Maryland Governor Parris N. Glendening has appointed John S. Toll, President of Washington College, to serve on an 11-member Blue Ribbon Citizens Pfiesteria Commission charged with investigating the pfiesteria outbreak that is killing fish in three lower Eastern Shore waterways -the Pocomoke River, the Chicamacomico River, and Kings Creek, a tributary of the Manokin River.
The Governor's Commission was invited to meet in a public forum at Washington College on Thursday, October 9, beginning at 9:00 a.m. in the Casey Academic Center.
A noted scientist, Toll is former chairman of the National Sea Grant Review Panel. He has a great interest in the protection and proper utilization of the marine environment, strengthened by his previous service as President of two universities with outstanding Sea Grant Colleges.
The microorganism pfiesteria has been blamed for killing thousands of fish and has been linked to memory loss and learning problems in humans. Researchers say the microbe takes numerous forms, several of them toxic, but what causes pfiesteria to turn lethal is still unknown. Some environmentalists are pointing fingers at agricultural runoff; others indicate that the decline in the Chesapeake Bay's oyster population, with their natural water filtering process, has contributed to the outbreak.
Meeting approximately twice weekly, the Commission is on a fact-finding mission and has been taking testimony from federal and state officials. The Commission expects to have a distinct set of recommendations for dealing with the outbreak ready for the Governor by November 1.
Members of the governor's commission, chaired by former Governor Harry R. Hughes, include Sen. Brian E. Frosh, a member of the Senate Economic and Environmental Affairs Committee; Del. Ronald A. Guns, chairman of the House Environmental Matters Committee; William Baker, president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation; and Clinton S. Bradley III, president of the Maryland Association of Counties and president of the Talbot County Council. Also included are Bernie Fowler, former state senator and environmental advocate, Frederick W. Nelson Jr., president of the Somerset County Farm Bureau; Lloyd L. Simpkins, former secretary of state; Dr. Alfred Sommer, dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health; and Dolores Margaret Richard Spikes, president of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
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