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January 19, 2021

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Environmental Justice Advocates Sound Alarm Over Eastern Shore Pipeline

October 30, 2020 by Maryland Matters Leave a Comment

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The proposed Eastern Shore Pipeline Project, which would bring fracked natural gas from Delaware into Somerset County, runs primarily through low-income communities of color, a recent analysis by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network found.

Out of the 40 census blocks surrounding the proposed pipeline route through Maryland, only four were not identified as potential environmental justice populations. There are especially large majority minority and low-income populations concentrated around Salisbury in Wicomico County, where the proposed pipeline project would begin. The study also found a large census tract with over 70% minority population and 24% of low-income residents adjacent to the proposed pipeline in Somerset County.

The natural gas pipeline already exists in Delaware and Wicomico County in Maryland, but this project would extend it from Wicomico to Somerset County, one of three counties in Maryland that do not have access to natural gas and have missed economic opportunities because of it, according to Daniel K. Thompson, executive director of the Somerset County Economic Development Commission.

With an unemployment rate at 9.1% and the highest poverty rate in the state at 23.4%, Somerset County would greatly benefit from access to natural gas, as it would provide additional tax revenue, decrease local businesses’ energy costs and help create more jobs, Thompson said. Mountaire Farms, the chicken processing company that is waiting to invest an additional $5 million and add five to seven new jobs, as well as Somerset Crossing, a development project in Princess Anne that will create 75-100 new jobs, will benefit immediately after natural gas is made available in Somerset County, Thompson said.

“Somerset County has many challenges such as high unemployment, high poverty rates, high energy cost, etc. Therefore, why should one of the most challenged counties in Maryland not have access to natural gas, when other counties enjoy the benefits?” he said.

Environmentalists argue that expanding gas infrastructure is short-sighted, as companies like the Chesapeake Energy Corporation (not affiliated with Chesapeake Utilities Corporation, the pipeline company) filed for bankruptcy this summer and many more are expected to do so by the end of next year. Rather, electrifying buildings is a lower cost alternative compared to gas and leads to lower energy bills in the long-run, according to Energy and Environmental Economics, Inc., an energy consulting firm.

“It is economically foolish to build the very expensive polluting infrastructure of gas pipelines and equipment, which is already outpriced by highly competitive and non-polluting solar and wind,” John Groutt of the Wicomico Environmental Trust said in a statement. “The pipelines will become worthless stranded assets within a very few years, leaving Maryland taxpayers to continue paying for it for years to come.”

The two major recipients of the extended pipeline are the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) and the Eastern Correctional Institution, a medium security state prison. The Maryland Environmental Service signed a contract with Chesapeake Utilities to build the pipeline last year, which now needs to obtain wetlands permits from the Board of Public Works in order to begin construction.

Currently, the Eastern Correctional Institution generates heat by burning wood chips, while UMES generates heat by burning propane and oil.

“We’ve long sought a more environmentally friendly source of energy to provide electric and thermal needs for ECI, and natural gas seemed like a natural clean, reliable source of energy,” said Dan Faoro, spokesman of Maryland Environmental Service. “It’s far cleaner than the wood-chips that they’ve been using.”

The proposed pipeline in Somerset would only increase the state’s overall gas use by .0001%, said Justin Mulcahy, a spokesman for Chesapeake Utilities Corporation. “While this is an incremental project in the context of Maryland, it provides major environmental and economic benefits for Somerset County,” he said.

Even so, it is not smart to replace dirty sources of energy with another, environmentalists claim. “Fracked gas is just as bad, if not worse, than coal over a 20-year time frame,” Anthony Field, the Maryland campaign coordinator of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, said during a news conference this week.

Jailynn Britt, a student at UMES, sees the proposed pipeline project as a “grave injustice,” threatening the soil and water that UMES, a historically black college and university, depends on for its agriculture research. “This pipeline provides no sustainable benefits to the school,” she said in a press conference Tuesday.

Although MES called the procurement process “exhaustive and competitive,” alternative energy proposals were not considered from the beginning. In its request for proposals, MES asked specifically for a “natural gas pipeline” to supply the Eastern Correctional Institution and UMES campus.

Without looking into alternative energy sources, such as solar, wind, and geothermal energy, MES cannot claim that natural gas is the cleanest and most effective energy source for the prison and the university, environmentalists said.

In July, the Maryland Board of Public Works unanimously voted to pay contractors more than $500,000 to upgrade facilities at the Eastern Correctional Institution so that it could accept gas as a fuel source. But environmentalists pointed out that this was awarded before the correctional institution obtained the permits needed for construction by the state. The Board of Public Works may decide on the wetlands permit for the first portion of the pipeline as early as next Wednesday.

The CCAN report also found that Salisbury is particularly a high-risk area, not only because of how dense the population is, but also because the pipeline project envisions building a renewable natural gas facility there, which would convert organic material from the poultry industry, such as manure and food waste, into renewable natural gas. But this incentivizes more waste production, Field said.

However, since excess organics produce greenhouse gas emissions that flow into local waterways, converting excess organic material into fuel “will help protect the environment and keep local waterways clean,” Chesapeake Utilities Corporation spokesman Mulcahy insists. Otherwise, he said, the excess organic material would have been sent to a landfill, where it would decompose and release greenhouse gas emissions that are used as fertilizers or incinerated, which contributes to air pollution.

Still, environmentalists claim that renewable natural gas is expensive and limited in supply. A report by Earthjustice and Sierra Club found that the total potential supply of renewable natural gas cannot replace even a portion of the existing demand for fossil gas by 2040. Furthermore, large-scale farms that produce lots of waste are dangerous sources of methane, a strong greenhouse gas.

“While states across the country are moving away from gas, Maryland put its thumb on the scale for gas, foregoing the opportunity for comprehensive review of alternatives,” Field said.

By Elizabeth Shwe

Filed Under: Maryland News Tagged With: Eastern Shore, Economic Development, energy, low-income, Maryland, natural gas, pipeline, poverty, somerset county, unemployment

Eastern Shore COVID-19 Cases Over Time

May 19, 2020 by Spy Desk Leave a Comment

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Filed Under: COVID-19 Tagged With: cases, counties, Covid-19, Eastern Shore, Health

COVID-19: A New Road to Recovery with Rachel Goss

April 13, 2020 by James Dissette 1 Comment

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Addiction is a disease of isolation, and for people in recovery dependent on social recovery meetings who are forced into isolation during the pandemic shutdown, it can be a dangerous time. From opioid treatment centers challenged with responsible methadone dispensing, to the closure of small 12-step meetings, the challenges of offering new pathways of connection are daunting. But the recovery community is meeting the challenge.

Almost immediately AA/NA and other recovery groups locally and internationally responded to the crisis by setting up online groups using the ZOOM platform where meetings can be accessed through cellphones or computers.

ZOOM meetings maintain the same formats as social meetings and offer different levels of anonymity. Some attend by voice only while others use the video link to interact.

Although there has been some concern with hackers forcing their way into meetings, ZOOM started remediating their security issues in early April and has pledged to guard against any ongoing vulnerabilities. Experienced members of ZOOM meetings will help newcomers set their security parameters.

Here, Rachel Goss a recovery advocate and volunteer networker for all things recovery on the Eastern Shore offers an overview of how the recovery community has responded to the pandemic.

Information and online meeting schedules can be found below:

Marylandmidshoreintergroup.org (go to virtual meetings page where they offer codes to join meetings).

Other resources are:

thefix.com
intherooms.com
celebraterecovery,com
retreathousehillsboro.org

If you know of other recovery resources offering virtual meetings, please add them in the comment section.

Filed Under: Health Portal Highlights, Spy Top Story, Top Story Tagged With: AA, Eastern Shore, Recovery

Home Grown Entrepreneurs: A Chat with Rise Up Founder Tim Cureton

February 13, 2020 by Hugh Panero and Mary Beth Durkin 1 Comment

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Editor note: The Spy is pleased to announce the launch of a new video interview series called Home Grown Entrepreneurs: Spy Profiles. Small business start-ups are a key driver for any local economy. Our series will focus on the entrepreneurs who start new businesses and begin a journey with an uncertain future. We will talk to a diverse group of entrepreneurs from different sectors.

We begin our journey focusing on the food sector. Our hope is these interviews will shed light on the journeys these entrepreneurs have taken and even inspire others to set off on their own. It’s never a straight line to business success but rather a series of zigs and zags as the entrepreneur navigates the challenges that inevitably present themselves. Our entrepreneurs will tell you about them as well.

It is only fitting that we begin our interview series talking to Tim Cureton, the founder of Rise Up. He appeared at our door with his nine-year-old son Koa in tow. He was sporting a blue baseball cap with lettering that said: “Rude Burger” (more about that later). He sat down to talk with us on camera in the Spy studios.

Cureton is from the eastern shore and graduated from Salisbury University. After school, he joined the Peace Corps serving on a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean. It was here that he first began thinking about starting a coffee business. Cureton was a self-described “reluctant business man” but once back home was looking for a way to make a living. While running an outdoor educational summer camp, he visited the west coast and noticed lots of small drive-thru coffee trailers and thought, “why wouldn’t that work back east?” Thus began his business journey.

He eventually met a bank manager whose kids attended Camp Wright on Kent Island, where Cureton had worked and, after describing his business idea, loaned him $16,000. He used the loan to buy a small trailer but now had to find a place to park it. Cureton decided to tap into another Camp Wright connection. Glenn Higgins, a local businessman who owned property on St. Michaels Road, who also sent his kids to the camp. Who needed LinkedIn when you went to a camp that could produce such great business connections? Cureton wrote Higgins a letter asking if he could use his parking lot.

Higgins eventually agreed but warned Cureton that the county wouldn’t approve – and it didn’t at first. Cureton’s first zig came when he received a cease and desist letter from the county. Luckily, he got a temporary permit to open and over the next year worked to develop legislation for roadside vendors. It came down to a County Council 3-2 vote in Rise Up’s favor. Cureton’s zag worked.

Cureton says he will always remember Tuesday, March 15, 2005, the day he opened Rise Up for business and met his first customer. According to Cureton, “his name was Bob, and it was a big order. He ordered a large cup of coffee and a bagel with cream cheese. And off we went.”

On camera, Cureton discussed the companies’ outsized growth from 2005 to 2019. It has been 15 years since he sold that first cup of coffee to Bob at that little shack in the parking lot. Now, he has nine retail locations, a national wholesale business, and a new planned headquarters and much more on the horizon. Many of his early customers have shared with him their thoughts about those early days, which Cureton summed up as “wow, what nice people but too bad they are never going to make it.”

Cureton knew he had something special looking out at his customers. “Of course, we connected with our teachers, lawyers, and local representatives. But it was when I saw the heavy water-carriers of our society, the contractors, laborers, the crabbers, and they felt a connection to Rise Up too, that the word had gotten out that this was a safe place. And that’s really what we are all about.”

Well, Rise Up has made it. It has become a hip, regional specialty coffee brand with a youthful millennial vibe that wakes you up as much as the coffee. The company’s’ mantra is “grown by friends, roasted by friends, enjoyed by friends,” which is proudly displayed on signs and murals in their stores.

Cureton is now a seasoned businessman but still talks like a Peace Corps volunteer when describing the company, which is dedicated to roasting only sustainable coffees Certified Organic + Certified Fair Trade. According to the website, “Coffee has always been the crop of the poor. Through Fair Trade practices, we help to provide our farmers with a dignified existence. In simple terms, the extra money spent on the coffee can be invested back into the farm, family, and community.”

As for Easton, he says, “Easton will be our home for the rest of our time in business”. He adds, “the level of support that we have gotten in Easton is mind-blowing on a per moment basis.” The company has grown from 2 to 172 employees with nine locations. In 2005, Rise Up used 5-10 lbs of roasted coffee per week and now roasts 4000-6000 lbs per week to supply its growing retail and wholesale business.

He credits much of his success to his employees and especially his partner, Noah Kegley, who joined the company ten years ago. He also credits the Rise of Rise Up on his ability to listen and stay humble. Cureton said someone once told him that when your self-employed, you wake up unemployed every day and have to earn your paycheck. He said, “that’s the approach of Rise Up.”

Noah Kegle

Cureton is now dedicated to going beyond just coffee and modest food choices and envisions a full day of offerings to satisfy his customers. This concept includes a kitchen, café, and bar (called Bar 502). To that end, he will expand his Mad Egg food menu, introduce a new line of tea products as well as offering alcoholic beverages. Alcoholic beverages were first introduced in their Rehoboth, DE store, which Tim describes as “a gigantic smash.”

In our video interview, hear Rise Up’s Tim Cureton discuss other big 2020 Rise Up news:

A New Rise Up tea product line called Water and Leaf

The dramatic growth of Rise Up’s wholesale business, which now includes distribution in Giants, Whole Food, and Mom’s Organic Market stores.

The early Spring launch of a new, hip, burger joint called Rude Burger, in partnership with his older brother Brett Cureton, featuring craft burgers and beer, among other healthy food and beverage options.

The creation of the Rude Food Company, an entirely new business.

The March groundbreaking for the Rise Up headquarters at 217 Dover will feature a café, kitchen, and the 502 bar concept.

Hear about his expansion plans, including a new store in Arnold, MD, and potentially more Rise Up locations across the Bay Bridge and around the Delaware beaches.

The video and this article were written and produced by Hugh Panero and his wife Mary Beth Durkin. Both are good friends of the Spy. Hugh is the founder and former CEO of XM Radio and no stranger to entrepreneurship and Mary Beth is a documentary filmmaker and award-winning journalist who focuses on food reporting for the PBS NewsHour.

This video is approximately fourteen minutes in length. Music provided by Mela from their album “Mela two”

 

Filed Under: Commerce Homepage, Spy Top Story, Top Story Tagged With: Chestertown Spy, Coffee, Eastern Shore, Entrepreneurs, Hugh Panero, Rise Up Coffee, Talbot Spy, Tim Cureton

Yes, Human Trafficking is on the Shore: A Chat with For All Seasons’ Katharine Petzold

January 14, 2020 by Dave Wheelan

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It’s typically hard for most Eastern Shore residents to know that human trafficking is alive and growing in their backyard. Beyond the false narrative that this inhumane treatment of adults and children is an urban phenomenon in the United States, the fact remains that these crimes are tough to see even if they are taking place in broad daylight.

Some of these victims are hidden behind locked doors in brothels and factories. But in other cases, they are interacting with community members on a daily basis. In the labor market, it can be found agricultural work, particularly with seasonal fisheries and crab processing as well as construction, nail salons, hospitality industries, and domestic work. With the sex trade, it is showing up locally on online, secret brothels, and “massage parlors” as well as truck stops, private homes, or on the street.

That is one of the many challenges that For All Seasons, the Mid-Shore’s behavioral health center, face as they increase their work to identify and rescue victims in the region. And part of that work is ensuring that members of the health and education professional community understand the signs of human trafficking in a variety of different environments.

Leading this effort for For All Seasons is their anti-human trafficking coordinator, Katharine Petzold. In her interview with the Spy from last week, Katharine talks about her growing awareness of the global problem when she toured Southeast Asia as a professional singer and songwriter, which led her to change careers thirteen years ago.

This video is approximately minutes five minutes in length. For more information about For All Seasons and their anti-human trafficking please go here

Don’t miss the latest! You can subscribe to The Talbot Spy‘s free Daily Intelligence Report here. 

 

Filed Under: Top Story Tagged With: Chestertown Spy, Eastern Shore, For All Seasons, Human Trafficking, Talbot Spy

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