The Eyes of Paint Branch - Spring 2003
Newsletter
Volume: 9 Issue: 1
State Highway Dumps Contaminated Snow in Fragile Headwaters Area
Residents and County Officials Secure Promise to Fix Damage
In late February, several watchful local residents noticed that the State Highway Administration (SHA) was dumping large amounts of dirt and snow cleared from roads onto land it holds near route 198 in Spencerville, Maryland. The mounds covered approximately half an acre, and a large area of disturbed soil was nearby. This land is within the Upper Paint Branch Special Protection Area, adjacent to the fragile headwaters of the Right Fork.
Eyes of Paint Branch learned that a SHA contractor apparently disposed of the snow, and in the process of dumping it, the trucks got stuck in the mud and had to be pulled out.
The dumping of snow contaminated with road chemicals and abrasives in the Special Protection Area is a significant issue. The Special Protection Area has a number of restrictions on activities in order to limit adverse impacts to the headwaters of the Paint Branch and its natural diversity. For example, regulations require that a water quality plan be approved before any soil disturbance over 5,000 square feet occurs. There are also regulations that prohibit other potentially damaging activities.
In addition, in watersheds such as the Paint Branch that are classified as having the highest water quality rating (Use III), the state of Maryland strictly prohibits any in-stream construction from fall through spring. This closure period is to avoid adverse impacts on the reproductive cycles of aquatic life. Although the dumping of soil and contaminated snow was not directly into the Right Fork, it occurred close enough to the stream that the soil disturbance and the chemicals and abrasives could result in the same net effects as in-stream construction.
SHA owns other sites in the general vicinity, but outside the Special Protection Area, that could be used for dumping instead.
The activity was reported by a resident to Montgomery County’s Department of Permitting Services, which came out to the site immediately to investigate. The department contacted Maryland’s Department of the Environment, which issued a stop-work order immediately. Eyes of Paint Branch joined Park and Planning staff and County Councilmember Marilyn Praisner in discussions with SHA about restoring the site. SHA was ordered to install super silt fences and to begin restoration as soon as weather conditions permit.
EOPB also wrote a letter to SHA, with a copy to our state representatives, deploring this and other recent violations of the Special Protection Area by SHA. Councilmember Praisner had also voiced her concern on these matters to SHA. EOPB followed up our letter with phone calls to SHA and the Maryland Department of the Environment and received a commitment from SHA to cease dumping of snow at this site and to remediate the damage.