Oddly enough, JD1, I do not disagree with your analysis. The Susquehanna is also the largest source of water that enters the Bay. The more ominous prospect is the huge amount, insurmountable amount of sediment stored behind the Conowingo Dam. Nobody really wants to think about that. I speak of government here.

1ke, you are absolutely correct, and what you say is true or just about every major dam in the country. Even if the dam were to be slowly deconstructed, the river would gradually wash out a channel carrying huge amounts of old sediment into the bay, as would Deer Creek and other side streams and rainstorms, over time. And remember, there are other dams upstream with their own sediment collections.

I strongly disagree. It is not man's "personal responsibility" to relinquish his freedom and submit to the arbitrary will of elite central planners of the state simply because they judge him to be guilty of the crime of ignorance.

When well informed and aware, people are able to solve their own problems. The free market is already responding to the wants of the people who are voluntarily implementing changes as guided by their own perceptions of self interest to conserve. We do not need to be coerced, through the politics of guilt and expediency, into voluntary enslavement in order be made to do what good for us.

So please, keep your stop watch out of my shower, your tape measures out of my occupied rooms and my trash cans and let me decide for myself where I want to live, what I want to garden and which car I feel is necessary to own.

Rick Jones: In general, I agree that informed people can make rational decisions, IF THEY CHOOSE TO. But often they do not so choose, and the decisions they make harm others to some degree (and perhaps themselves as well). In time, the degree of harm becomes such that people are willing to give up some degree of personal freedom in order to control those who do not exercise reasonable responsibility. Education can help people to make rational decisions, but education often fails, then law becomes the possibly best alternative, unfortunately. And law eventually becomes totalitarianism of one sort or another. Which is where we are headed.

@Rick - unfortunately the majority of adults that live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed have no idea how their personal choices impact environmental quality. Very few people know what the three main pollutants are that degrade water quality - do you? Few people understand where the water goes when it leaves their yard and goes down the storm drain - do you? Few people can clearly articulate the connection between the use of electricity and water quality - can you? Few people and clearly explain the environmental consequences of excessive water use - can you? Freedom of choice is hat unless it causes harm to others. Millions of citizens in the bay watershed have no idea how their personal choices are affecting others. It IS the responsibility of all people to understand how their personal action and choices affect their local environment. Answer the questions above and prove that you are not just another member of the environmentally misinformed. If you can't, seek first to understand if you wish to be understood.

By the way, those central planners are hardly elite. Most make moderate salaries and are very well educated and work hard to ensure that our grandchildren will be able to enjoy a clean and healthy environment. I know and work with several of these folks and they have no interest in controlling lives or removing choices. They simply work to strike a balance between personal freedom and environmental sustainability.

Chuck Burton. When person "A" is allowed to FORCE person "B" to make only those decisions that "A" deems to be "reasonable" and "rational" in "A's" mind, then "A" has deprived "B" of any real decision making power. "B" is simply being told that he must either obey "A's" orders or suffer the consequences.

If "A" is allowed to do this to "B", then he can also do it to citizens "C through Z" as well. "A" will feel empowered and continue to invent yet other areas in order to compel and control his private society and forge them into alignment with his personal utopia. Whether "A" is a individual or an officer of the state makes no difference whatsoever, the process is the same.

Are we to believe that "A", by being elected to some public office or another, has somehow attained an intelligence or wisdom superior to the rest of us? Has he received the divine right of kings that we must be compelled to submit to his decrees? Lets be rational and reasonable here Chuck. Let's simply demand that "A" show us his title to this grand illusion.

In a free society, force must not be allowed as a means by which one can compel another to think according to an arbitrary standard of what's reasonable or rational. Leave the mind control techniques in the dustbin of hell where they belong.

Rick Jones: I generally agree with you, as I said. I simply described the rationale and the process we are currently experiencing, which MUST sooner or later lead to a totalitarian regime of some sort in these United? States. Sorry, but that's how I see it.

@rick- your argument is flawed beyond compare! Ay civilized society has boundaries on human behavior. My argument clearly states that a majority of folks in our communities have no idea how they are impacting water quality. Therefore, our governor should be sending a message about personal responsibility that is not politically charged or necessarily popular with his brainwashed constituents. Al Gore has made career out of being the "Lorax."

JD1, your calls for the governor to assist you in convincing private property owners that they are "part of the problem" if they fail to use their property as you deem appropriate reflects more than just extreme hubris but also a flawed understanding of the proper function of government. For your edification...

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." -- George Washington

Perhaps you do understand this message but have become frustrated in attempts to bring about voluntary change and now seek to compel it by force. This is a foolish doctrine that has proven to be dangerous to the peace, prosperity and liberty all societies that have allowed themselves to suffer under it.

Rick Jones, EXACTLY. The road to dictatorship of some sort - Communism, Fascism, Monarchy - all dictatorships, all alike.

And, Frank, don't forget about the fluoridated water! Fast track to socialism if there ever was one!

Smart Meters! Don't forget Smart Meters! Lord Moonbattery says that the United Nations is going to take over the United States via Smart Meters and the nefarious Agenda 21.

Cousin Goober who lives up in Carroll County gave me all of the Lord's videotapes.

Steve, Lord Moonbattery and your cousin Goober are apparently far better informed than you are. Instead of being so condescending, spend 15 minutes and educate yourself about the totality Agenda 21 (aka sustainable development).

This Chesapeake Bay watershed discussion here represents just a tiny part of what is involved...

http://my.brainshark.com/Agenda-21-for-Public-Officials-472185383

Interesting..

Another example of just how ignorant the "get the rich" gang really is...you were aware the push to clean up the bay has very little to do with recreation (boats and jet skis and such, the things that seem to irritate you). I assume once in a while you eat fish...if the bay is dirty the fish die or become diseased; if it's not then the fish is generally healthy to eat. That's an example among many of reasons other than swimming or boating to justify caring about the cleanliness of the bay. Jeez I wish the dumb ones would quit breeding.

Frank, you need to meet more conservatives. Your ideas about them are quite wrong. Quite ignorant as your gross generalizations generally are.

The Bay does NOT belong exclusively to "the rich." There's access, if they want it, for everyone through state & county parks, through boat ramps for launching thousands of small boats (not yachts) and thru other public areas/services such as the Annapolis City Dock, water tours in St. Michael's and waterfront restaurants that dot the shoreline. The Bay belongs to all of us. The pollution is caused, directly or indirecly, by all of us. Save the Bay!