2012-02-09 22:14:00
AD CRABLE
It might seem an unlikely candidate, but the Masonic Village at Elizabethtown is fast becoming the poster child for how to run a farm profitably and be friendly to the environment.
The continuing-care retirement community, which also sports one of the largest shorthorn beef cattle herds o......
2012-02-01 22:21:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Jenni Ferris is fortunate. Her home on Lancaster city's East Walnut Street has off-street parking.
Her neighbors have not been so lucky. Within the last few years they have had two vehicles struck on different occasions while parked along the busy street.
But city plans for rebuil......
2012-01-25 22:33:00
AD CRABLE
Burning chicken and turkey manure to produce energy — and improve the environment — may soon be reality in Lancaster County, the poultry capital of Pennsylvania.
A $620,885 grant awarded by the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority on Wednesday to the Lancaster Coun......
2012-01-22 00:09:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The stinging wind felt like needles stabbing my cheeks, and I tucked my face deeper into the fleece-lined collar of my jacket. Before we left the boat ramp, the digital thermometer display inside Dave Rhine's truck glowed in green lights "16." It was Martin Luther King Jr......
2011-12-20 22:57:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Lancaster city taxpayers will be starting the new year without a municipal tax increase, but they will see higher fees for city sewer and water service.
City Council members Tuesday evening made only one $12,000 change in the $46.2 million general fund budget proposed by Mayor Rick Gray a......
2011-12-18 00:08:00
DARRYL FEARS, The Washington Post
At the Conowingo Hydroelectric Dam in northeast Maryland, the barbarians are at the sluice gates. Sediment, millions of tons of it, has flowed down the 440-mile Susquehanna River for more than 80 years and massed at the dam. And now a reservoir built to hold it is filling up. The threat......
2011-12-09 12:44:00
DEAN LEE EVANS
West Hempfield supervisors approved a series of financial resolutions, including passage of a final 2012 budget, in the final minutes of the board's last meeting of the year on Tuesday. "I want to thank the staff for their efforts with the budget," Supervisor Kent Gardner said. Manager ......
2011-12-05 22:26:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Lancaster City Council members Monday took the first step toward approving sewer and water rate increases for city residents.
The rate hikes — on average $16 per quarter for sewer and $7 for water — were contained in Mayor Rick Gray's 2012 budget proposal. The budget......
2011-11-27 21:03:00
BERNARD HARRIS
The back alley in the southwest corner of the city seems like an odd place to showcase progressive city investment.
But Alley 148 had two things going for it: The topography around the city-owned alley forces water toward it, and the alley needed to be repaved.
"That's when you ge......
2011-11-22 22:32:00
BERNARD HARRIS
On the surface, Lancaster is looking forward to a stable 2012, according to the proposed budget presented to City Council by Mayor Rick Gray Tuesday night.
The $46.2 million spending plan calls for no increase in real estate taxes for property owners and no layoffs for city workers. The g......
2011-11-16 23:49:00
TOM KNAPP
It's hard to say how many people came out Wednesday evening to discuss the fate of Speedwell Forge.
More than 300 people packed into Brickerville Fire Hall for a public meeting hosted by state Sen. Mike Brubaker and state Rep. Tom Creighton.
More folks lingered outside, unable to ......
2011-11-14 23:09:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Correction Nov. 15, 2011 — An earlier version of the story below about transportation projects planned in Lancaster County contained incorrect information. Traffic signal improvements will be done in Salisbury Township, Somerset Coun......
2011-11-10 22:04:00
AD CRABLE
The federal government has backed off its plans to make counties and local municipalities reduce specific amounts of manure, fertilizers and sediment as part of the Chesapeake Bay cleanup.
In a letter to state Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Krancer, the federal E......
2011-11-09 22:21:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Christmas is coming early for Lancaster city.
The city learned last week that it will receive $10.5 million from the state's Redevelopment Capital Assistance grant program.
The funds, which must be evenly matched, will allow the city to:
• Expand City......
2011-11-09 21:58:00
AD CRABLE
For the first time, farmers in Lancaster County and across Pennsylvania have a clear guide to what's expected of them in controlling manure.
The state-issued Manure Management Plan Guidance comes after two years of negotiations and discussions between state regulators, livestock producers......
2011-11-08 21:26:00
AD CRABLE
Lancaster city and Manor Township face fines levied by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for stormwater runoff violations.
City and Manor officials are negotiating with the federal agency to correct alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and reduce the fines.
EPA initial......
2011-11-07 00:35:00
PATRICK BURNS
Too many bells and whistles.
That's how Brecknock Sewer Authority member Melvin Boyd has described a $6 million upgrade of Brecknock Township's sewer plant that was approved by the authority last month.
But Boyd, who is running to assume Art Zerbe's supe......
2011-10-30 00:09:00
JON RUTTER
Fishing Creek is cradled by a wooded valley and harbors wild brown trout. The Octoraro Creek is intensively farmed and carries a heavy burden of pollution. The tale of these two very different local streams was told Saturday morning at the ninth Lebanon/Lancaster County W......
2011-10-26 21:52:00
CINDY STAUFFER
The poop-to-power movement continues in Lancaster County.
Two local farms have received a total of $800,000 in federal grants to set up manure digesters, which take methane gas from animal waste and convert it into electricity.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is funding the dig......
2011-10-17 21:13:00
AD CRABLE
What may be the future of stream cleanup in the Chesapeake Bay is currently a wide swath of exposed dirt on a scenic West Lampeter Township farm.
With 20,000 cubic yards of soil scraped off Rocky Knoll Farm on a highly visible spot along Route 222, it's no wonder people have been pepperin......
2011-10-09 00:16:00
JON RUTTER
An alliance between an Ephrata-based breast cancer group and a Marcellus Shale gas-drilling company has some environmentalists seeing pink. As in a lighter shade of red. It all started two summers ago when Chesapeake Energy Corp. employees went to bat for the Pennsylvania......
2011-10-06 21:51:00
AD CRABLE
Last month's torrential rains from Tropical Storm Lee caused the Susquehanna River to whisk away about 4 million tons of sediment and flush it into the Chesapeake Bay. That's about four years' worth of runaway soil, and it has touched off worries of suffocated underwater grass......
2011-10-04 22:16:00
BERNARD HARRIS
State researchers spent the summer looking at Lancaster city's trees. Now, city officials and representatives of LIVE Green Lancaster are looking at numbers. Those numbers include: • The number of the city's street-side trees: 5,489. • The city's tree ......
2011-10-04 00:42:00
PATRICK BURNS
The plan to modify Brecknock Township's aging sewer treatment plant took about six years to complete and is ready to go — but the project's start has been delayed.
The Northern Lancaster County Sewer Authority last month opened bids for contracts — general construction, ......
2011-09-13 22:58:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Lancaster City Council took preliminary steps Tuesday to issue $40 million in bonds, the proceeds of which will be used for needed upgrades to the city's sewer and water systems and other projects.
Council members had the first reading of a bill authorizing the sale. A vote at their Sept.......
2011-09-12 23:07:00
AD CRABLE
For the third time in two years, federal environmental officials have picked a Lancaster County watershed intensively farmed by Amish for farm-to-farm inspections.
Any day now, officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's water protection enforcement branch will start driving......
2011-09-08 14:18:00
STEPHEN KOPFINGER
There is a sense of serenity in the works of John David Wissler, and of the familiar, too.
After all, many of his landscapes depict nearby bodies of water, such as the Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay. Or Middle Creek Wildlife Preserve, where even winter looks inviting in the oils......
2011-08-08 23:34:00
JEFF HAWKES
The weather and the price of milk are worries for Jeff Balmer, a young dairyman raising a family on a modest farm in Warwick Township.
He's concerned, too, that costly pollution-control edicts coming out of Washington could drive him off his 110 acres.
But one thing Balmer has goi......
2011-07-21 21:42:00
DAVID O'CONNOR
It's "innovative and progressive projects like this that keep farmers in tune with our economy and in tune with our communities," one speaker said.
More than 100 local, state and agriculture officials gathered at Kreider Farms near Manheim on Thursday to mark the grand opening of a $7.5 m......
2011-07-18 14:45:00
AD CRABLE, Outdoor Trails
If you set out to create an ecologically diverse landscape in Lancaster County populated by native species friendly to wildlife, would you think of that expansive suburbia known as Manheim Township? Why not? That would be the reply of an energetic and determined grassroots group called Habit......
2011-07-14 22:07:00
AD CRABLE
The state is expanding a program so that Lancaster County farmers know what is expected of them in accelerated efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay. The state Department of Environmental Protection has announced that conservation districts in 36 counties, including Lancaster, will share......
2011-07-12 15:41:00
AD CRABLE
Homeowners, landscape contractors and groomers of athletic fields and golf courses would have to pay closer attention to how they apply fertilizers under a bill introduced by state Sen. Mike Brubaker. If passed, homeowners and those who tend golf courses and scholastic athletic fields would ......
2011-07-12 15:40:00
AD CRABLE
The state is expanding a program so that Lancaster County farmers know what is expected of them in accelerated efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.
The state Department of Environmental Protection announced conservation districts in 36 counties, including Lancaster, will share $2.6 mil......
2011-06-28 22:29:00
ROCHELLE A. SHENK
Manheim Borough Authority voted to self-operate its water and wastewater treatment systems during a June 16 meeting, and it expects to reduce costs and increase revenues.
...
2011-06-22 11:17:00
CINDY STAUFFER
Lancaster County's commissioners Wednesday got the price tag for developing a regional facility that would take manure and convert it into electricity — $45 million.
Because the project would require significant state and federal funds, because environmental payments are not robust ......
2011-06-08 15:55:00
LAURA KNOWLES
Efforts to clean up the Lititz Run Watershed are on the right track, but there is still a long way to go.
Experts in stream water restoration detailed accomplishments and outlined steps that still need to be taken to improve the quality of water that ultimately flows into the Chesapeake B......
2011-06-02 22:04:00
BERNARD HARRIS
At a ceremony celebrating the reopening of the renovated Sixth Ward Park, Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray on Thursday recalled his grandmother saying, "The Lord works in mysterious ways."
Gray was referring to a state Health Department regulation intended to prevent the spread of waterborne dis......
2011-05-11 22:24:00
AD CRABLE
The Lancaster County Board of Assessment Appeals on Wednesday voted 2-1 against Oregon Dairy, saying the farm's new manure-composting operation violates the state's "Clean and Green" reduced-tax status.
That means the Manheim Township dairy has to pay seven years in back taxes on 55 acres......
2011-05-09 21:41:00
JEFF HAWKES
The bad news is that Lancaster County is home to 700 miles of polluted, silt-choked streams, making it a major contributor to the Chesapeake Bay's decline.
The good news is that people here are concerned and doing neat things to improve water quality.
How to tell that story to fed......
2011-05-06 22:59:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Under federal pressure to stop sewage overflows into the Conestoga River, and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay, Lancaster city officials have been formulating plans to keep stormwater from ever reaching the sewer system.
Last week, state officials announced funding to put the first of those ......
2011-05-04 10:57:00
NICK GALLUP
The Caernarvon Township Agriculture Advisory Committee on recently discussed the role of Lancaster County in improving water quality in streams and tributaries to the Conestoga River, which ultimately affects the Chesapeake Bay. The county is working with the nonprofit Chesapeake Bay Foundat......
2011-04-25 19:21:00
AD CRABLE
Ever since the Conestoga Country Club opened 63 years ago, the Little Conestoga Creek has chewed away at the golf course, sending smothering silt downstream.
Golfers were known to tumble off the vertical banks. The fairways shrank. In 1999 alone, the club had to replace four bridges acros......
2011-03-08 21:03:00
AD CRABLE
A decade ago, Lancaster County, Manor Township and local Girl Scout officials breathed a sigh of relief when a proposed $1 billion hydroelectric reservoir project along the Susquehanna River was abandoned.
Now, a Massachusetts-based company is reviving the project, which would drown the C......
2011-02-24 20:46:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Lancaster city's new strategic plan has a lofty goal: for government to "be green and sustainable."
The city is taking initial steps toward that goal, some of which could be completed by the end of the year.
It plans to use a $500,000 federal stimulus grant to install a geo-therma......
2011-02-24 20:33:00
AD CRABLE
With farming in Lancaster County "at one of those watershed times," local agriculture interests have formed a coalition to keep the county's no. 1 industry competitive.
"In the past, agriculture here has reacted to things coming their way," said Dan Heller, a Lititz-area poultry farmer wh......
2011-02-20 00:06:00
JON RUTTER
Three local colleges have been awarded a $200,000 government grant to continue an intensive water-quality research project on Big Spring Run, near the Hans Herr House in West Lampeter Township. A major goal of the study is to see how silt deposited along the stream generations ago might i......
2011-02-19 02:00:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
At 2 a.m. Feb. 19, 1945, scores of American warships began lobbing shells at the volcanic island of Iwo Jima.
At 9 a.m., the first of 30,000 U.S. Marines stormed ashore.
Thirty-five bloody days and one iconic photograph later, it was over.
What planners thought would be a ......
2011-02-17 21:03:00
AD CRABLE
After a do-over, Pennsylvania's detailed plan for how it will vastly reduce the amount of smothering soil and nutrients it's flushing into the Chesapeake Bay has been accepted by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
Farmers will be profoundly affected, of course, but so will almos......
2011-02-02 23:03:00
AD CRABLE
Will it be illegal for a cow to stand in a stream in Lancaster County?
Or for a local farmer to spread manure in winter?
That's what local ag consultant Peter Hughes foresees as the federal government cracks down on sources of nutrients flowing into the Chesapeake Bay.
In ......
2011-01-16 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
"Have you gotten your bull can yet?" If I was asked that question once, I was asked it at least a dozen times over the years. And early on, my answer always was the same.
Bull can?
What the heck is a bull can?
I've since come to l......
2010-12-19 00:13:00
CHRIS TORRES, Lancaster Farming
Up to 20 farms in the Muddy Run area of Lancaster County could be inspected by the EPA as the agency ramps up its efforts pertaining to the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load or TMDL. Don McNutt, administrator of the Lancaster County Conservation District, said "a couple" of farms have ......
2010-12-07 22:14:00
AD CRABLE
It's their turn on the hot seat for 90-some small Amish farmers north of Intercourse.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency Wednesday plans to begin going farm to farm to determine if the owners have installed state-required conservation plans to keep soil and manure out of local st......
2010-12-05 00:10:00
LYNN SCHMIDT
The green shower trend — perhaps more notable in metropolitan areas, and yet hardly a dirty little secret — refers to the choice consumers make to shower every other day instead of daily to conserve water. It's been embraced at Sustainability House, 550-552 W. James St. The build......
2010-11-10 17:50:00
AD CRABLE
This time, county officials aren't complaining about a $102,000 cost overrun for the $12 million renovation of the Amtrak station in Lancaster.
At their weekly meeting Wednesday, Lancaster County commissioners approved the additional money for "unforeseen circumstances" in work done in th......
2010-11-01 21:29:00
JEFF HAWKES
John Hines has had a month to calm down, and I think he's going to be OK.
But in September when the federal Environmental Protection Agency called his work "seriously deficient," Hines was not a happy camper.
A deputy secretary with Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Prote......
2010-10-28 18:08:00
AD CRABLE
Ryan Aument and Gerald Policoff, candidates in search of Katie True's 41st District seat, got together Thursday morning to politely emphasize what Aument called their "competing visions."
Indeed, though both excoriate the current legislature for abuse and corruption and both would like to......
2010-10-26 21:02:00
TOM KNAPP
The national network of Underground Railroad sites has lacked an actual railroad — until now.
A portion of Amtrak's Keystone Corridor, which stretches from Lancaster to Philadelphia, has just made the list.
The National Park Service announced Oct. 21 that the busy 70-mile-lo......
2010-10-22 20:56:00
TOM KNAPP
Matt Kofroth doesn't stress over the Chesapeake Bay.
Given the hullabaloo regarding stricter rules for bay cleanup efforts, you'd think Lancaster County's watershed specialist would be eyebrow-deep in Chesapeake mandates.
But Kofroth, who works for the Lancaster County Conservatio......
2010-10-18 22:23:00
AD CRABLE
For 27 years, Pennsylvania and five other border states have tried to reduce farm runoff, make sewage plants perform better and keep pollution-prone stormwater from running into the Chesapeake Bay.
But the bay, an acknowledged national treasure, continued to decline.
Now, buttress......
2010-10-11 21:43:00
P.J. REILLY
Teachers.
Coaches.
Priests.
Bosses.
The five junior officers who served aboard the USS Reaper from 1968 to 1970 encountered all these potential mentors, among others, before they set sail from Long Beach, Calif., to cross the Pacific Ocean and head to war.
......
2010-10-07 20:49:00
AD CRABLE
"No offense to anybody else, but I don't give a damn about the Chesapeake Bay," Lancaster County's watershed coordinator told about 100 people assembled Thursday for just that purpose. But there was a method to Matt Kofroth's shocking sentence — delivered to environmental regulators......
2010-09-29 20:12:00
JEFF HAWKES
You don't tug on Superman's cape or pull the mask off the ol' Lone Ranger.
And, if you're smart, you don't mess around with the Environmental Protection Agency.
Just ask Barry Smith, manager for Manor Township.
Smith was required to spend two days with five EPA inspectors ......
2010-09-27 17:42:00
AD CRABLE
For 13 years, Warwick Township has had a communitywide commitment to improving its streams and managing its stormwater.
That across-the-board diligence — showing the role of local government in restoring watersheds — has earned Warwick Township the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's ......
2010-09-23 22:11:00
BERNARD HARRIS
Lancaster city might have found a small answer — or many small answers — to a very large problem.
Whenever the city experiences a heavy rain, stormwater runs into the sewer systems and overwhelms the capacity of its wastewater treatment plant, causing raw sewage to overflow in......
2010-09-22 19:53:00
JEFF HAWKES
About 4 p.m. last Thursday, rain began to dampen the city, an unusual occurrence during one of the driest summers in memory.
At first, the drizzle barely dotted windshields or caused oil to bead in the streets. But the precipitation persisted and picked up in the evening before tapering o......
2010-09-21 17:53:00
AD CRABLE
Two Manheim-area farmers were fined a total of $6,000 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for illegally discharging manure and milkhouse washwater into a tributary of Chickies Creek.
EPA on April 1 inspected the poultry farm owned by Melvin Petersheim and his brother, Moses. Moses......
2010-09-09 20:02:00
DAINA SAVAGE
Drought damage. The continued dry weather has moved on from stressing our lawns to stressing our trees, evidenced by plenty of early leaf drop. Even when we finally get a soaking rain, any newly planted trees and shrubs won't be out of danger yet. You'll need to monitor them for ......
2010-09-02 22:02:00
AD CRABLE
Pennsylvania says it will make required dramatic reductions in the amount of nutrients and soil washing into the Chesapeake Bay by putting caps on sewage plants, improving stormwater control in urban areas and pressing farmers to ramp up anti-pollution efforts.
The "road map of changes" i......
2010-08-21 17:55:00
JON RUTTER
He's an award-winning nature photographer who noticed a problem with nature. It was being paved, drained, looted and polluted. So Miguel Angel de la Cueva became a conservation photographer. He joined an international expedition to document the imperiled outback around his home on t......
2010-08-05 21:51:00
BERNARD HARRIS
For years, local efforts to reduce pollution in the Chesapeake Bay have focused on nutrient runoff from farm fields and sediment from cows in streams.Now, Lancaster city and the nonprofit group LIVE Green are taking a more urban approach to the problem.On Thursday, the city received......
2010-07-06 20:27:00
AD CRABLE
The next time you start your dishwasher, feel good that you may be striking a blow for cleaner local streams and the Chesapeake Bay.As of July 1, all dishwasher detergent sold in Pennsylvania and 15 other states had to be free of all but a trace of phosphates.Until now, dishwasher d......
2010-06-30 20:50:00
AD CRABLE
They came, and they listened.An estimated 75 percent of 42 Amish farmers in Bart Township showed up at a private meeting Wednesday called by the environmental group PennFuture.The farmers were told gently but firmly that many of them will be expected to do a better job in keeping ma......
2010-06-27 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Dave Putnam stood on the south side of Mill Creek, at the junction of two Leacock Township farms, and pointed at the stream banks. On one farm, the creek borders had been sloped gently to the water by work crews, seeded and planted with a few trees, and wire fencing kept dairy cows away from......
2010-06-16 23:08:00
AD CRABLE
"We need to get the farmers aware," Levi J. Fisher said of efforts to make his fellow Amish farmers in Bart Township more environmentally conscious. "There's too many of them wanting to shove everything aside."Fisher, an organic milk producer, has already shelled ou......
2010-06-07 22:53:00
AD CRABLE
An environmental group that threatened to sue four Lancaster County farmers last November over alleged stream pollution is now hoping to convince 45 mostly Plain Sect farmers in Bart Township to check their farms for runoff.Two-page letters were sent to the owners of the Bart farms on Frid......
2010-06-02 23:41:00
AD CRABLE
Invoking President Barack Obama's executive order to get serious about cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ordered a Manheim-area farm to stop sending pollutants into a local stream.EPA said it inspected the farm owned by Melvin and Moses Peters......
2010-05-12 21:16:00
AD CRABLE
Local farmers, communities with stormwater runoff problems and sewage plant owners got a clearer picture of their marching orders Wednesday from a federal government that has vowed to do what it takes to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency revealed a 176-pa......
2010-05-05 20:08:00
AD CRABLE
The federal government has told officials of 12 municipalities here, including Lancaster city, that they have to do a better job of keeping pollutants out of local streams and the Chesapeake Bay after storms.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has sent compliance orders to the 12, req......
2010-04-29 20:50:00
AD CRABLE
After several delays, a 460-ton generator mothballed since the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island began its crawl through western Lancaster County Thursday.It will take until early Saturday morning to pull the oversized cargo from TMI down Route 441 and across the Route 30 bridge into York......
2010-04-20 00:19:00
TIM MEKEEL
Construction began Monday on a unique $1.5 million composting facility that promises both public and private benefits.Groundbreaking was held for Oregon Dairy Organics, on the Oregon Dairy property at 2900 Oregon Pike in Manheim Township.About 45 people, including state Secretary of......
2010-03-30 22:01:00
BY AD CRABLE
West Lampeter Township is being courted by a company that wants to build a $45 to $50 million bug-based anaerobic manure digester system to pump out "green" electricity for up to 30 farms.In exchange for manure from poultry and pigs, farmers would get free power, free odorless fe......
2010-03-28 00:03:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Kara Kalupson lives within a stone's throw of Big Beaver Creek in Providence Township. Her yard doesn't touch the creek now, but she fears that if the banks keep eroding the way they've been, she soon will have waterfront property. "Since I moved there in 1988, I would say the stream ha......
2010-03-25 08:31:00
AD CRABLE
The three-day move of a 460-ton electrical generator from the Three Mile Island nuclear plant through western Lancaster County has been delayed again.The slow transport, which will result in traffic delays along Route 441 and across the Route 30 bridge, was scheduled to begin Friday....
2010-03-17 00:03:00
P.J. REILLY
James Cowhey can see the writing on the wall.The state government in recent years has curtailed its investment in projects aimed at areas such as land use and transportation.But the need for that investment is growing here and across the state, said Cowhey, executive director of Lan......
2010-03-16 00:01:00
JACK BRUBAKER
Seven years ago, the Ephrata School District signed an agreement with the late Elam Lauver, whose farm had been the 11th ever preserved in Lancaster County in 1984.
Under the contract, the district would build an access road to a new elementary school through the preserved land. In exchan......
2010-03-02 00:02:00
AD CRABLE
The Conewago Creek watershed — a sparsely populated but heavily farmed area at the junction of Lancaster, Dauphin and Lebanon counties — is being put in a big test tube.A unique grass-roots cleanup strategy being tried here, if successful, may become a model for how to clean st......
2010-02-24 06:25:00
P.J. REILLY
Farmers are always looking for new ways to make a buck.And here in Lancaster County, farmers are bracing for new environmental regulations they expect to be dumped on them — which would take away many of the bucks they already have — in the name of cleaning up the Chesapeake Ba......
2010-02-17 00:03:00
JEFF HAWKES
Two miles of sewer line in Talmage.An outing to the symphony for city kids.Solar panels glinting on a Penn Township roof.All across Lancaster County, people are finding an astonishing number of ways to spend federal stimulus dollars.And the list of projects goes on and......
2010-02-17 00:02:00
JEFF HAWKES
How has the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act touched our community?Lots of people have stories to tell. Here are a few:The renterEven when he was working five days a week, money was tight for Rafael Jimenez.Then, last summer, his employer, K&......
2010-02-14 00:21:00
JON RUTTER
The Susquehanna River seems to speed up as it thunders over the brink and jumps 55 feet down the face of Holtwood Dam. Despite its eternal rush, the water always leaves behind baggage. Michael Helfrich hiked the York County shoreline on a recent wintry day and stooped to study the lates......
2010-02-02 00:01:00
AD CRABLE
The amount of soil and nutrients flowing down the Susquehanna and Conestoga rivers is declining, according to a new report.That's music to the ears of officials with state and federal environmental agencies who, as part of a cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay, have recently vowed to reduce ......
2010-01-26 06:43:00
AD CRABLE
When the federal Environmental Protection Agency announced last fall it had targeted nearly two dozen small farms near Intercourse for farm-related water pollution inspections, fears of a crackdown rippled through farm and regulatory circles all the way to Harrisburg.The 3-square-mile Wats......
2010-01-12 08:09:00
AD CRABLE
More local farms may fall under big-farm pollution regulations.And local municipalities and developments may be required to do a better job of containing storm water and keeping it out of streams.Both measures are being sought by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which Monda......
2009-12-22 06:03:00
AD CRABLE, Outdoor Trails
With a presidential order pressing down on them, officials are looking for better ways to stop soil, manure, sewage and suburban runoff of fertilizers from getting into local streams and eventually the Chesapeake Bay. One buzzword coming out of the brainstorming: partnerships of public agencie......
2009-12-18 00:01:00
AD CRABLE
The state's top environmental official said here Thursday that the state must make tough decisions that result in cleaner water flowing into the Chesapeake Bay or face unwanted dictates from the federal government or a judge.John Hanger, Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental P......
2009-12-11 07:22:00
AD CRABLE
Pennsylvania faces tougher anti-pollution regulations as part of a new federal mandate to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.But local and state officials complain that not enough credit is being given to projects that already are making a difference.On Thursday, a few of those grass-roots......
2009-11-24 08:18:00
P.J. REILLY
In 1950, 8 million people lived in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.Today, 17 million people live there, with 130,000 new residents moving in each year.According to Bob Koroncai of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, each and every one of those residents is responsible for nearly ......
2009-11-24 07:56:00
ENELLY BETANCOURT
Environmental scientist Ned Tillman loves the Chesapeake Bay and has been a lifelong resident of the watershed.The 1971 Franklin & Marshall College graduate is not alone.Nearly 16 million people live connected to the more than 3,000 species of plants and animals in the surroundi......
2009-11-19 00:01:00
AD CRABLE
Saying "clean water must start here," a state environmental group is threatening to sue five small southern Lancaster County farmers over alleged manure and soil runoff into local streams and the Chesapeake Bay."Farming doesn't give anyone a license to pollute, and there are plenty of reso......
2009-11-10 08:17:00
AD CRABLE
Federal officials, acting on President Barrack Obama's recent executive order to get serious about cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay, announced a draft strategy Monday that makes Lancaster County a linchpin in the plan.Local farms, sewage plants and runoff from urban and suburban landscap......
2009-10-31 09:11:00
P.J. REILLY
In Martinsburg, Blair County, construction of a regional facility that would take manure from area farms and convert it into electricity and other sellable products, while simultaneously cleaning the environment, is expected to begin within the next few months.Lancaster County commissioner......
2009-10-23 09:51:00
AD CRABLE
Almost a year ago, farmers here and nationwide were outraged over reports that the federal government was considering a "cow tax" aimed at reducing methane gas produced by their livestock.The plan to tax cows for burping or flatulence was fodder for late-night talk shows, but it ......
2009-10-21 08:18:00
JACK BRUBAKER
Can Lancaster County's farmers help clean up the Chesapeake Bay's watershed without damaging the agricultural economy?State Sen. Mike Brubaker asked nearly 100 people attending the county's first agricultural summit how many think that dual goal is impossible.No hands we......
2009-10-04 00:15:00
JON RUTTER
"Don't get on the boat," warned the old man on the wharf. "There's sharks in the water." He was joking. But plenty of sinister agents do lurk in the cloudy depths of the Chesapeake Bay. Jenny Engle and her League of Women Voters friends traveled to Balti......
2009-09-30 06:54:00
AD CRABLE
Large-scale livestock farming in the Octoraro watershed of Lancaster and Chester counties is producing "staggering" amounts of manure in an already overloaded area, despite efforts to limit it, according to a new study by the environmental advocacy group PennFuture.The study of t......
2009-09-21 08:14:00
In his inaugural address, President Barack Obama attributed part of the nation's problem to its failure to make hard choices.Hard choices are decisions that often sting — like foregoing raises to keep jobs or paying additional taxes on gasoline to encourage automakers and the pub......
2009-09-09 06:32:00
P.J. REILLY
One down, one to go.The first of two massive steam generators bound for the nuclear power plant at Three Mile Island was hauled ashore Tuesday at Tome's Landing Marina in this quaint, Susquehanna River town.The second one is scheduled to arrive at the marina today.On Sund......
2009-09-02 00:20:00
AD CRABLE
Ninety-six times last year, during summer rains or snowmelts, raw sewage and industrial wastewater from in and around the city were piped directly into the Conestoga River without being treated. Some 943 million gallons of combined sewage and rainwater were discharged into the river and even......
2009-08-21 10:00:00
AD CRABLE
This time the federal government means business about cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay, and the imminent "big stick" should not be ignored by local farmers, officials and residents. That's the view of a key state legislator and state and federal environmental officials who were brou......
2009-08-18 10:10:00
AD CRABLE, Outdoor Trails
Don't blame it on global warming, but remember the 10-foot-long manatee from Miami that showed up in Havre de Grace, Md., at the mouth of the Susquehanna River in June? That's only 43 miles from downtown Lancaster. Not quite as dramatic, but highly unusual and in keeping with er......
2009-07-27 10:00:00
AD CRABLE
Nearly $4.75 million in federal stimulus funds are headed to Lancaster County for farm-related conservation projects.Eleven agriculture projects here include barnyard runoff controls, animal-waste storage facilities, anaerobic manure digesters, grassed waterways and work to stabilize areas......
2009-07-07 10:01:00
DAN RORABAUGH
U.S. Rep. Joseph Pitts toured the Manheim Borough Authority wastewater treatment plant Monday as the facility prepares for a $10 million mandated upgrade.The authority is seeking $6.7 million in grants from the Capital Financing Administration and asked Pitts to write a letter of recommend......
2009-06-26 00:16:00
ROCHELLE A. SHENK
Manheim Borough Authority invites the public to hear about expenses relating to the sewer plant at 7 p.m. Monday in Manheim Central Middle School auditorium, 261 White Oak Road.Matt Parido, authority administrator and borough manager, said Thursday the discussion will review the Chesapeake......
2009-06-18 00:37:00
TOM KNAPP
Hannah Garman defied the doctors.The little red-haired girl from Lititz — whose battle with cancer and a plea for Christmas cards touched people's hearts the world over — was given only a few weeks to live late last year.But Hannah, who was diagnosed with glioblastom......
2009-06-10 05:00:00
SUSAN JURGELSKI
When it comes to soft-shell crabs, the sweet, briny flavor is as much inside the shell as it is in the shell. Unlike the hard-shell crab, the soft-shell is a crustacean seafood that can be eaten entirely whole — if cooked shortly after the molting of the hard shell, which happens ......
2009-06-09 20:12:00
P.J. REILLY
Correction — The story below, posted on LancasterOnline Tuesday, incorrectly stated the location of the tunnels on Route 272. They are in Providence Township.•••Pequea Townshi......
2009-06-09 00:01:00
PATRICK BURNS
Rettew Associates Inc. has teamed up Kreider Farms to help lay out a livestock waste-treatment plant at the dairy farm in Manheim.Rettew, 3020 Columbia Ave., was awarded the engineering contract from Bion Environmental Technologies Inc., which has contracted with Kreider to build the treat......
2009-06-08 10:25:00
AD CRABLE
A $1.1 million program will try to get more Amish and Mennonite farmers in Lancaster and Chester counties involved in conservation measures to reduce pollution in local streams and the Chesapeake Bay. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has awarded a $500,000 grant to the Chesapeake Bay F......
2009-06-08 00:04:00
TOM KNAPP
A plan to carry two massive generators through Lancaster County en route to Three Mile Island is generating a lot of interest — and concern — among local residents.Anyone interested in asking questions or learning more about the plan will have three opportunities to do so. AREV......
2009-06-04 11:00:00
AD CRABLE
What do athletic fields at Hempfield schools, abandoned strip mines in Northumberland County and first-of-its-kind groundwater recharge landscaping at a Lititz housing development all have in common? Compost from manure gathered in Lancaster County. For more than a year now, the Chesapeake......
2009-05-27 18:49:00
P.J. REILLY
Correction — An article posted on LancasterOnline Wednesday incorrectly stated who is operating the nuclear power plant at Three Mile Island. The plant is operated by Exelon Nuclear.•••...
2009-05-21 13:16:00
TIM MEKEEL
A local dairy farm and a local company are launching a $1.5 million composting operation with the help of a $100,000 state grant. Oregon Dairy and Terra-Gro hope to begin operating the new facility in late 2009 or early 2010. The composting facility, with five to 10 employees, will be b......
2009-05-21 11:58:00
CHAD UMBLE
Now that it is in charge of the Chesapeake Bay cleanup, the federal government is working on the specifics of its plan to reduce the pollution that pours into the bay from Pennsylvania and other states. And while it's too early to know if there will be a devil in the upcoming details, there......
2009-05-18 00:01:00
Don't look now, but President Obama just nationalized the Chesapeake Bay.The president this week issued an executive order putting the federal government in charge of efforts to clean the bay. That overturns a 30-year system whereby the states around the bay, along with the federal Env......
2009-05-15 11:50:00
AD CRABLE
Local farmers can expect more pressure to secure runoff from barnyards and fields. All Lancaster County residents may be asked to live more simply and may have to pay higher sewer bills. And the burden for making tougher cleanup measures might be heaped on county officials, or possibly eve......
2009-04-23 00:01:00
DAVE PIDGEON
A bill approved Tuesday by the state House on Tuesday would add more stringent requirements for landscape architects to acquire a license to practice in Pennsylvania.The bill would mandate anyone wishing to obtain a landscape architecture license pass an exam and take 24 total hours of con......
2009-04-22 00:28:00
ROCHELLE A. SHENK
A proposed plant in Rapho Township may use a new kind of sugar beet to make an alternative fuel that could be added to gasoline.And local farmers, who will be asked to grow the special beets, could be winners if the plant is approved.Representatives for Maibach LLC presented a propo......
2009-04-13 10:05:00
AD CRABLE
Michael Hauck doesn't rake leaves. He hasn't mulched in 20 years. He doesn't need insecticides to combat bugs, and he's used scant herbicides to control weeds. Yet the Hauck family's one-acre yard carved from a cornfield in rural Pequea Township could be on a house-and-g......
2009-04-08 00:49:00
PATRICK BURNS
Gov. Ed Rendell is seeking federal economic stimulus funds to eliminate 10 dams — five of them in Lancaster County — on tributaries that flow into the Susquehanna River.Rendell has applied for a $14.6 million grant for the project, which also includes building fish passages at ......
2009-04-02 01:08:00
MICHAEL YODER
With a possible $3 billion budget deficit looming for Pennsylvania, Gov. Ed Rendell has asked state agencies to make serious cuts in spending.However, some legislators in Harrisburg and people throughout the farming community believe cuts to the Department of Agriculture's budget go we......
2009-03-27 01:26:00
LARRY ALEXANDER
The nuclear accident at Three Mile Island was "a really hard, cold slap in the face for the industry" and a call to increased safety.That's the feeling of Tom Kauffman of the Washington, D.C.-based Nuclear Energy Institute, a policy group that promotes the benefits of nuclear......
2009-03-25 00:00:00
ENELLY BETANCOURT
Sarah Thompson, a 14-year-old Landisville Middle School eighth-grade student, has been keeping herself busy studying oysters in the Chesapeake Bay.Thompson won the junior high championship trophy Tuesday at the Lancaster County Science & Engineering Fair."I did not know wha......
2009-03-18 19:35:00
P.J. REILLY
Correction — A graphic posted on LancasterOnline Wednesday incorrectly plotted the route expected to be used to haul two steam generators from Maryland to Three Mile Island. The generators will not be taken through Port Deposit on Route 222.......
2009-02-23 00:04:00
MICHAEL YODER
Mill Creek runs through the heart of some of the most productive farmland in Lancaster County, and in turn it's seen its share of agricultural pollution.But the many farmers who harvest their bounty along its steep banks have taken measures for several years to stop erosion and limit c......
2009-01-29 00:28:00
MICHAEL YODER
Stricter standards on farm pollution in the Chesapeake Bay watershed take effect in less than a year. State agencies are looking for innovative ways for Pennsylvania to meet them.That's where Bion Environmental Technologies Inc. comes in. The New York-based firm received a $7.8 million......
2009-01-11 00:06:00
JON RUTTER
State Sen. Mike Brubaker has been immersed in the campaign to clean up the Chesapeake Bay for many years. Now, he's really rolling up his sleeves. Brubaker was named Thursday as Chesapeake Bay Commission vice chairman and leader of the Pennsylvania delegation to the tri-state ......
2008-12-09 10:49:00
AD CRABLE
The long-feared zebra mussels have arrived in the Lower Susquehanna River, including Lancaster County. If they get established here, as they have in the Great Lakes, Mississippi and Ohio rivers and numerous lakes around the country, the economic impacts and disruption to the Susquehanna's e......
2008-11-24 10:48:00
AD CRABLE
Weird as it seems, the work of a coral reef is being replicated on the rocky banks of the Susquehanna River near Holtwood. Here at the Muddy Run Pumped Storage power plant, two scientists are convinced they have found a proven way to, at last, clean up the Chesapeake Bay and, at the same time, ......
2008-10-16 10:58:00
CHAD UMBLE
The news from Harrisburg is grim. This morning, the 11 members of Lancaster County's state legislative delegation painted a bleak picture on a host of state issues. Speaking at a legislative issues breakfast sponsored by The Lancaster Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the lawmakers took tu......
2008-10-07 01:52:00
BILL HANNEGAN
Large-scale Lancaster County livestock farmers have found themselves caught in a dispute between an environmental group and the state Department of Environmental Protection regarding paperwork needed for operational permits.This disagreement led PennFuture to list more than half the farms ......
2008-09-18 01:16:00
MICHAEL YODER
Lax state oversight of large-scale livestock farms in Lancaster County is abetting the pollution of the Susquehanna River, an environmental advocacy group charges.More than half of the county's industrial farms, known as concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, are out of comp......
2008-09-17 00:48:00
PATRICK BURNS
Conoy Township supervisors in March approved Lancaster Biofuels' request to build a 60 million gallon-per-year corn ethanol distillery plant.But Seth Obetz, who helped form Lancaster Biofuels in 2006, now says the $120 million plant might process winter barley, not corn, into ethanol w......
2008-09-05 01:22:00
PATRICK BURNS
A former supervisor of Penn Township's sewage treatment plant is accused of falsifying data and altering wastewater samples submitted to state environmental officials.J. Scott Shank, former superintendent of Northwestern Lancaster County Water and Sewer Authority, was arraigned Thursda......
2008-08-20 11:14:00
AD CRABLE
The Conestoga River and its feeder streams, which meander across most of Lancaster County, are far from being fishable and swimmable as required by the federal Clean Water Act, according to the findings of a new state study. Although both activities take place in the river, about 330 miles o......
2008-07-22 11:18:00
CHAD UMBLE
In 2005, a special commission on agriculture in Lancaster County concluded that educating Plain Sect farmers about environmental and other issues should be a priority. Last August, the former Lancaster County Board of Commissioners responded by allocating $50,000 to hire someone to oversee such......
2008-07-11 11:33:00
AD CRABLE
If you pay a sewage bill, Pennsylvania's new budget may spell relief from big rates hikes that have been anticipated. Many customers served by 17 regional sewage plants in Lancaster County have been told to expect steep increases in their bills because of state and federal clean-water manda......
2008-06-12 01:01:00
MICHAEL YODER
Mention the words "farm bill," and many people probably think of wealthy farmers receiving billions of dollars in taxpayer money for crop subsidies.But the $300 billion Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008, as it is officially known, includes many provisions besides direct p......
2008-05-29 11:25:00
AD CRABLE
Around Lancaster County, at least seven old dams have been removed on the Conestoga River and tributaries to aid their swim to a population boom. In Columbia, officials envision a new riverfront park attracting anglers fishing for them. Pennsylvania is hoping their restoration will spawn a......
2008-05-27 11:05:00
AD CRABLE
The roller-coaster saga over whether a Lebanon County township can build a sewage treatment plant and discharge wastewater into trout streams flowing through northern Lancaster County has taken yet another dramatic plot twist. After facing strong opposition 20 years ago, Heidelberg Township was......
2008-05-15 07:00:00
RAYMOND M. LANE / The Washington Post
"Well, it starts with rain," says Mara Moran, 12, a Girl Scout with Troop 1706 in Cheverly, Md. "My teacher says that the water we drink is the same water the cavemen drank." "Yeah, people think you can make water, but you can't," says Deirdre Harder, 9, as she helps Mara push a big plastic bar......
2008-05-14 00:56:00
DAVE PIDGEON
A bill authored by a Lancaster County senator aimed at cleaning soap detergents that pollute waterways became law Tuesday, making Pennsylvania the second state in the nation with this type of legislation.The bill — written by Republican state Sen. Mike Brubaker of Warwick Township &m......
2008-04-24 11:00:00
AD CRABLE
Despite a pair of court challenges, the state says it's full steam ahead for its nutrient-trading program in which farmers are paid by developers and municipal sewage-plant owners for conservation measures. Pennsylvania's nutrient-trading program, the most ambitious in the nation, was u......
2008-04-23 01:10:00
MADELYN PENNINO
Instead of retrieving lost recess balls in the stream behind Fritz Elementary School on Tuesday, students picked up plastic bags, cardboard boxes and cans.Fritz students in fourth and sixth grades cleaned up a section of the East Lampeter Township stream as the first step in creating an ou......
2008-04-20 00:12:00
JON RUTTER
Berkley Crain and Danielle Lukens and their classmates at Lancaster Country Day School are creating micro forests that will help cleanse the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. That's a good news story for Earth Day number 38, Tuesday, April 22. The sobering sidebar: It's going to take t......
2008-03-19 01:29:00
LORI VAN INGEN
Landisville Middle School seventh-grader Sarah Thompson won the junior division reserve championship Tuesday night at the Lancaster County Science & Engineering Fair.Thompson's winning life science project was titled "What Is the Effect of Water Temperature on the Feeding Rate......
2008-03-12 12:17:00
AD CRABLE
Using porous asphalt for Columbia's new Riverfront Park, improving a rare wild trout stream in southern Lancaster County and repairing local streams by removing old sediment from colonial mill days are projects included in nearly $1.4 million in state grants. The four local projects are amo......
2008-03-12 00:01:00
LISA GRIMAUD
Mount Joy Borough appears to have embraced the idea of traditional neighborhood developments, unlike nearby East Hempfield Township, which killed a TND ordinance in January.The borough will hold a conditional-use hearing March 26 for a TND proposed by Land Use Resources. If conditional use......
2008-03-07 11:08:00
CHAD UMBLE
Helping clean up the Chesapeake Bay can seem like an abstract and onerous requirement for Lancaster County. But state Sen. Mike Brubaker says the county has played a role in polluting the bay and must do its part to restore its health. And back in 2000, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virgin......
2008-03-04 00:58:00
P.J. REILLY
At least two municipal groups from Lancaster County are among the dozens that have sued the state government over the cost to upgrade wastewater plants as part of a strategy to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.The lawsuit, filed in Commonwealth Court Friday by Capital Region Council of Governme......
2008-02-27 10:49:00
TIM MEKEEL
A New York-based firm intends to spend $3 million to $5 million to install an innovative manure-treatment system on a local dairy farm as part of the Chesapeake Bay cleanup effort. Bion Environmental Technologies said today it plans to build the system at the Ron Kreider farm in Manheim to remo......
2008-02-20 01:38:00
DAVE PIDGEON
Lawmakers in Harrisburg will try to figure out this week how to keep municipalities from being bankrupted by the cost of cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay.Under a federal mandate, municipalities in the bay's watershed, which includes the Susquehanna River and its tributaries, have just tw......
2008-02-18 11:55:00
AD CRABLE
Your sewer bill is likely going up. And state officials are feeling the heat for requiring upgrades to sewage treatment plants to help the Chesapeake Bay — without offering state financial help to offset the costs. Finger-pointing and legislative probes are in full force. Among the n......
2008-02-12 11:34:00
AD CRABLE
The privilege of having Susquehanna riverfront or island property on popular Lake Clarke is about to come with a higher price. To prevent sewage pollution of the river and Chesapeake Bay, Safe Harbor Water Power Corp. is requiring all 72 renters on five islands in Lancaster County below Columbi......
2008-01-17 12:05:00
AD CRABLE
The work of two Franklin & Marshall College scientists who have rocked the Chesapeake Bay cleanup world will be the cover story in Science magazine on Friday. The world's leading journal of scientific research chronicles the startling discovery of Dorothy Merritts and Robert Walter in 2......
2008-01-17 12:02:00
AD CRABLE
Pennsylvania's environmental secretary today called a planned $275 million expansion of PPL's Holtwood Dam "a milestone in Pennsylvania's pursuit of clean energy production." "Clean energy is an imperative for our environment, our economy and our security," Kathleen McGinty said in prepared rem......
2007-12-05 11:55:00
AD CRABLE
If it seems like we're getting an awful lot of record-making rainstorms and flooding in your lifetime, it may not be your imagination. Because of global warming, the county and Pennsylvania really are getting more extreme summer downpours than 60 years ago, according to a new report by P......
2007-11-28 11:39:00
RYAN ROBINSON
When Caroline Novak started consulting for the Lancaster Farmland Trust in 2004, she made some bold statements. The nonprofit farmland preservation group and the county's Agricultural Preserve Board could double the number of acres they save from development each year, she predicted. M......
2007-11-21 01:21:00
MICHAEL YODER
Local farmers can soon "REAP" the benefits of new Pennsylvania legislation aimed at cleaning up the environment through economic incentives.More than 100 farmers and business owners turned out Tuesday morning at the Lancaster Farm and Home Center for a forum to discuss the new Resource Enh......
2007-11-09 11:13:00
AD CRABLE
Like it or not, Lancaster County residents will be digging deeper into their pocketbooks to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, a body of water that doesn't even touch Pennsylvania. Some local municipalities are looking at rate hikes up to 40 percent to cover sewage-treatment upgrades over the nex......
2007-10-18 11:55:00
TOM MURSE
Every time you start your automatic dishwasher, you're probably piping a substance destructive to fish and plant life into the Conestoga and Susquehanna rivers and, eventually, the Chesapeake Bay. That substance? Phosphorus. It is mixed into almost all popular brands of dish de......
2007-10-01 00:12:00
BRIAN WALLACE
Tim Wanner may never look at the Ephrata Fair in the same way.Wanner was among the Ephrata High School students in Josh Shortuse's environmental science class who attended the borough's annual festival of food, agriculture and games Wednesday.While enjoying the goodies &mdas......
2007-09-10 11:20:00
CHAD UMBLE
Corn prices driven higher by the demand for ethanol from plants like one proposed in Conoy Township could be a boon for farmers. But environmentalists worry that growing more corn in the region could be a bust for the Chesapeake Bay. In a new report this week, the Chesapeake Bay Commiss......
2007-08-29 11:31:00
WENDY S. CALDWELL
(Editor's note: This is the last in a series of stories by New Era Correspondent Wendy S. Caldwell. She recently completed a co-op in applied anthropology at Millersville University aimed at understanding sustainable agriculture in Lancaster County.Lancaster County has long be......
2007-08-29 02:10:00
P.J. REILLY
Lancaster County's Plain Sect farmers tend to steer clear of the government and keep to their Old Order ways.More and more these days, however, the government is creating regulations aimed at the farming industry that affect Plain Sect and non-Plain Sect farmers alike.Many of th......
2007-07-13 01:47:00
P.J. REILLY
Fran Rodriguez sees plenty of Lancaster city children playing baseball and other organized sports.What she doesn't see is a lot of those kids hiking or fishing or canoeing."Our kids are very athletically minded," said Rodriguez, 44, who is state Rep. Mike Sturla's ......
2007-05-31 00:55:00
TOM KNAPP
The greening of Lancaster County may soon extend to its rooftops.The county is partnering with several public and private property owners to secure state funds for a "green roof" program that aims to cover conventional roofs with plants."Green roofs are one of the way......
2007-05-31 00:02:00
P.J. REILLY
Several factors contribute to 'dry spell'•••The recovery of the American shad run on the Susquehanna River has taken a huge step backwards this year.And it's not going to get better for a few years at best and for several years at wor......
2007-05-10 14:49:00
AD CRABLE
Further proof that Lancaster County's long-standing excess-manure problem is being transformed into an asset surfaced today with the announcement of a two-year pilot project to compost up to 80,000 tons of the waste and adapt it for desirable uses. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation,......
2007-03-23 03:03:00
Tom Knapp
Lancaster County has more than 600 miles of dirty water running through the countryside before pouring into the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay.The region, conservation officials said Thursday, would benefit from cleaner water.That's where REAP comes into play."......
2007-03-09 02:03:00
Patrick Burns
Not so long ago, farmers Bill and Nanette Furina considered shutting down their Egg Basket farm in Mount Joy."We said, 'If we're going to stay here, we're going to have to find some way to generate our own electricity,'" Mr. Furina said.Thursday, the Furina......
2007-03-02 14:17:00
AD CRABLE
Something quite unexpected is happening to manure, long one of Lancaster County's most challenging environmental issues. Suddenly, the excess waste of cows, pigs, poultry and other livestock is being viewed not just as a prime polluter of local waterways and the Chesapeake Bay, but as an asset,......
2007-03-01 00:29:00
Patrick Burns
A Maryland energy company has announced an ambitious plan to build multiple Lancaster County manure-to-energy plants within one year.EnergyWorks, of Annapolis, Md., said Wednesday it will invest about $8 million to construct and operate three plants that will produce a bio-gas that can be ......
