Lara Lutz

Laws are not the only way that policies are set within a state. The agencies tasked with enacting the laws also have authority to iron out details that are not specified within the laws themselves. This is called the administrative rulemaking process, and it offers another opportunity for the public to help shape policies that impact the environmental health of their waterways, forests, air quality and communities.

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control announced in early September that it has approved five permits associated with the expansion of the Bioenergy Devco facility near Seaford, which will enable the site to produce biogas. It currently houses a composting operation that processes waste from the poultry industry. The company plans to produce biogas by constructing an anaerobic digestion system, a wastewater pre-treatment system and a biogas upgrading plant.

The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science is partnering with the Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium in Florida to create a center to seek, fund, and assist projects using technology to reduce harmful algal blooms. The UMCES Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology in Baltimore and Mote’s Red Tide Mitigation & Technology Development in Sarasota will manage the initiative, dubbed the U.S. Harmful Algal Bloom Control Technology Incubator.