CHESAPEAKEQUARTERLYCHESAPEAKEQUARTERLY

Algae toBiofuels for a

Healthier Bay?

Algae toBiofuels for a

Healthier Bay?

MARYLAND SEA GRANT COLLEGE • VOLUME 8, NUMBER 1MARYLAND SEA GRANT COLLEGE • VOLUME 8, NUMBER 1

contents Volume 8, Number 1

Cover photo: Like a conveyor belt for nutrient removal, this Algal Turf Scrubber uses mats ofalgae to take up nitrogen and phosphorus. Could devices like this help clean Susquehanna Riverwater before it reaches the Chesapeake Bay? PHOTOGRAPH BY ERICA GOLDMAN. Opposite page:Natural nutrient processors, marshes offer a perfect example of how plants in the right place removeexcess nitrogen and phosphorus — but we need more help than marshes can now provide.PHOTOGRAPH BY SANDY RODGERS.

CHESAPEAKE QUARTERLY March 2009

Chesapeake Quarterly explores scientific, environmental, and cultural issues relevant to the Chesapeake Bay andits watershed.

This magazine is produced and funded by the Maryland Sea Grant College Program, which receives supportfrom the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the state of Maryland. Editors, Jack Greer andMichael W. Fincham; Managing Editor and Art Director, Sandy Rodgers; Contributing Editor, Erica Goldman;Science Writer, Jessica Smits. Send items for the magazine to:

Maryland Sea Grant College4321 Hartwick Road, Suite 300University System of MarylandCollege Park, Maryland 20740301.405.7500, fax 301.314.5780e-mail: mdsg@mdsg.umd.eduwww.mdsg.umd.edu

We gratefully acknowledge support for Chesapeake Quarterly from the Chesapeake Bay Trust for 2009.

8 Barley to BiofuelEntrepreneurs work to convert this cover crop into a profitable commodity.

11 Algae to Alternative FuelFlying jet planes on biodiesel? Researchers explore the possibilities.

13 Sea Grant Extension in ActionOne specialist joins his love of the land with his research on plants & water quality to probe the performance of cover crops.

4 Innovation for a Cleaner ChesapeakeCan we harness the productive power of algae to help clean the Bay — and get a biofuel in the bargain?

15 Knauss Fellows for 2009Young scientists are tapped for a year of real-world government experience.

16 New Books by Local AuthorsTwo books, one nonfiction, one fiction, plumb the depths of river and sea.

Volume 8, Number 1 • 3

C hange is in the air.Literally. Greenhousegases now peak at

record levels. Global tempera-tures are on the rise. Extremeweather seems commonplace.

But a sense of publicaccountability for global envi-ronmental woes also buildsstronger every day. Newspapersreport on airlines initiating newvoluntary carbon offset pro-grams, where ecologicallyconscious travelers can help tocounterbalance the negativeeffects of air travel by donatingmoney for planting trees.Amajor European grocery chainrecently began to “carbonlabel” some of their products toinform customer decision-making. Consumers can now discoverthe amount of carbon released through production, transport,and consumption of the food they eat.

Are we nearing a tipping point for behavior change? Risingenergy costs and dwindling oil supplies now drive interest in thegrowth of alternative energy resources. But in the state ofMaryland, at least, gas stations do not provide any realalternatives to traditional fossil fuels and most cars cannot yetaccommodate them. In a climate of mounting pressures on theenvironment, coupled with a building sense of personal responsi-bility, what will ultimately force the cascading effects of realchange?

The key, according to many scientists and policy makers, liesin thinking and acting across traditional boundaries. Innovationwill likely spring from new technologies. It may come fromentrepreneurship. It also may come from unexpected pairings,the creation of new economic incentives to push changes in cur-rent practices –– creative agents of change in a nation hoveringat the brink of economic freefall.

In this issue of Chesapeake Quarterly, we explore innovativepairings of economics and invention, pairings where, if doneright, both monetary profit and environmental restoration couldgo hand-in-hand. It’s a story about seizing a moment in time,about how enterprising scientists are capitalizing on a national

Nature to the Rescue?

movement in one area to build momentum, capacity, and financ-ing for much-needed progress in another.

Here in the Chesapeake Bay, we examine a case in which thehot new world of biofuels as a source of alternative energy willlink directly to cleaning up nutrient pollution — using anapproach some 30 years in the making. It’s an attempt to harnessthe power of living ecosystems to restore ecological balance to adamaged Bay.

In an elementary school science class, I remember “invent-ing” a backpack that scuba divers could wear.The device wouldhave small trees living inside a sealed plastic sac.As the diverexhaled carbon dioxide through a tube leading to the sac, thetiny trees would transform carbon dioxide into oxygen andreturn freshly scrubbed air to the diver for his/her next breath.Given the challenge of swimming with the required number oftrees, this scheme would never have worked. But the intent wason target –– it makes a lot of sense to look to nature for help insolving a human problem.

By looking closely at how nature works, some scientistsbelieve that it will be possible to find that place where econom-ics and invention intersect.A way to get it both ways –– tobolster the economy and to restore the environment. In thesetroubled times, this kind of win-win sounds pretty good.

— Erica Goldman

On faraway hillsides in New Yorkand Pennsylvania, water beginsa downhill journey toward the

longest river in the eastern United States.By the time that flow reaches the Cono-wingo Dam in Maryland, where theSusquehanna River’s 18-million-acrewatershed drains into the Chesapeake Bay,more than 40,000 cubic feet per secondrush in at a single point of entry. At thisneck of the funnel, at least half of theBay’s total load of nitrogen and phospho-rus makes its entrance. It has come fromfarmland and urban pavement, septictanks and the outfalls of sewage treatmentplants. Once in the Bay, these nutrients

feed the prolific growth of microscopicalgae that has become the hallmark of adegraded Chesapeake.

Walter Adey sees this pollution choke-point at the Susquehanna River in aunique light. For him, the neck of thefunnel represents a golden opportunity toset things right for the Chesapeake.Thisveteran ecologist from the SmithsonianInstitution has a bold idea, one more than30 years in the making. His concept couldrid Susquehanna River water of excessphosphorus and nitrogen before it entersthe Bay and inject oxygen into bottomwaters at the same time. He’s calculatedthat his approach would cost a lot less

than current estimates for cleaning upnutrients in the watershed.And he thinksthat the time to try it has finally arrived.

On a bank high above the SusquehannaRiver perches the Muddy Run PumpedStorage Plant. Just up the road, horse-drawn buggies amble through the rolling

4 • Chesapeake Quarterly

By Erica Goldman

RIVER OF OPPORTUNITYInnovation for a Cleaner Chesapeake

Along the banks of the Susquehanna, envi-ronmental engineer Patrick Kangas monitorsrising levels on his oxygen meter. The waterhe measures, drawn from the river, hasjourneyed down a long raceway and passedover hundreds of thousands of filaments ofalgae. Now oxygen-rich and lean on nutrients,it returns to the river though a black rubberhose. PHOTOGRAPH BY ERICA GOLDMAN.

Volume 8, Number 1 • 5

green hills of dairy farms in PennsylvaniaAmish country.

In sharp contrast with the surroundinglandscape, the plant’s scaffold towersstring power lines across the water.Analuminum raceway –– eighteen incheswide-by-300-feet long –– sits propped offthe ground by aluminum stilts. Reversingturbines rise in the distance. Each nightthese structures transport water up fromthe river to a reservoir. SusquehannaRiver water, rich in nutrients and low indissolved oxygen, courses down the race-way, pulsing over a plastic mesh surfacecarpeted by long hair-like strands of algae.

Standing near the bottom of the race-way, Patrick Kangas pulls an oxygen probefrom the water. Its black wand danglesfrom a wire on a handheld console. Hejots the value in his notebook, adjustinghis hard hat and repositioning his glassesso he can see the page clearly. He takesanother measurement with a pH meter,waits for the probe to equilibrate, andwrites down the number.Then he walksalong the edge of the raceway and climbsa short flight of metal scaffold stairs to thewater input area. Since this section is ele-vated, gravity carries the water downhill.He plunges the probes into the wateragain, first oxygen, then pH, and scribblesdown a second set of numbers.

Since he took over for his graduatestudent earlier that morning, Kangas hasbeen taking measurements every threehours. These measurements are part of a24-hour series of oxygen and pH readingsof water flowing over the algae-coveredraceway.

This long contraption is called anAlgal Turf Scrubber, the key to WalterAdey’s visionary idea to capture nutrientsfrom the river. Kangas, a professor of envi-ronmental engineering at the Universityof Maryland College Park, is working toimplement a pilot project to test thatvision.The goal of their project is ambi-tious: Harness the power of fast-growing,photosynthesizing algae to take up nutri-ents like nitrogen and phosphorus frompolluted water. In turn, let the algae pumpthe water full of oxygen.Then vacuum upthe algae and feed it to a reactor for mak-

ing a biofuel –– in this case, butanol.Clean the Bay, tap into an emerging mar-ket for alternative energy, and create arevenue stream to drive the clean-upeffort –– all in one fell swoop. Kangas iseager to test the promise of Adey’s dream.

Harnessing Light from the Sun

Adey’s idea for the Algal Turf Scrubbercame from his studies of coral reef ecosys-tems back in the 1970s. Since 1964,Adeyhas served as a curator and researchscientist for the Smithsonian Institution.Though speaking today from his book-filled office at the end of a long corridoroff the National Museum of NaturalHistory’s archived fossil collection, he’sspent nearly 20 years at sea in the Carib-bean.There he studied algae in coral reefsand devised ways to continue his studiesby bringing reefs into the lab –– inmicrocosms and mesocosms, experimentalenclosures that approximate natural con-ditions. He founded the SmithsonianInstitution’s Marine Systems Laboratory atthe museum in D.C., a lab that specializedin developing such experimental ecosys-tems. From 1975 to 1999, he served as itsdirector.

In his early studies of Caribbean coralreefs,Adey and his team of studentresearchers discovered that most of thereef ’s primary productivity occurred inlush algal turfs growing on dead coral. Itseemed that these algal turfs were highlyadapted for capturing energy from thesun.Adey’s team discovered that by repli-cating the natural wave surge and currentthat algal turfs experience on coral reefs,they could reproduce the high levels oflight capture and growth seen in the wild.The key as it turned out was the surge ofthe waves.That rhythmic force mixes thewater and helps to expose the plants fullyto pulses of sunlight.

Adey went on to develop a methodfor growing algal turf on mesh screensand using them to help control waterquality in coral reef aquaria. He created a130-gallon experimental coral reef micro-cosm at the Marine Systems Laboratory,using an Algal Turf Scrubber as the onlyway to control its water chemistry.After

eight years as a closed experimentalecosystem, the reef demonstrated coralcalcification rates equal to the best fourpercent of wild reefs. Boasting an esti-mated 800 species, it ranked per unit areaas the most diverse reef ever measured.

The secret behind the success of theAlgal Turf Scrubber is biomimicry, explainsAdey, replicating conditions like wavesurge that optimize growth rates andproductivity for algae in the natural envi-ronment.The mesh on the scrubbersattracts the settlement of diverse species ofalgae present in the surrounding water.

Like all plants, algae use nutrients likenitrogen and phosphorus to grow.Theyalso remove or sequester carbon from theatmosphere and release oxygen as abyproduct of photosynthesis.Algae growfast and are 5 to 10 times more efficient atphotosynthesis than their more complexplant cousins. To keep photosynthetic rateshigh, the algae must be harvested every 6to 12 days, which maintains their peakgrowth rate.These frequent harvests alsomean that plenty of algae become availableas raw material for producing a biofuel.

Scaling up on the SusquehannaWith oxygen and pH measurementscompleted, Kangas makes his way backdown to the bottom of the scrubber race-way.There the water collects in a big plas-tic bucket before being flushed down ablack rubber hose back into the Susque-hanna River. He glances at his notebook.

At the top of the apparatus, whereuntreated river water enters the systemdirectly, the oxygen concentration meas-ured 5.8 milligrams per liter.This is low,the equivalent of 64 percent saturated.

At the bottom of the raceway, aftertraveling across hundreds of thousands ofalgal filaments, the oxygen concentrationof the water has roughly doubled, measur-ing 11 milligrams per liter or 134 percentsaturated.The water is so saturated thatoxygen is actually being lost to theatmosphere, Kangas explains. At night,with no solar energy available to enter thesystem, rates of photosynthesis drop. Butby eight in the morning, the algae get towork again.

Kangas cannot measure nitrogen andphosphorus uptake in real time, as hecan with oxygen and pH. But the resultshe’s recently received — from watersamples sent for analysis at the U.S.Department of Agriculture’s laboratoryin Beltsville, Maryland — show dramaticreductions. Nitrogen concentrations dropby a third from where water enters at thetop of the algae raceway to where itexits at the bottom, dumping back intothe Susquehanna.“It’s amazing,” Kangassays.

Kangas showed the nutrient reductionnumbers he was getting from the AlgalTurf Scrubber pilot study to his depart-ment chair, Frank Coale, an expert inagricultural nutrient management. Coalesaid that these scrubbers appear to be 50times more powerful than cover crops,

planted in winter months to take upexcess nutrients from the soil.

What if this pilot project could bescaled up?

Adey has big dreams of doing just that.He envisions 3000 acres of scrubbers —an area more than four times the area ofNew York City’s Central Park.That’s onlya tiny fraction of the Susquehanna water-shed, but he estimates that a system thatsize could remove the entire Susquehannaportion of excess phosphorus delivered tothe Chesapeake Bay (three million poundsper year).With this, he calculates, wouldcome an oxygen injection to the river ofapproximately 200 million pounds peryear.Adey speculates that this might besufficient to remove algal blooms from theupper Bay and to make a sizeable dent inthe extent of hypoxia in the main stem.

Exelon Power, which owns and oper-ates the Muddy Run Storage Plant andthe Conowingo Dam, has offered theirsupport for the first step in the scale-up–– an expansion that would take the sizeof the scrubber system up to 12 acres.Mary Helen Marsh, the general managerof Exelon Power’s two hydro stations,helped Kangas and Adey to secure thesite at Muddy Run for their trials andsupports the expansion of the pilot ontoland adjacent to the Muddy RunReservoir.

Marsh says that she was excited by theopportunity to help with research thatwill protect the environment down theroad. From a company perspective, sheexplains, it also complements Exelon’s ini-tiative to mitigate its carbon footprint bythe year 2020. Since algae sequester car-

6 • Chesapeake Quarterly

Mimicking flow dynamics over coral reefs, nutrient-rich water from theSusquehanna River pulses down the aluminum raceway of an Algal TurfScrubber (top and middle left). The raceway is lined with a highly textured plas-tic mesh that encourages algae to grow (diagram, top right). Spirogyra (bottomleft), an unbranched, weedy species of algae, currently dominates the mesh.Researchers hope to encourage the growth of Cladophora (bottom right),another common local species, whose highly branched geometry is better suitedfor producing biofuels. Practical dreamer Walter Adey (opposite page) inventedthe Algal Turf Scrubber technology more than 30 years ago and he’s working toimplement it on a large scale in the Chesapeake Bay. DIAGRAM COURTESY OF WALTER

ADEY; PHOTOGRAPHS OF ALGAE BY DAIL LAUGHINGHOUSE; PHOTOGRAPHS OF WALTER ADEY

AND OF ALGAL TURF SCRUBBER BY ERICA GOLDMAN.

Pulses of water applied to

mimic natural wave surge

Two differentspecies of algae

Plasticmesh

bon dioxide from the atmosphere, thisproject fits right in.

The technology for scaling up lookspromising. HydroMentia, a companybased in Florida that specializes in waterpollution control, now holds the industriallicense for the scrubber technology.They’ve designed a modular system of12-acre units that can be put together toachieve the kind of acreage that theSusquehanna would ultimately need.AlgalTurf Scrubber systems as large as threeacres are currently used to treat the agri-culturally contaminated waters of TaylorCreek, a tributary of the highly eutrophicLake Okeechobee in Florida, the secondlargest freshwater lake in the UnitedStates.At that scale, the plant removesnutrients from 15 million gallons of waterper day.

But the pilot project at the Susque-hanna River has a long way to go beforeit could fulfill Adey’s dream of reducingnutrient pollution.Two important hurdlesblock the path to such a scale-up in thisregion: Money and land.

Scaling up would not come cheap.According to Adey, to move up in size tothe first 12-acre scrubber module wouldcost roughly $5.5 million.To make it allthe way to a 3000-acre system wouldrequire on the order of $1 billion.This isreal money.

Space poses another problem.“Theproblem with this technology is that youneed land,” says Kangas.“It takes a lot ofland.That throws everything off becauseland is so expensive.”

But the Algal Turf Scrubber systemscould be installed in small strips on dif-ferent pieces of farmland –– the 3000acres would not have to come in a giant,uninterrupted swatch –– which meansthat little bits of land here and therecould go a long way.And over thewhole watershed, 3000 acres accountsfor only a small fraction of the five mil-lion acres of farmland. Kangas and Adeyhave been working with the agriculturalcommunity to add the scrubbertechnology to the suite of incentivesthat already exist to encourage farmers

Continued on p. 9

8 • Chesapeake Quarterly

A cross thetraintracks, at

the far end oftown, more than200 people clus-ter in a dustyparking lot, near ablue and whitetent specially setup for the occa-sion.Their busi-ness suits seem out of place in economicallydepressed Hopewell,Virginia but the dazzlingsunlight of the cool, clear fall morning projectspromise and opportunity.

The crowd has gathered to witness thegroundbreaking of a new biofuel plant, just offthe Appomattox River, a tributary of the JamesRiver and the Chesapeake Bay.This plant willuse barley to produce ethanol, and it’s the firstof its kind in the United States.

Barley is a winter crop that’s planted inrotation with corn and soybean, during a timewhen fields would otherwise lie fallow. Itrequires much less nitrogen fertilizer than corn,commonly used in ethanol production, and ithelps to anchor the soil in the winter, guardingagainst nutrient-laden runoff to vulnerablewaterways.When worked into the crop rota-tion scheme, planting barley would make itimpossible for farmers to plant corn in succes-sive years, further limiting the impact of thatmore heavily fertilized crop in the Chesapeakelandscape.

Currently, there’s not much of a market forbarley in the Mid-Atlantic states. And withoutpromise of profit, there’s little incentive forfarmers to begin planting it. Can the plannedbiofuel plant entice farmers to turn theChesapeake into a hotspot for barley produc-tion? If so, will barley grown as a commodityfor profit still yield a net benefit for water qual-ity in the Bay?

If We Build It…Osage Bio Energy, the Virginia-based companybuilding the new biofuel production facilities inHopewell, is gambling on the “Field of Dreamseffect.” If they build the market, the barley willcome.The new plant will have the capacity toproduce 65 million gallons per year of ethanol,making it second in scale worldwide only to aplant in Salamanca, Spain.To operate, the plant

will need 30 million bushels of barley a year,according to company spokesperson JohnWarren. Right now, production across all of theMid-Atlantic states falls short by roughly anorder of magnitude, he says.

To encourage farmers in the region tobegin stepping up barley production to meetthe demand of the plant in time for its plannedopening in 2010, Osage Bio Energy and itspartners have launched a “Barley Bin BuilderYield Contest.” Farmers in Delaware, Maryland,Virginia,Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina,and South Carolina are eligible to enter, withpromises of cash prizes and a grand-prize truckfor the highest barley yields per acre.

Farmers may still need additional convincing,says Frank Coale, the chair of the Departmentof Environmental Science and Technology atthe University of Maryland and an expert innutrient management and crop production.“Agood farmer is a good businessman,” he says. Afallow field in the winter doesn’t cost him any-thing.The decision to plant a winter grain, bycontrast, requires an investment of money andlabor. In addition, planting a winter crop willlimit the farmer’s flexibility to plant corn thatfollowing summer, explains Coale.There needsto be a market advantage for planting barley tomake it worthwhile for the farmer.

If Osage Bio Energy’s predictions pan out,the growing market for ethanol will providethe necessary incentive to boost barley pro-duction on the farm. Part of the company’sstrategy is to sell diverse products derivedfrom barley. Along with fuel-grade ethanol, thenew plant will produce 151,700 tons of barleyprotein meal per year, a high-quality animalfeed, and 44,600 fuel pellets made from barleyfiber that can be used as renewable fuel. Addi-tionally, the new plant will equip itself to takeadvantage of “second-generation” technologyas it becomes available. So-called cellulosicethanol production can use woody materialand crop residue, such as barley straw, as bio-mass for ethanol production.Though the tech-nology has not yet been fully developed, theChesapeake region is poised to become aleader in this area.

Barley is considered a “generation 1.5” bio-fuel, explains Ann Swanson, Executive Directorof the Chesapeake Bay Commission, whohelped to lead the initiative to make the Bayregion a leader in cellulosic biofuel production.It serves as an important stepping-stonetoward cellulosic ethanol, seen as an ultimate

goal for this region because woody materials,perennial grasses, and corn stover can provideclear benefits for nutrient reduction andimproved water quality.

Cellulosic biofuel production requires a pre-treatment process to make it possible toextract the sugar for fermentation.This stage ofproduction faces technological obstacles, cur-rently preventing cellulosic ethanol from beingcost-competitive with grain ethanol.

Similar hurdles have already been tackledsuccessfully in extracting sugar from barley,explains Kevin Hicks, a crop conversion scien-tist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture inWyndmoor, Pennsylvania. Barley has an abra-sive hull which must be removed before con-version. It also contains compounds calledbeta-glucans, Hicks explains, which form a stiffgel when the grain is ground into a mash.Hicks’ team had begun working on these prob-lems in 2002, well before there even was amajor biofuel industry. In collaboration withbiotech company Genencorp, they’ve devel-oped ways that use enzymes to reduce thestickiness of the beta-glucans, while increasingthe ethanol yield. “No one has ever done thisbefore,” he says. “We are the first.”

With these technological obstacles resolved,the mechanism of turning barley into biofuelshould run smoothly. And if the market for bar-ley expands as Osage Bio Energy hopes, theChesapeake region could become a hotbed ofproduction.What would such an expansion ofbarley acreage mean for the Bay?

Barley and the BayWhen barley is planted as a cover crop solelyfor the environmental benefits of removingexcess nitrogen from the soil, it remains unfer-tilized and often unharvested. But if farmersbegin planting fallow fields with barley to pro-duce a harvestable crop, they’ll also start fertil-izing that crop to maximize yield.Will a fertil-ized barley crop undo the potential waterquality benefits associated with getting a wintercrop out in the fields?

The consensus seems to be that adding fer-tilized barley acreage to the region will stillprove a net water quality benefit, even thoughno one can yet estimate by how much.“Anytime you have a growing crop out there in thewinter that is receiving relatively little nutrientinput, it’s going to be positive,” says Universityof Maryland’s Coale. “The bottom line,” agreesChesapeake Bay Commission’s Swanson,“is

BARLEY TO BIOFUELCan a commodity crop turn a

profit while helping to clean the Bay?

Vic

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Volume 8, Number 1 • 9

that this will mean that at all points during theyear, there will be plants taking up nitrogen inthe soil versus no plants, where the onlyoption for that nitrogen is to become mobileand run off those fields as rainwater.”

Think about the big picture, says Osage BioEnergy’s Warren.The region currently growsbarley as an unfertilized cover crop on roughly10 percent of its farms. If only those 10 per-cent of farms switched to growing barley as afertilized commodity crop, then yes, the totalnutrient input to the system would go up. Butthe demand of the new biofuel plant willnecessitate a tenfold expansion of total barleyacreage –– to some 300 million acres, he says.This would almost certainly result in a largenet reduction of mobile nitrogen overall.

While experts feel that the predictedincrease in barley acreage in the region wouldprove a net positive for the Bay, there are nohard numbers to support this. The Bay Pro-gram’s model is not equipped to run thesescenarios and there are no field data available,says Coale. “What would be absolutely beauti-ful,” he says, “would be if the ethanol companyteamed up with grain growers organizationsand Bay folks to generate this research.”

Ultimately, if Osage Bio Energy can lean onscientific data to say that growing barley toproduce a biofuel will also help clean up theBay, it will do wonders to promote their“green” image and to capture the interest ofthe environmental community. Meanwhile, thecompany is continuing to reach out to farmersin the region, hoping to sell the idea that plant-ing barley is worth the risk –– that turningbarley to biofuel will reward the investment oflabor and money manyfold.

— E.G.

Kangas.Adey and Kangas hope that pro-ducing a biofuel will be the key driverthat sets this new economy into motion.

The scrubber technology has begunto gain traction on its own merits in thewater quality world, says Adey. But, hesays it’s been difficult to build financialsupport for large-scale projects. Forexample, HydroMentia designed a 1440-acre system for the Suwannee River ofnorthern Florida, a plant that would beable to treat three billion gallons of waterper day. But lack of sufficient funding hasslowed the project.

In the Chesapeake Bay, it’s going tobe a “long, slow slog, because nobodyreally wants to pay,”Adey says.“We haveshown that we can reduce nutrients morecheaply and more completely than whatis being done, but the money is lockedup in the system.”

One of Adey’s former students com-pleted a survey of restoration fundingover a three-year period.The dollaramount added up to more than one bil-lion dollars, but according to the survey,all of it had already been spoken for.

What could drive more financing fornutrient management in the ChesapeakeBay?

Adey thinks that the key lies in tap-ping into the nation’s growing demand forbioenergy.At the sunset of his career, he isseizing on what he sees as a critical win-dow of opportunity to put his 30-year-oldinvention to work at a large scale.

Adey is betting that the biofuel com-ponent of the project will draw consider-able investment and interest, as well asdemand for the final product. He plans toconstruct a pilot biofuel plant to accom-pany the proposed 12-acre scale-up of thescrubber system.With the algae harvested,the biofuel plant would produce an esti-mated 40,000 gallons per year as a com-bination of butanol and biodiesel.As abonus would come 9000 pounds ofhydrogen, which could be used to poweroperations at the plant. By Adey’s calcula-tions, an acre of algae produces more than10 times the energy produced from anacre of corn.

The whole country is now poised at

On a cool, crisp morning, Osage Bio Energy brokeground for a new barley-based ethanol plant inHopewell, Virginia (above). Barley (shown in the field andclose up on opposite page) grows year round and helpsremove excess nitrogen from the soil. It’s also a primechoice as a feedstock for biofuel in the Chesapeakeregion. PHOTOGRAPH OF BARLEY STALK (OPPOSITE PAGE,

TOP) BY THOMAS VOEKLER.

to clean up polluted waters in theChesapeake watershed.

“We already pay farmers to plantcover crops and riparian buffers,” saysKangas.“Can we pay farmers to have anAlgal Turf Scrubber system –– as a taxincentive?”

In addition to cover crops, what ifthere were Algal Turf Scrubbers on everyfarm? On every creek? This is a vision forthe Chesapeake that Adey and Kangasshare.

Building an Economy Harvest is still a few days away, butalready algae grow thick on the meshscreen of the turf scrubber.The algae aremainly a weedy species called Spirogyra,explains Kangas. He and Adey had hopedto see more of another species calledCladophora, which is more highlybranched and better suited for biofuelproduction. But in this real-world appli-cation, the mesh of the scrubber seedswith whatever species is most abundantand competes most effectively for space.

At the peak of summer, the team har-vests the scrubber every five days.Theweather is cooler now so the growth rateof the algae has slowed, spacing out har-vests by several more days. Harvesting thealgae is simple, explains Kangas.Turn offthe water flowing into the system.Vacuumup the algae with a Shop-Vac, makingsure to leave enough behind on the meshto jumpstart further algal growth.

A Maryland-based company, LivingTechnologies, founded by Adey’s formergraduate student Tim Goertemiller, hasbuilt its business constructing and sellingAlgal Turf Scrubber systems. Now they’reexpanding the enterprise to become a“lawn service” for algae harvesting,beginning with the project on theSusquehanna River and another pilotproject on the Eastern Shore.They don’thave many algae customers yet, butthey’re hoping for business to grow.

“The notion of job creation is real.We’re trying to build an economy, notjust an academic experiment,” says

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River of Opportunity, cont.

the tip of a bioen-ergy revolution, witha new federaladministration thatplans to make alter-native energy a toppriority.“But there isno market yet forethanol- [orbutanol-] based fuelsin the state of Mary-land,” says Kangas.There are a fewservice stations thatprovide biodiesel,but that’s it. Unlikein the Midwest,Maryland has noethanol plants andonly a handful ofbiodiesel plants that run on poultry car-casses and waste vegetable oil.“We arereally at the beginning,” Kangas says.

The choice of a plant for butanol,rather than ethanol, is unusual, since evenbeyond Maryland butanol doesn’t yethave a market. But Adey’s looking towardmarkets of the future. Butanol can beused as a direct, 100 percent replacementfor gasoline, whereas ethanol is morevolatile and needs to be mixed in withgasoline at 10 percent. Because it is lessvolatile, butanol can also be transportedmore easily.

Adey’s collaborators at WesternMichigan University and the Universityof Arkansas have identified a bacterial fer-mentation process to make butanol andhydrogen from algae, with the additionalcapability to remove oils to producebiodiesel.They are working now on fine-tuning a bacterial fermentation protocolcalled the Ramey Process.The algaevacuumed off the Algal Turf Scrubbersystem first will be processed to extractalgae sugars and then fed directly to thebiofuel reactor.

Cost and BenefitAccording to Adey’s master plan, biofuelproduction would ultimately help fundnutrient management in the Chesapeake.But setting the various pieces in motion

will require a significant startup invest-ment.The construction of a biofuel plantat the proposed 12-acre Algal TurfScrubber site would cost roughly $1.3million.The prospect for securing fundingfor the plant looks good. Adey hasrecently joined with a large group of sci-entists at the Virginia Institute of MarineScience and the College of William andMary, as well as a consortium of engineer-ing companies, to move the project for-ward.The William and Mary ResearchInstitute has presented proposals to theNorwegian oil company Statoil, the U.S.Department of Energy, and Exelon toexpand the pilot to a larger scale. Butmaking a biofuel from algae is expensive.The cost of chemical conversion runsabout $2.00 per gallon, and that doesn’tinclude the cost of producing the algae.Though at this point the technologyworks well, and many companies areclaiming that they can do it, the econom-ics don’t necessarily follow suit, says Adey.“We’re not there yet.We can’t make abiofuel from algae used to take nutrientsout of the Bay and make a profit doingit,” he says.“Not yet.” Not unless we alsoget paid to remove the nutrients, he says.

But the country may be fast approach-ing a tipping point, says Adey, a tippingpoint that would make them willing totry bold new ideas.“People have to be

afraid enough to tryinnovation.This iswhat has happenedwith energy,” hesays.

The key, saysAdey, will be to linkthe cost of nutrientmanagementdirectly to the pro-duction of biofuels.He offers the fol-lowing scenario.Current estimatessuggest that it costs$200 per kilogramto clean up phos-phorus and $10 perkilogram for nitro-gen. Suppose you

invest half of this amount toward develop-ing the 3000-acre Algal Turf Scrubber sys-tem and, at the same time, establish anutrient trading program. Since the scrub-ber technology can remediate phosphorusfor $25 per kilogram — roughly one-tenth the usual cost — and remove fivetimes the amount nitrogen as phosphorusat the same time for no additional cost,this investment would completely coverthe costs associated with biofuelproduction.

A nutrient trading system would alsoprovide a strong financial incentive forfarmers to maintain scrubber systems ontheir land.“In a trading system, one pol-luter buys credits from another,” explainsDan Nees, the director of the ChesapeakeClean Water Fund, which focuses onestablishing a market for improved waterquality in the Bay. Nutrient trading func-tions much like the emerging carbontrading market, where emission creditscan be bought and sold within a totalallowable cap. Under such a system, if afarmer implements Best ManagementPractices on his land, such as cover cropsor Algal Turf Scrubber systems, he canearn a profit by selling those credits to afarmer that chooses not to reduce hisnutrient load, Nees explains.

A water quality market for nutrienttrading in the Bay is still in the early

10 • Chesapeake Quarterly

Researcher Patrick Kangas and Tim Goertemiller of Living Technologies, a Maryland-basedcompany, discuss plans for a second pilot Algal Turf Scrubber at the Muddy Run Plant on theSusquehanna River.

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stages, but if it’s going to happen any-where, it will be in the Chesapeake,according to Nees.“I think we are in thearea with greatest opportunity to make ithappen,” he says. Groups such as ForestTrends, the World Resources Institute, andthe Chesapeake Bay Foundation are

actively exploring mechanisms to createsuch a market.“We have big opportunityin front of us,” Nees says,“but we have alot of work to do.”

In Adey’s vision, the biofuel piece ofthe equation could help jumpstart the rev-enue stream necessary to set a nutrient

trading program into motion. Once thedemand for biofuels really takes off in themarketplace — and Adey is confident thatit will — producing a biofuel will becomemore profitable.Then incentives will growfor farmers to use the scrubber technologyto supply algae for biofuel production, as

From Algae to Alternative Energy

In January 2009, Continental Airlines completed the first flight of analgae-powered jet. Using a biodiesel blend of two types of alternativeoils — algae and jatropha, a weedy plant that produces oil-rich seeds —

the 90-minute test flight went off without a hitch.As the airline industry has come under increasing scrutiny for its contri-

bution to total greenhouse gas emissions –– a whopping three percentworldwide, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change–– startup companies and basic research efforts have ramped up to meetthe growing demand for cleaner, greener jet fuels. Many are placing theirhopes in fast-growing algae, whose high lipid content can provide the nec-essary oils for biodiesel blends that can meet the specs of the aviationindustry.

More than a dozen companies have sprung up in recent years to har-ness algae’s power for alternative fuel production. In late 2008, Bill Gatesand the Rockefeller family made investments totaling more than $100 mil-lion in Sapphire Energy, a company in San Diego working toward a com-mercial-scale facility to produce oil from algae. Another California-basedcompany, Solazyme, recently made headlines for developing a novel fer-mentation process to produce fuel from algae, without the need to cap-ture energy from the sun.

But despite soaring investments of intellectual and financial capital, thepathway from algae to jet fuel and other biodiesels remains complicatedby technological hurdles.The primary obstacle: Coaxing algae to convertsunlight to lipid-rich biomass in such a way that the conversion processbecomes cost-effective.

This is not a new problem. During the last major energy crisis, in the1970s, the federal government made a significant investment in biofuelsderived from algae. From 1978 to 1996, the U.S. Department of Energy’sOffice of Fuels Development funded a program to develop algae-derivedrenewable transportation fuels.The main focus of this Aquatic Species Pro-

gram was the production of biodiesel from high lipid-content algaegrown in ponds, using waste carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants.

Although tremendous advances were made in the science of manip-ulating the metabolism of algae and the engineering of microalgaeproduction systems, cost concerns ultimately shut down the AquaticSpecies Program. Analyses concluded that there was little hope for mak-ing the algae-to-fuel conversion process cost-efficient and that the con-straints were biological, not engineering-related.To be cost-efficientwould require near-theoretical levels of conversion efficiency from sun-light to algal biomass –– plus the ability to induce algae to maintain ahigh lipid content, which is not its natural state. Even with such assump-tions in place, projected costs for biodiesel remained two times higherthan current petroleum diesel fuel costs.

Although the recent surge of interest in biofuels from algae hasbrought new technologies and new approaches, the same problemsremain. Researchers and entrepreneurs are trying new methods forgrowing algae. Instead of using open ponds where it is challenging tomaintain algae at optimum growth rates, they are using photobioreac-tors, closed triangular chambers made from sheets of polyethylene plas-tic, which bubble supplemental carbon dioxide through the system.Other researchers are experimenting with biochemical techniques to“trick” the algae into producing more lipid bodies to increase theirpotential yield for biodiesel.

Ultimately, “the bottom line rests on scale-up costs,” according tomicrobiologist Jennie Hunter-Cevera, president of the University ofMaryland Biotechnology Institute.The question remains, she writes in arecent report on next-generation biofuels (see “Building Capacity forBiofuels in the Bay”), “Can a commercial-scale algae facility producebiodiesel at a cost competitive with petroleum or other biofuelsources?”

Some scientists remain skeptical.The crux of the problem, explainsthe University of Maryland’s Patrick Kangas, is that few species of algaeintrinsically contain a high fatty acid content.The only way to get highlipid content in algal cells is to force conditions that cause the cells tomake a lot of fatty acid, he explains. One method is to drive the growthrate up by providing a lot of nutrients and then starving them, whichsends a metabolic signal to the cell to store fatty acids. People havedone this successfully in the lab, but it hasn’t worked on a big scale, hesays. “I just don’t think it is going to work. It is very expensive and itdoesn’t happen that way out in nature.”

Regardless of whether biodiesel from algae can become a cost- andenergy-efficient enterprise, investment in algal biofuels still holds greatpromise. Algae can be used for applications like the Algal Turf Scrubberat sewage treatment plants or in other polluted waters (see “River ofOpportunity”).The algae byproduct of nutrient remediation can be usedto produce either biodiesel or other fuels such as ethanol and butanol,which do not require the lipid-rich material for the conversion process.Since algae can grow 20 times faster than most land-based crops andcan make use of nutrient-rich wastewater to fuel its growth, it may havea key role to play in the greening of America’s energy future.

The success of new startup ventures to produce jet fuel from algaemay be years in the making, but algae’s promise for alternative energyhas already taken flight.

— E.G.

Pioneering the first algae-powered air travel, Continen-tal Airlines successfully completed a test flight (shown takingoff in early 2009) using a biodiesel blend of oils derivedfrom algae and the jatropha plant.Though algae biodiesel isnot yet commercially competitive, the high cost of fossil fuelsand determined entrepreneurship have rekindled interest init, reviving a major area of research once the focus of theU.S. Department of Energy’s Aquatic Species Program, asoutlined in this 1998 report (right).

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A Look Back at theU.S. Department of Energy’sAquatic Species Program:Biodiesel from Algae

well as to earn nutrient reduction creditsfor their efforts.

“We have a real shot,” Kangas agrees.“We think this can clean up the Bay andproduce biofuels at the same time.”

Finished with his oxygen and pH meas-urements for the next several hours,Kangas heads off to speak with TimGoertemiller and his crew, who are onsite for the day working to construct asecond pilot Algal Turf Scrubber raceway.He makes his way around pieces ofwooden track laid out for assembly, navi-gating a narrow space between the exist-ing raceway and a chain link fence.Theair is pungent with the sharp smell ofsealant, applied to the seams of the race-way to make it watertight.

The second raceway, which will soonbe raised on aluminum stilts next to itsneighbor, offers an opportunity to furtherrefine the scrubber design for theSusquehanna River before advancing tothe 12-acre pilot. Unlike the first design,

the base of this new raceway has a seriesof heating coils, which help keep the testsystem from freezing during the coldwinter months. Ultimately, the multiacresystems will lie flat on the ground wherethey will be less likely to freeze. Kangas isalso working with Adey’s graduate stu-dent, Dail Laughinghouse, to seed themesh of the new raceway with Clado-phora, the more branched species that hehad hoped would dominate in the otherscrubber.

The project is gaining steam.Adey justreceived word that the Norwegian petro-leum giant Statoil plans to provide fund-ing to the biofuel component of the proj-ect through the William and MaryResearch Institute.With further help fromthe Department of Energy and Exelon,the team of scientists and engineers fromthe Virginia Institute of Marine Scienceand William and Mary will help hone theprocess for converting algae to butanoland biodiesel and help support an estuar-ine and offshore scrubber system that the

team is developing in the lower Bay.Thescientific team will also study the size andplacement of the scrubbers to maximizetheir impact on the Bay’s health.Thirtyyears after Adey completed the initialdesign for the Algal Turf Scrubber tech-nology, he is starting to see the fruits ofhis efforts.

“Walter sees this as his legacy,” saysKangas.“As he gets older, he wants to dosomething that will really make a differ-ence.” Even five years ago, no one wasreally thinking about biofuels. In 2004,project leaders anticipated that the algaeharvested from Algal Turf Scrubber systemat Taylor Creek would be consideredwaste and hauled away, increasing the costof the project by more than 30 percent.But today the emerging biofuel market iswhat will help make the nutrient man-agement merits of scrubber system finan-cially feasible, Kangas says.

“[Adey] is a bold thinker. He came upwith this idea that we could do away withthe dead zone in the Bay by having all ofthese Algal Turf Scrubbers,” says Kangas.Effects on that scale might still be a longways off. But “you can see it,” he says.“Itis happening right here.”

— goldman@mdsg.umd.edu

12 • Chesapeake Quarterly

Building Capacity for Biofuels in the Bay

The Chesapeake region is aiming to posi-tion itself as a leader in the biofuel

arena. At its annual meeting in November2008, the Bay Program’s Executive Councilpassed a directive on biofuel developmentin the watershed, requiring that states coor-dinate biofuel policies, construct infrastruc-ture to support biofuels production, provideincentives to farmers to begin growing bio-fuel crops, and promote biofuel use.TheExecutive Council represents all of the topleadership in the Bay states — the gover-nors of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia;the administrator of the U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency; the mayor of the Districtof Columbia; and the chair of the Chesa-peake Bay Commission, a legislative bodyserving Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

The directive issued by the ExecutiveCouncil emerges from recommendations

in two biofuel reports produced by theChesapeake Bay Commission in 2007 and2008.The reports assert that the Chesa-peake region is poised to become a leaderin the biofuel arena but that biofuel pro-duction must be coupled with sound nutri-ent management practices. Since thewatershed is not yet vested in corn-basedethanol, an alternative fuel considered dam-aging to the environment, the reports citea unique opportunity to grow biofuel pro-duction alongside nutrient managementefforts and to cultivate the development of“next-generation” biofuel feedstocks. Theseinclude perennial grasses and woody cropsthat help absorb nitrogen and reduce sedi-ment loads in local waterways.

“There has been extraordinary responseto both reports,” says Ann Swanson, execu-tive director of the Chesapeake Bay Com-mission.The key, she says, is to make surethat the region moves forward with nutrientmanagement in mind.

“If we seize the energy opportunitieswithout linking them with environmentalsafeguards, we are heading for trouble,” shesays. “However, if we couple the two, we areheading for an opportunity that we haven’tbeen tossed in hundreds of years.”

— E.G.

For More InformationAlgal Turf Scrubber

http://www.algalturfscrubber.com/

Walter Adeyhttp://www.walteradey.com/

Patrick Kangashttp://www.nrmt.umd.edu/kangas.htm

Osage Bio Energyhttp://www.osagebioenergy.com/

U.S. Department of Energy’s AquaticSpecies Program Reportwww.nrel.gov/docs/legosti/fy98/24190.pdf

Building a Capacity for Biofuels in the Bay:Chesapeake Bay Commission Biofuels Reports

http://www.chesbay.state.va.us/biofuels.html

Volume 8, Number 1 • 13

Driving to work on a cool fall morning, Dan Terlizzi pullsto the side of the road, stopping by the edge of a farmfield near his house to collect material for the day’s

experiment.The rural farm field has exactly what he needs ––winter wheat — and it’s just 45 minutes from his ultra-modernlab at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute Centerfor Marine Biotechnology (COMB) on Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

Terlizzi, a plant physiologist and Maryland Sea GrantExtension Specialist in water quality, is trying to determine howwell the plant material he collected on this late fall morning isactively breaking down nitrate. Nitrate is the form of nitrogenthat becomes mobile in soil and ultimately enters the water, pro-moting excessive algal growth.Winter wheat, grown in theChesapeake watershed, is known for its ability to remove residualnitrate from the soil. But over the past few years,Terlizzi haslearned that cover crops may not be removing nitrate as effi-ciently as previously thought.

Last spring,Terlizzi sampled various cover crops growing infarm fields all over Maryland, looking at soil types that differedfrom place to place. Using a simple biochemical test, he foundthat cover crops such as rye and winter wheat were barely break-ing down any nitrate at all. Especially in soil high in clay content,he found almost no activity of the enzyme (nitrate reductase) thattakes the punch out of nitrogen by converting its highly mobileform nitrate to nitrite. Nitrite is then converted to ammonia,which can be used directly by the plant.

What was stopping these cover crops from breaking downnitrate?

Leaning across the lab bench,Terlizzi checks the temperature ofthe water bath, a rectangular metal tub insulated in a cocoon ofStyrofoam. He puts on his glasses, looking professorial with his sil-ver hair and beard, then peers at a long thermometer submergedin a few inches of water. On the bench opposite him, lab techni-cian Marcia Guedes picks up the narrow leaves of winter wheatthat Terlizzi filched from the field and cuts them into 1-cm strips.They fall into a plastic dish resting on a scale. She transfers the leafcuttings into glass vials and adds several chemicals, carefully placingeach one in a test tube rack submerged in the water bath.

The samples will incubate for an hour. If nitrate is activelybeing reduced, the liquid in the vials will turn a deep magentacolor when a final chemical is added after the incubation period.

In the spring samples,Terlizzi believes that excess ammonia inthe soil was to blame for blocking the activity of the vital enzymecalled nitrogen reductase. He’s found that if ammonia is availableto the plant, even in small amounts, it will obstruct the break-down of nitrate –– a phenomenon known as “ammonia inhibi-tion.” Metabolically, ammonia is a “freebie source of nitrogen for

Sea Grant Extension in Action

With great care, Sea Grant Extensionspecialist Dan Terlizzi (above left) adjuststhe temperature of a water bath. Here hewill incubate samples from a nearby farmfield to determine how well a cover crop isbreaking down nitrate. After an hour-longinterval, lab technician Marcia Guedes(above right) adds the last chemical in theprotocol. The magenta color in the vial (left)indicates that an enzyme (nitrate reductase)is active in these samples of winter wheat.This means the cover crop is doing its job.PHOTOGRAPHS BY ERICA GOLDMAN.

Sleuthing a Cover Crop ConundrumBy Erica Goldman

amino acids necessary to the plant,” explainsTerlizzi.

Ammonia can reach farm fields either fromammonia-based fertilizers or from the atmos-phere through precipitation.That plants canmetabolize ammonia is not necessarily a badthing, explains Terlizzi.“It’s great if plantsabsorb ammonia, but if this causes them tostop using nitrate there are a couple of con-cerns,” he says.Ammonia is less mobile in soilthan nitrate, he explains, but the very rains thatdeliver the ammonia and shut down the break-down of nitrate, cause the nitrate to movethrough groundwater or surface water ––toward the Bay.Also, over time ammoniaapplied as fertilizer in the soil will convert tonitrate through a bacteria-led process known asnitrification.

In the fall, nitrate levels in the soil shouldbe high.When annual crops like corn and soy-beans die at the end of summer, nitrate fromfertilizer application remains in large quantities.Are cover crops doing a better job at removingnitrate from the soil at this time of year?

After the vials with plant matter have incu-bated for an hour at 30°C (86°F), Guedesremoves them from the water bath.To eachone, she adds a chemical to stop the reactionfrom progressing any further.Then she addsanother chemical that will bind to the productof the reaction, nitrite, making it turn color.

An instant after Guedes adds the finalchemical, all of the vials, except the controls,turn bright magenta –– a sign that the nitratereductase enzyme is extremely active.

Guedes then uses a colorimeter to quantifythe “purpleness” in each vial. Measuring howmuch light has been absorbed acts as a proxyfor the amount of nitrate reduced.They findthat the absorbance readings are off the charts.So much so that the colorimeter reads “out ofrange” for several of the samples. In these cases,Guedes dilutes the sample with distilled water and takes the read-ing again.

Terlizzi is surprised, but pleased, by this definitive result. In thefour sets of experiments Terlizzi and Guedes conducted lastspring, they never saw this bright purple color, indicating thatnitrate reduction had been occurring at very low levels, if at all.But in the fall, these cover crops clearly seem to be breakingdown nitrate.This is good news for the Bay.These plants seem tobe doing their job during the critical time for making sure excessnutrients don’t find their way into the waterways.

But the result also raises questions.Terlizzi’s not sure why cer-tain crops seem to be so sensitive to ammonia in the spring, butnot the fall.As a next step, he plans to take the chemical test outof the lab into the field –– a quick farm crop assay of enzymeactivity. His ultimate goal as both a researcher and Sea GrantExtension specialist is to translate these results into recommenda-tions that farmers can use –– such as what types of cover crops toplant at what time of year in what types of soil. He has somesolid clues now as to what makes the nitrate metabolism processtick. But he says he’s got a lot more work to do.

14 • Chesapeake Quarterly

Roots of a CareerDan Terlizzi’s interest in farms

has roots that are both per-sonal and professional.Though pri-marily focused on algae andmarine water quality issues as aSea Grant Extension specialist, hisinterest in plant physiology andbehavior of more traditional cropsgoes way back. His wife Ceciliagrew up on a farm and he starteddating her when he was 15. “Ourdates involved pitching hay andhelping on the farm.They neededher help, so if I wanted to spendtime with her, I had to help too.”

Terlizzi and his wife ended upbuilding a house on the family farmnorthwest of Baltimore and “put abig stake in the ground by doingso.”They moved in 1981 and stilllive there today. Now that theirtwo sons are grown, they’ve started cultivating wine grapes.The idea has percolated since asabbatical in Italy several years ago, and the Terlizzis now plan to sell their grape harvest tothe local wine industry.

As an undergraduate at St. Mary’s College,Terlizzi studied biology with a marine spin,an interest that he’d cultivated since his early childhood in Bermuda as a “military brat.”Though he found himself gravitating toward the study of phytoplankton ecology, he realizedthat everything about the discipline was grounded in basic physiology. So he chose a tradi-tional plant physiology program at the University of Maryland, one that broadened his focusto understand how physiological processes compared between algae and traditional cropplants like corn and soybeans. His “aha” academic moment came during a course in plantmineral nutrition. It was the “perfect course at the perfect time,” he says, making him thinkdeeply about nitrogen and phosphorus in the Bay, an area of focus that has defined hiscareer ever since.

After finishing his Ph.D.,Terlizzi did soybean herbicide work for the U. S. Department ofAgriculture and then worked in the private sector for about 10 years.When the opportu-nity came up to return to the University of Maryland through Sea Grant Extension, he wasdelighted to come back into the university system. He started off doing marine extensionagent work out of a county office. Although he enjoyed interacting with clientele andteaching, he missed research and began incorporating an applied research program in hisfieldwork.

The opportunity to return more fully to research arose in 1997, after Terlizzi had beeninvolved as a water quality advisor during the controversy over Pfiesteria. He was invited tomove his base of operations to the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute’s Centerof Marine Biotechnology (COMB), where he would have his own lab space, with access toall of the center’s technical resources. Now Terlizzi says that maintaining a lab presence at abasic science institute like COMB, while keeping his applied focus as Sea Grant Extensionfaculty requires a lot of “hat switching.” But it’s a balancing act that keeps things interesting.

— E.G.

Cultivating a lifelong connection with the land,Dan Terlizzi and his wife Cecilia found a fulfillingempty nest project in growing wine grapes near theirMaryland home.

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T he Knauss Marine Policy Fellowsfor 2009 all come out of graduateprograms at the University of

Maryland. Safra Altman, MarvourneenDolor, and Becky Holyoke will put theirexpertise to work for the next year in theOffice of Oceanographic Research, theDepartment of Commerce, and the Officeof Marine Sanctuaries.

Safra Altman will spend her fellow-ship year in the office of Policy, Planning,and Evaluation in NOAA’s Office ofOceanographic and AtmosphericResearch. She will work with the JointSubcommittee on Science and Tech-nology and OAR’s Senior ResearchCouncil.

Currently a doctoral candidate in theinterdepartmental Behavior EcologyEvolution Systematics (BEES) program,Altman has focused on the effect of biodi-versity on invasion and invasion success inSan Francisco Bay. She used marine foul-ing communities — the algae and animalsthat live and grow on submerged rocks,docks, and boat hulls — as model com-munities. Much of this work was done incollaboration with the SmithsonianEnvironmental Research Center. Sheexpects to complete her Ph.D. in 2009.

She has also been involved recently inprojects describing biodiversity in twilightreef environments, or coral reefs that are50-150 meters below the sea surface.Altman received a Master’s in Oceanogra-phy from the University of Connecticutand a Bachelor’s in Biology from BrownUniversity.

Marvourneen Dolor will serve as anenvironmental research specialist in theSt. Lawrence Seaway DevelopmentCorporation (SLSDC) in the Departmentof Transportation. She will be the firstKnauss fellow to work at the SLSDC.She will fill the role of “resident scientificexpert” in the Corporation. Her taskswill involve advising leadership on envi-ronmental issues, in particular ballast waterpolicies.

Dolor received her Ph.D. in Environ-mental Chemistry in January 2009. Herdissertation work was aimed at deter-mining what chemical processes controldeposition of the trace element rheniumin marine sediments.This informationmay enable scientists to use rhenium insediments as an indicator of historicaldeterioration in coastal marine environ-ments due to human impacts. Dolorreceived her undergraduate degree inMarine and Environmental Sciencesfrom the United States Coast GuardAcademy.

Rebecca Holyoke will work as a pol-icy analyst with the Office of NationalMarine Sanctuaries under the supervisionof Margo E. Jackson, Senior PolicyAdvisor (and the current Acting DeputyDirector of National Marine Sanctuaries).

She will assist Jackson, as well as PolicyDevelopment Specialist Jim Sullivan, withreviews of relevant environmental legisla-tion and regulations, requests regardingprogram budget development, andresponses to legislative and/or publicinquiries.

Holyoke received her Ph.D. in MarineEstuarine Environmental Sciences in2008. Her dissertation focused on theinfluence of eastern oyster (Crassostreavirginica) biodeposits (feces and pseudofe-ces) on nutrient exchange at the sedi-ment-water interface in shallow tidalcreeks of Chesapeake Bay.After finishingher degree, she served as a postdoctoralresearcher with Dr. George W. Luther, IIIin the College of Marine and EarthStudies at University of Delaware, assistingwith moored observatories, Alvin dives,and manuscript preparation. Holyokereceived her Bachelor’s in Biology fromBrescia University.

The Knauss Fellowship, establishedin 1979, is coordinated by the NationalSea Grant Office of the National Oceanicand Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).Named for John A. Knauss, a formerNOAA administrator, the program pro-

vides graduate students across the countrywith an opportunity to spend a one-yearpaid fellowship working with policy andscience experts in Washington, D.C.

Fellowships run from February 1 toJanuary 31 and pay a stipend of $33,000plus $7000 for health insurance, moving,and travel.Applicants must apply throughthe Sea Grant program in their state. Formore information, visit the web at:Maryland Sea Grant, www.mdsg.umd.edu/Policy/knauss.html or the NationalSea Grant program, www.seagrant.noaa.gov/knauss/knauss.html.

Volume 8, Number 1 • 15

Safra Altman

Marvourneen Dolor

Becky Holyoke

Knauss Fellows for 2009

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Book Reviews

Anacostia River, Stories at Seahave left the U.S. mainland for the openwaters of the Atlantic and the islands ofthe Caribbean where they face innerfears and outside threats from storms,strangers, and their own failures ofjudgment. In the title story, a cardiol-ogist sailing among the islands byhimself is stranded one night andconfronted by a menacing islander; in“Souvenir’s Last Passage,” an agingwoman faces a hostile boarding in thedead of night. Greer’s stories arestrikingly realistic, their lean narrativestyle graceful and exact, anchored in asailor’s competence that is alwaysattentive to the sea and its beauty, butalso alert to its dangers.

Director of Communications andPublic Affairs at Maryland Sea Grant,Greer has worked on and written aboutBay issues for nearly three decades.During all these years, on his owntime, he has also written fiction andpoetry, twice winning awards from theMaryland State Arts Council for hisfiction.

Greer will read from Abraham’s Bay& Other Stories on Sunday, March 29 atthe bookstore Politics & Prose on Con-necticut Avenue in Washington, D.C.

Anacostia: TheDeath & Life of anAmerican River,John R. Wennersten,Chesapeake BookCompany, 2008. Ifthe Anacostia is thenation’s forgottenriver, then JohnWennersten ishelping us toremember it.

Wennersten is the right man for thejob.Author of books like The Oyster Warsand The Chesapeake Bay:An Environmen-tal Biography, he has a knack for evokingthe richness of Bay history.

The picture he paints for us of theAnacostia is not always pretty.

Out of a plantation culture that gaveus leaders like George Washington,mansions like Mount Vernon, and anational capital at the confluence of thePotomac and the Anacostia, came otherlegacies. Slavery. Social and racial divides.Rampant land speculation andbankruptcy.

The Anacostia rises from this difficultand bloody past with a fascinating storyto tell.There are grand dreams by

Washington D.C.’s designer, PierreL’Enfant, to make the city a great inter-national port, using the Anacostia’s deepchannels.There are bold financial ven-tures and shady dealings, personal for-tunes made and lost.

This story of the Anacostia is oftenone of degradation, of the ruined envi-ronmental health of the river and of thedisenfranchised communities that havelived on its shores.

But Wennersten ends his book withcurrents of hope and an “Anacostiaprayer.” He sees that the grand dreamshave not died after all, and he concludesthat urban watersheds — even highlydegraded ones — can be restored, if weonly have the will.

Abraham’s Bay& Other Stories,Jack Greer, DryadPress, 2009. JackGreer’s stories arepeopled by charac-ters who are oceansailors linked bytheir love of thesea.All of them, fordifferent reasons,