>Fish kill again at Deep Creek Lake
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The state Department of the Environment says it’s investigating a small fish kill discovered earlier this week at Deep Creek Lake, the popular western Maryland mountain resort area which experienced a large and prolonged fish die-off during last year’s blistering summer.
A fishing guide reported spotting about 50 dead fish Monday or Tuesday, and a state fisheries biologist checking it out found “scattered fish, in low density” at various points around the lake, according to Jay Apperson, an MDE spokesman. Most were bluegills, and all appeared to have been dead for several days, with no signs of fresh deaths, he wrote in an email.
About 2,000 walleye and other mostly deep-water fish went belly-up from July into September last year, an unusually large and prolonged die-off that state investigators concluded resulted from a combination of heat stress and bacterial infection that can kill fish when they’re stressed. Adding to the stress was the shrinkage of the zone of water in the lake with enough oxygen for fish to breathe comfortably – also likely a result of high water temperatures.
If you or someone you know is considering buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! I take great pride in referrals, and I assure you, I will take great care of your friends, family & colleagues! As member of the Garrett County Board of Realtors, I can assist you with ANY listed property, regardless of the listing broker.
>Editorial: Proceed carefully on fracking
>Posted: 5:06 pm Thu, June 9, 2011
By Daily Record Staff
Gov. Martin O’Malley made the right call this week in commissioning an in-depth study of drilling for natural gas in Western Maryland’s portion of the Marcellus Shale.
Such drilling would require the use of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” — a process that pumps millions of gallons of water, chemicals and sand underground at extremely high pressure to break through shale formations and release the natural gas beneath.
This is the ultimate high-risk, high-reward endeavor. That’s why the governor’s approach — a three-layer analysis that could take as long as three years — makes good sense.
Fracking is already underway in Pennsylvania, which lies atop a vast expanse of the Marcellus Shale, a geological formation underneath much of the northeastern United States believed to contain large amounts of natural gas. Estimates range as high as $2 trillion worth of economic activity that could be generated in Pennsylvania by the fracking boom there.
If you or someone you know is considering buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! I take great pride in referrals, and I assure you, I will take great care of your friends, family & colleagues! As member of the Garrett County Board of Realtors, I can assist you with ANY listed property, regardless of the listing broker.
>Good Will Fire Company staging annual fund drive
>To the Editor:
Cumberland Times-News The Cumberland Times-News Thu Jun 09, 2011, 09:04 PM EDT
— The Good Will Volunteer Fire Company of Lonaconing is currently conducting its annual fund drive.
Residents and businesses in the area protected by the company should have received a letter asking for donations. These donations are used to assist in maintaining the equipment and property of the fire company.
The Good Will Volunteer Fire Company provides first due response to the area from just south of Fairgrieves Garage on Route 36 up to the old county roads garage property on Route 36 going north. We also respond to calls in Garrett County on Avilton-Lonaconing Road to the Little Brown Lake Road area and Swamp Road.
The fire company would like to thank all donors in advance of their support to their volunteers.
Donations may be mailed to Good Will Volunteer Fire Company No. 1, 6 Douglas Avenue, Lonaconing, MD 21539.
Officers and Members of Good Will
Volunteer Fire Company No. 1
Gerald J. Cook, secretary
Lonaconing
If you or someone you know is considering buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! I take great pride in referrals, and I assure you, I will take great care of your friends, family & colleagues! As member of the Garrett County Board of Realtors, I can assist you with ANY listed property, regardless of the listing broker.
>"Miracle" Plane Seen In Garrett County
>
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The US Airways jetliner that Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger successfully landed on New York’s Hudson River in January 2009 following a bird strike that disabled the engines came through Garrett County on I-68 Tuesday afternoon. An industrial moving company, J. Supor & Son, assisted the 120-foot fuselage on its final voyage, from Harrison, N.J., to the Carolinas Aviation Museum in Charlotte, N.C. The wings and tail were shipped separately. Numerous motorists were able to catch a glimpse of the “Miracle on the Hudson” plane as it made its way through the Mid-Atlantic region. The entire crew of Flight 1549 was awarded the Master’s Medal of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators. The award citation read, “This emergency ditching and evacuation, with the loss of no lives, is a heroic and unique aviation achievement.” Capt. Sully’s landing has been described as the most successful ditching in aviation history. Photo by Brenda Ruggiero.
If you or someone you know is considering buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! I take great pride in referrals, and I assure you, I will take great care of your friends, family & colleagues! As member of the Garrett County Board of Realtors, I can assist you with ANY listed property, regardless of the listing broker.
>FSU’s Ross drafted by Atlanta Braves
>From Staff Reports
Cumberland Times-News The Cumberland Times-News Wed Jun 08, 2011, 11:43 PM EDT
— FROSTBURG — Pitcher Greg Ross became the first Frostburg State University baseball player to be selected in Major League Baseball’s amateur draft in more than 30 years when he was taken by the Atlanta Braves in the 18th round late Tuesday.
Ross is the third Bobcat to be drafted. John Elder was selected by the New York Mets in 1978 while Jim Riggleman, current manager for the Washington Nationals, was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1974.
A senior right-hander, Ross was 11-2 with two complete games, a save and a 1.49 earned run average this year. He set a single season school record with 112 strikeouts in 90 2-3 innings, and his 11 victories is the second highest total in a single season in school history. Opposing hitters managed just a .192 batting average against him this year.
Ross was named the Capital Athletic Conference Player of the Year, first-team All-Mid-Atlantic Region, and a second-team Division III All-American.
Coach Guy Robertson’s Bobcats finished the year with a 28-14 record, were Capital Athletic Conference champions and played in the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional in Marietta, Ohio.
Additional coverage will be featured in Thursday’s edition of the Times-News.
http://times-news.com/localsports/x494184663/FSU-s-Ross-drafted-by-Atlanta-Braves
If you or someone you know is considering buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! I take great pride in referrals, and I assure you, I will take great care of your friends, family & colleagues! As member of the Garrett County Board of Realtors, I can assist you with ANY listed property, regardless of the listing broker.
>Governor’s order a shale setback, local legislators say
>Matthew Bieniek
Cumberland Times-News The Cumberland Times-News Wed Jun 08, 2011, 11:26 PM EDT
— CUMBERLAND — Gov. Martin O’Malley’s executive order on studying drilling for Marcellus Shale is a setback for natural gas exploration in Western Maryland, say the two legislators who represent the only region in the state where Marcellus Shale harbors trapped natural gas.
“If we were a country they’d be begging us to produce energy,” said Sen. George Edwards. “It’s disheartening really, this executive order is stretching this thing out longer than either bill we considered during the session,” Edwards said.
When a bill requiring a study of drilling supported by the governor failed to get through the legislature, the governor must have “decided to take matters into his own hands,” said Delegate Wendell Beitzel.
The order, signed Monday, will create a task force to study the impact of drilling for natural gas in Western Maryland and how to tax that drilling and liability for damage caused by gas exploration and production. The state Department of the Environment and the Department of Natural Resources will do the study.
The governor’s office said the study will have three parts. The task force will present recommendations by the end of the year on legislation to tax drilling and establish liability standards. Recommendations on best practices for natural gas exploration and production are to be delivered by Aug. 1, 2012, and a final report including environmental impacts of drilling is to be issued by Aug. 1, 2014.
“It’s denying the local people the ability to create revenue,” Edwards said. Marcellus Shale has been discussed for 17 months already, now the governor wants to add three more years to that discussion-that’s five years, Edwards said.
“We’ve just put a sign up at the border saying ‘Gas companies not welcome in Maryland,’” Beitzel said. Beitzel said since he lives in and represents the Marcellus-rich area of Western Maryland, he has no wish to “see things messed up.”
“It’s our culture and it’s our water,” he said.
Both he and Edwards said what they want is jobs and revenue. Beitzel thought it telling that figuring out how the state can get tax money from natural gas production was a major purpose of the study.
The main interest of the state is finding ways to bring in revenue from something produced in Western Maryland, Beitzel said.
“What you have to look at is we need energy,” Beitzel said.
At a recent conference in Pennsylvania, a former official told those gathered that he was tired of people saying Pennsylvania wasn’t “doing it right” but then using the gas coming out of Pennsylvania at much lower prices than importing it from a distance.
The federal Department of Energy has a task force to examine natural gas drilling and fracking in shale and is expected to complete its work in 90 days.
“Why will it take us five years?” Edwards asked. “Companies that use natural gas to create other products are looking to build factories. They’re not going to look at Maryland,” Edwards said. “Everyone wants it done right.”
Edwards said Maryland mines successfully and has stricter laws than West Virginia and Pennsylvania. The other states are already drilling and learning from their experiences. There’s no reason Maryland has to reinvent the wheel, he said. Energy independence is a national security issue and “this little piece can be helpful” in making the U.S. energy independent, he said.
Marcellus Shale formations throughout the Eastern United States harbor large untapped natural gas resources. The total value of the natural gas in Allegany County’s Marcellus Shale could be close to $15.72 billion, with the average well earning $65,000 to $524,000 yearly, University of Maryland Extension staff has said.
“It appears that due to the order, nothing is going to happen until 2014,” Beitzel said.
Contact Matthew Bieniek at mbieniek@times-news.com. The Associated Press contributed to this story.
http://times-news.com/local/x300517779/Governor-s-order-a-shale-setback-local-legislators-say
If you or someone you know is considering buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! I take great pride in referrals, and I assure you, I will take great care of your friends, family & colleagues! As member of the Garrett County Board of Realtors, I can assist you with ANY listed property, regardless of the listing broker.
>Price reduced! 234 ft lakefront near Deep Creek Dam - 2 lots
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119 PENELACRE LN
OAKLAND, MD 21550
Modest 2BR A-frame (AS-IS) on 234+ ft of lakefront at Deep Creek Lake. Lot 8 & 9 Penelacres Sub. combine to form 2.21+/-acres & provide access to Deep Creek Lake. Neither property qualifies for a dock permit, though you can still swim, fish, kayak, canoe. Lot 9 improved w/ septic system & foundation. The sellers did purchase the buydown property for both parcels. Stream runs through property.
Contact Jay Ferguson @ 301-501-0420 or DeepCreekLaker@Gmail.com for more information or to setup a private showing for this property.
If you or someone you know is considering buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! I take great pride in referrals, and I assure you, I will take great care of your friends, family & colleagues! As member of the Garrett County Board of Realtors, I can assist you with ANY listed property, regardless of the listing broker.
>Transportation Museum moving along
>
I snapped a few photos of the new Garrett County Transportation Museum in downtown Oakland. Construction is apprently moving right along 🙂 Also, I found an article from Mountain Discoveries with more photos & details. It should be opening this summer, so stay tuned!
If you or someone you know is considering buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! I take great pride in referrals, and I assure you, I will take great care of your friends, family & colleagues! As member of the Garrett County Board of Realtors, I can assist you with ANY listed property, regardless of the listing broker.
>Borrowers unhappy with Obama mortgage plan: study
>WASHINGTON | Thu May 26, 2011 5:25pm EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Struggling homeowners seeking help from the Obama administration’s foreclosure prevention program have in many cases had negative experiences, a congressional report said on Thursday.
Three-fourths of the some 400 housing counselors involved in the process characterized borrowers’ overall experience with the housing program as “negative” or “very negative,” according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) study.
According to the study, 40 percent of approximately 300 counselors said they had experienced difficulties working with the mortgage servicers and said paperwork had been lost or needed to be resubmitted.
The Treasury Department defended its actions, noting that the survey was conducted in October 2010 before improvements were made.
If you or someone you know is considering buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! I take great pride in referrals, and I assure you, I will take great care of your friends, family & colleagues! As member of the Garrett County Board of Realtors, I can assist you with ANY listed property, regardless of the listing broker.
>Deep Creek Lake gets 'incomplete' on health check
>A checkup performed by University of Maryland scientists finds Deep Creek Lake appears to be generally healthy. But researchers say there’s not enough monitoring done of the popular western Maryland tourist attraction to tell what shape it’s really in – or how much trouble it may be having with harmful aglal blooms, polluted runoff or other symptoms of the growth of vacationers and vacation homes at the mountain resort.
So a year after concerns were voiced about the 3,900-acre manmade lake as it experienced its largest recorded fish kill, the first-ever assessment of the lake comes back with an “incomplete” on its ecological report card.
Basic water quality in the lake seemed to be good, and bacteria levels did not appear to pose a health risk for swimming, according to the report by EcoCheck, a partnership between UM’s Center for Environmental Science and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The group was commissioned to produce a report card on the lake last year by Friends of Deep Creek Lake, a citizen’s watchdog group. It’s raised concerns about water quality being affected by polluted runoff from farms and vacation homes, leaking septic tanks and shoreline erosion. Adding to the anxiety was a prolonged fish kill last summer, in which an estimated 2,000 walleye, perch and a range of other species went belly up from late July into September.
If you or someone you know is considering buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! I take great pride in referrals, and I assure you, I will take great care of your friends, family & colleagues! As member of the Garrett County Board of Realtors, I can assist you with ANY listed property, regardless of the listing broker.
