DORCHESTER COUNTY, Md - Last week, Dorchester County leaders made clear during a county council meeting that they remain concerned about the new Conowingo Dam agreement, a $340 million deal aimed at improving water quality and managing sediment behind the century-old dam. Now, Dorchester is joining a formal appeal alongside three other rural counties — Queen Anne’s, Kent, and Cecil — challenging the state’s approval.
Dorchester County Council President Lenny Pfeffer says the council is united in this effort.
"All of our council members [are] in agreeance that we need to do something,” Pfeffer said. “This 340 million dollars, well, that's a lot of money. It's not going to take care of the problems all together.”
The Maryland Department of the Environment says the agreement was negotiated within legal limits, and interrupting the process now could delay important water quality projects. Adam Ortiz of MDE explained.
“In the legal agreement, we could not compel Constellation Energy to pay more for dredging,” Ortiz told WBOC.
Other council members say the deal doesn’t prioritize dredging enough.
“We've been working to get this agreement through for a lot of years. And from what we've seen out of the presentation the other night, the agreement that they have is not the best agreement for Maryland,” said Councilman Ricky Travers. He added, “MDE said, oh, we can't hold Constellation Energy responsible for the dredge behind the dam. Why not? They're the ones that get the – they’re selling the electricity off of the dam. They should be held responsible for what’s behind it.”
For council member Mike Detmer, water quality remains a top priority.
“The baseline concern still remains that there is millions of tons of sediment behind this dam,” Detmer said. “And that could, at any given storm, wash out and undo a lot of water quality measures that are put in place.”
With the formal appeal now underway, officials say more public input is expected in the coming months as the debate over the Conowingo Dam agreement continues.
