Is Recession Good for the Bay?

Recession is good for the Chesapeake Bay. Developers don’t build as much. People travel less, producing less pollution. Less disposable income means less trash.

This, in a nutshell, is an argument published in The Baltimore Sun recently by writer John R. Wennersten, author of “The Chesapeake: An Environmental History,” “The Oyster Wars of the Chesapeake Bay” and other books.

Do you agree or disagree?

Wennersten bases his projection in part on the history of the Great Depression, when a drop in construction and fishing led to a huge rebound in the Bay’s bounty after World War II.

I have a lot of respect for Wennersten. And I sense that he might be right – in the short term – about the slowdown in construction during the current recession.  But I’m not sure the analogy holds.  During World War II, fishing and oyster harvesting dropped off in part because so many men were away fighting in Europe and Asia. We don’t have an analogous loss of manpower today.

It’s also not clear to me the development projects currently on hold across the Chesapeake Bay region are actually dead – or simply waiting to spring up again, full force, as soon as the economy picks up. In at least one case I’m aware of on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, developers said they can no longer afford to pay for a sewage treatment plant they promised to build – but still want to move ahead with housing construction.

In other words, builders short on money might try to cut corners environmentally, instead of experimenting with new and more efficient "Smart Growth" designs (as Wennersten suggests in his essay).

Also, the slumping economy and budget cuts have threatened recycling programs and other environmental initiatives.  U.S. News and World Report published a story not long ago with this headline: “Could the Recession Kill the Recycling Industry?”

Your thoughts?

 

Comments

[Comment on CBF Facebook Page]

One brief period, does not signal any help for the Bay. The bay requires a decade or more lack of human intrusion to show any recovery. What people fail to recognize, is that the Chesapeake Bay has been proven to be the center of human habitation for over 30,000 years. There are more Clovis sites (first inhabitants) in the Virginia/Maryland Bay area then in all of the Americas. Further, these people did not come from Siberia as previously thought, but from a French area. The whole theory of this land bridge was thrown out by genetics and artifacts found in the Chesapeake Bay Area within the last ten years. The Chesapeake Bay is not just a national treasure, but has a long history dating to the Ice Age and beyond.

[Comment on CBF Facebook Page]

It IS good the bay. Fuel prices and being able to afford fuel have reduced the number of boaters and trash that frequently follow.

[Comment on CBF Facebook Page]

As long as existing infrastructure within the Bay's watershed (PA, MD, DE, DC, VA, etc) doesn't get cleaned up, I don't know how slowing development will make any difference.

For ex, when it rains hard over DC, raw sewage dumps into the Anacostia and Potomac. Until this kind of blatant polluting stops, I don't know that the Bay will ever stand a chance.

[John Koontz]

No develpment projects and the State and local governments use this excuse to raid the flush tax, Bay grant funds, other souces of clean up project moinies. It is true that there are less boats on my river (the South River) and less new projects in my areq (Davidsonville/Riva) but the projects are only on hold. The land is still platted and the subdivisions/commerical zoning approved for development (at some point) is on the books. We are seeing less inspectors, less inspections, and less enforcement.