another alternative, although federal support for the expensive sand-boosting work has been declining for years.  That leaves sandbags and building jetties, groins or other hardened structures to stabilize beaches.

But after years of avoiding the issue, the CRC is finally pushing to have most of the state's exposed sandbags removed.  There also is a growing consensus that sandbags, which are supposed to be temporary erosion control products, aren't a long-term solution to the state's beach woes.  Many of the state's sandbags have been in place well past their two- or five-year limit. The bags that protect The Riggings condominium complex in Kure Beach, for example, have been on the beach for more than two decades.  Finally, state law specifically outlaws hardened structures along the coast except in certain cases, although there is a proposal to allow one pilot groin project on Figure Eight Island.  Ideas kicked around Friday included pressing Raleigh to dedicate more funds to beach nourishment. But coastal voters have largely declined to help fund the expensive projects themselves, which could limit the idea's appeal among legislators.  More effective and natural ways of protecting beach erosion is through the use of turf reinforcement mats, erosion control blankets and hydraulic mulches.

New Hanover County is the only county along the coast that has a dedicated funding source, a portion of its room-occupancy tax fund, to finance nourishment projects in Wrightsville, Carolina and Kure beaches.  There also was talk Friday about waiting to make any major decisions until officials finish a study looking at the management of the state's beaches and inlets. But the plan won't be ready until early next year.  Inlets have long been known to be erosion hot spots, and the state has specific rules covering development near them.  Areas in Southeastern North Carolina with significant erosion woes around inlets include Bald Head Island, Figure Eight Island, Ocean Isle Beach and North Topsail Beach.  Other suggestions Friday included increased education and outreach efforts, a review of the state's sandbag rules and support for an alliance of Southern coastal states to share information and management techniques.  But the proposal that received the most support Friday was probably the simplest, cheapest and easiest to implement.  Emory suggested that signs be erected at all of the state's public beach access sites disclosing some of the major hazards of coastal living.  The proposals will now be forwarded to the whole Coastal Resources Commission for review.

Source: Knoxvillebiz.com - It's OK for a flag to flutter in the wind, but not the fabric in a silt fence.  If you see a building site where the silt fences are sagging or rippling in the wind, you can bet they are not doing their job as a barrier against soil erosion. They need to be taut, said Ruth Anne Hanahan, education and outreach coordinator with the Water Quality Forum.  Her organization is teaming with the Knox County Stormwater Management Division on a program to educate building subcontractors on the importance of maintaining erosion control measures at construction sites.  Members of the water quality group, county officials and AmeriCorps Volunteers gathered Friday at a building site in West Arden subdivision off George Williams Road to guide workers through a tutorial on silt fences and other soil erosion barriers.  Bob Mohney, president of Saddlebrook, the subdivision's developer, said his company wants to stay in the forefront on "green" building methods and wants contractors working on Saddlebrook projects to meet the same standards.  "Green building includes more than just the actual building of the home," Mohney said. "It includes the environment and impact on the environment, and obviously soil and sediment control is very important in East Tennessee, and we want to be a leader in it."  When he found out about the Water Quality Forum program, he invited those involved to lead a two-hour session for subcontractors in West Arden. Posters were mounted on easels to show proper and improper ways of installing silt fences, storm-water drain barriers, erosion control blankets and other erosion control features. Viewers could lift a flap to reveal which photos showed the correct methods. Instructions were in English and Spanish because of the many Spanish-speaking workers employed by subcontractors.  The idea is that Saddlebrook employees have been drilled on the proper methods, but workers for a plumbing company or electrical company, for example, would not always know about silt fences or "eels," which are long sandbag-like barriers used to protect storm drains from sediment runoff.  "All our employees have been trained in new standards of silt control, but subcontractors are on the site more than anybody else," Mohney said. "We've tried to express to them how important this is, but they need to understand why we are doing it, how we are doing it and how important it is to protect our communities when they are in here through sediment control."

Mark Leach, director of construction for Saddlebrook, said a subcontractor otherwise might inadvertently cause problems.  "Say you've got a delivery guy with a truckload of trusses. If he doesn't know that silt fence is there for a reason - 'OK, I'll just back over it and dump my stuff on top of it,' " Leach said.  The hope is that subcontractors will avoid doing such things, plus be educated to spot and report erosion problems they see on job sites, he said. The scope of Saddlebrook's operations makes this important, he said.  "With 14 active subdivisions (under construction), there would be about 1,000 people there on a good work day," he said.  Hanahan said some of the impetus for the program came from Knox County. Parci Gibson, with the Stormwater Management Division, said getting better adherence to erosion control standards at construction sites can help the county better meet state and federal mandates to protect rivers and streams. Saddlebrook is the second developer that the county and the Water Quality Forum has worked with to educate its contractors, Hanahan said. The first sessions were held at two different subdivision sites under construction by Worley Builders Inc., she said.

The Department of Commerce has selected the city of Merrill to regulate erosion control, sediment control and stormwater management for commercial buildings within the municipality.  Under the agent delegation agreement, Darin Pagel, the city's building inspector, will be responsible for regulating erosion and sediment control at public buildings and places of employment for Merrill.

Under threat of court action, Kevin Guay has come to an agreement with the state over the need to stop sediment-filled water from running off his property into the city's drinking water supply.  In Merrimack County Superior Court yesterday, attorneys for Guay and for the state agreed to a preliminary injunction that requires Guay to take "any and all legally available measures necessary" to ensure that water with sediment does not leave his property.   "We're all going to cooperate to get it done," said Guay's attorney, Brandon Giuda.  Guay had been building a single-family home on his property at 30 Villanova Drive. The Department of Environmental Services last week obtained a temporary order that stopped Guay from continuing construction because of concerns over pollution. The state said that water laden with sediment was making its way from his property to Penacook Lake, the city's drinking water supply.  At a hearing yesterday before Judge David Sullivan, Assistant Attorney General Allen Brooks said the temporary restraining order was put in place because of concerns that last week's rain would cause more runoff. He brought photos taken last week showing brown water running down Guay's property. "What happened was what we alleged would happen: significant water quality violations," Brooks said.

Giuda said Guay had instituted pollution controls and had been working with a state wetlands bureau employee to resolve the issue.  Looking at pictures provided by both the state and by Guay, Sullivan said it was obvious that Guay did have some controls. "I see one," he said. "It's ineffective, but there is a fence for erosion control."  But when Giuda argued that there was only so much Guay could do in light of the large construction site and heavy snow, Sullivan disagreed.  "There is something you can do," Sullivan said. "You just don't do it in the middle of the spring."  Ultimately, both sides agreed to the injunction after some changes in language. The injunction forbids Guay to alter the land, other than to stabilize the property. It states that Guay must hire a certified professional installer for erosion and sediment control products or a state-approved engineer to oversee the stabilization measures and to prepare a plan to permanently stabilize the property. Guay must also hire a certified wetlands scientist to prepare a plan to restore the area. The injunction will not prejudice the court in any future hearings.

Giuda said Guay has already hired an erosion professional and an engineer. He brought in pictures that showed attempts Guay has made to stop pollution, including areas that were seeded and hayed, retaining ponds, erosion control blankets, hydraullic mulch, straw wattles and multiple levels of a silt fence.  "He's been working the last month trying to contain this," Giuda told the Monitor. "But with the volume of snow, it just got away."  Sullivan said he hoped the two sides could resolve the issue and dismiss the lawsuit. If not, he said he would schedule another hearing.  Brooks said the state cannot ask for specific penalties, but the maximum penalty allowed by statute is $10,000 a day for each violation. The state says Guay is violating the state wetlands act and the water pollution act.  Guay paid a $30,000 fine in 2005 after similar complaints about the lack of erosion controls on his property.

Source: The Independent - State Department of Environment Conservation officials said the violations occurred because the company began work without putting in place proper erosion control and sediment control measures, as specified in Widewaters' own stormwater pollution prevention plan.  Also, the company had not secured written permission to disturb more than 5 acres when almost 40 acres of soil were disturbed and left vulnerable to erosion.  "We've had some problems that we are addressing," Widewaters representative Marco Marzocchi told The Independent Monday. "We're doing what we need to do to ensure that the site is stabilized.  "It's important to note that there has been no harm done to the environment," he said.     

But there might have been, says DEC: "Widewaters exhibited a blatant disregard for the stormwater regulations of the state and created the potential for a significant water-quality violation," DEC Region 4 Director Gene Kelly said in a press release. "Luckily, we had a long stretch of dry weather which averted any significant turbid discharges to the nearby Claverack Creek.  "The magnitude of this penalty, which is the largest stormwater penalty in the state's history, reflects the seriousness with which DEC views violations of this sort," wrote Mr. Kelly.   As part of the settlement with DEC, Widewaters must hire an independent inspector, in addition to the required daily inspector, to monitor the construction site at least twice every seven days to ensure compliance with the stormwater pollution prevention plan. The inspector must compile and submit to DEC a weekly report detailing compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.  Greenport Commons is a 560,000-square-foot retail center on the east side of Route 9 designed to include three big-box and several smaller retail stores. Thus far, only a Wal-Mart Super Center is a committed occupant.
      

Source: Walker County Register - According to LaFayette director of public works Richard Moore, the city has temporarily halted construction of its planned softball complex.  “We have been put under a temporary stop work order since April 9,” Moore said.  The Georgia Environmental Protection Division called for the halt in construction because the city didn’t have the proper erosion, soil, and sediment control plans required by the agency for the disturbance of a wetland.  The property being developed by the city was purchased in January for $350,000 as a part of the Caron Knitting facility that sits on the LaFayette bypass.  Asked why the city didn’t have the plan in place before the construction began, Moore explained, “I didn’t anticipate that it (the property) would fall into that category. It was a pasture field. There was no vegetation around this drainage ditch that indicated that it was a wetland or low-lying area. This drainage ditch was dry when we began construction.”

The drainage ditch in question extends from the LaFayette bypass, through the property where the fields are to be constructed, and empties into Town Creek.  Moore said he believed the ditch was cut at the same time the bypass was constructed.  Acadia of Chattanooga was called on by the city to draw up the erosion control, soil, and sedimentation plans for the city.  “We now have the plans today,” Moore said. “At this point in time, we can begin work on the added soil and erosion control blankets. We already have a brush barrier in place along town Creek along with silt fence.”  Moore said that the additional structures would line the drainage ditch in question by EPD.

“Once we get these drainage and erosion control structures in place, the engineer will come back out and then he will notify EPD that all these structures are in place,” said Moore.  Although the city is following the EPD mandates in regards to the ditch on the property, it will seek a variance from the department to redirect the water from it into a 42-inch pipe that will ultimately be buried underneath the complex once it is constructed.  Moore said that without the variance the complex cannot be completed as first hoped.  “We might be able to put in one field or some other configuration but at the present, we simply don’t know. I’ll simply see how it all fits,” said Moore.

Asked about that the acquisition of any additional permits Moore said, “When all this first began with EPD, we submitted a payment for all and any permits we needed. I am not sure of the total amount but it was so much based on the number of acres we disturbed. I think we are looking at right around 10 acres. I believe it was $72 per acre. That has been mailed and we have gotten returned receipts.”  Asked if any penalties would be held against the city Moore said, “At this point, I do not know. There has not been any correspondence to that possibility, but I do not know at this time.”  Moore expressed frustration over the hold on construction.  “This is not-for-profit. This is for the city and county kids. It’s not for any monetary gain but for the recreational value it will provide our kids. Right now we have softball teams struggling to find a place to practice,” Moore said.  Moore said the Army Corp of Engineers will also be meeting with city officials to discuss issues concerning the displacement of a wetland.

Carver - Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a true conservationist. Back in the 1930s and ‘40s, he implemented a program to help reforest great expanses of the nation in order to reverse the ever-growing soil erosion problem.  Commonly known as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), this civilian army of 3,463,766 million young men, veterans and Native Americans also served to put out-of-work folks back into employ through the program.  It is estimated that 100,000 of these young men served in Massachusetts in areas familiar to most of us between 1933 and 1942, Myles Standish State Forest (MSSF), Freetown-Fall River State Forest, Nickerson State Park and Wrentham State Forest all benefited from their efforts.  Literally billions of trees were planted as 800 parks and forests were created across the country.

CCC workers, sometimes referred to asRoosevelt’s Tree Army, Tree Troopers and Soil Soldiers, also stocked ponds and lakes with millions of fish, placed erosion control products on farmlands, fought fires, revegetated ranges, restored 3,890 historic structures, and built hundreds of thousands of roads and trails. They also helped develop mosquito controls, wildlife management and riverbank and streambank erosion control. The CCC also created many of the camping areas currently in use.  The Friends of Myles Standish State Forest and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) are joining together to host a community-wide celebration in honor of the CCC at the MSSF headquarters to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the CCC. They are seeking local folks who served in the CCC so they may be presented with recognition awards for their years of service.