September 7, 2008 (RALEIGH, NC) — Frank Harmon, FAIA, principal of the award-winning firm Frank Harmon Architect PA in Raleigh, NC, has been hired to conduct the feasibility study and to create the conceptual design for the Northern Neck Oyster Hatchery Project (NNOHP) in Virginia. For the study — the project’s Phase One – Harmon is already at work to help determine the feasibility of a commercial-scale oyster hatchery in Northern Neck, the northernmost of three peninsulas on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. His conceptual design is also part of Phase One. Phase Two will see the actual construction of a high-production hatchery in Northern Neck. Construction could begin in 12 to 18 months. The NNOHP website lists two key reasons why the hatchery is needed: (1) the lack of oyster larvae and seed currently available in Virginia limits the industry’s stabilization and economic vitality; and (2) the hatchery’s ultimate goal is to supply the oyster industry in Northern Neck, and perhaps elsewhere, with quality larvae and seed. It also notes that the “level of public involvement will depend on the degree of success within the first several years of production.” In 2006, Frank Harmon’s firm was selected to participate in the feasibility study for up to three oyster hatchery facilities and/or oyster research and education facilities along the coast for the North Carolina Aquarium Division for very similar reasons. The firm was also hired to design the facilities. Harmon has extensive experience with projects that blend architecture with the enhancement of natural resources, including Duke University’s Ocean Science Teaching Center in Beaufort, NC, the Walter B. Jones Center for the Sounds, Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Columbia, NC, and the NC Museum of Natural Sciences’ Prairie Ridge Eco-Station. The firm is currently working on Merchants Millpond Outdoor Educational building in Gatesville, N.C., and the Walnut Creek Urban Wetlands Educational Park in Raleigh. The driving forces behind the new Virginia hatchery are the Northern Neck Planning District Commission; Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond and Westmoreland counties; Bevans Oyster Company; and Cowart and Kellum Seafood companies.For more information on the Northern Neck project, go to http://www.nnpdc.org/NNPDC-PROJ/nnpdc-proj-0003.htm. For more information on Frank Harmon Architecture PA, visit http://www.frankharmon.com.

Forrest Gump said that somethings go together like peas and carrots.

I guess that could be said about the Miss Ann and Tides Inn.

The following is from the Times Dispatch.

The lots I mentioned in my last post are in Northumberland County.

These lots are on Cod Creek which opens in to the lower Potomac River.

As you come out of Cod Creek you look across the river and you see St. Mary's County, MD, Point Lookout, and the Chesapeake Bay.

Northern Neck Real Estate is a valuable asset and these waterfront lots are will be offered at a price to sell.

This is a perfect opportunity. 

One of my plans for the new year is to send out a newsletter when I think a truly good deal has come on the market or when a property has been lowered to a price making it a great buy. Most of the notices WILL NOT be my real estate listings, however I hope to be the buyer's agent.

I will include a link which will give the readers more detail on that property.

We do have good fishing here in the Northern Neck but no we don't catch fish in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

Yesterday I told the boys to meet we there.

When we return Bill Oakes was unloading the fish from my cooler to theirs.

I asked him to hold up 1 of the fish so you could see the size and type of fish we are catching now.

Remember when I'm not fishing I sell real estate.

Sometimes people get confused but what is the use for living in the Northern Neck if you can't enjoy it.

Here it is the first part of December and leaves that have not fallen still have color.

It is funny how some years the colors are just okay and then a year like this one comes and it is one you will always remember.

The other day I was outside and looked over in the woods beside me and saw what I thought was a red pickup truck parked behind some evergreens in the woods.

My thoughts were how did he get that truck back there and then I thought that a road had been put in. With that thought I decided to walk over and look because if that were true then someone might be planning on building a house there.

When I got back in the woods what I found was a short tree with long branches and the reddest leaves you could have imagined. The green I was seeing was actually behind the tree.

For the next few days I would go out to look it it again and everytime I would still think it looked like a truck in the woods.

So remember when looking for real estate the Northern Neck has more than waterfront property.

DECEMBER - 2007

1 – Heathsville Golden Christmas – 10-3. RHHT

1-2 – Holiday Open House. Celebrate the holidays with refreshments, tours, tastings, and special holiday wine. 10-5 Sat., 12-5 Sun. Ingleside Oak Grove.

1-2 - George Washington Birthplace Christmas Bazaar. 10-4. Unique gifts in Birthplace book/gift shop at visitor center. Complementary tea, cider, cookies at Log Cabin.

2- Urbanna Holiday House Tour – 10-5. Selected homes and businesses decorated for holiday. 758-9850 $

2 – Tree of Love illumination, Richmond County Courthouse. Christmas caroling, memorial lights, refreshments, tour of decorated museum. 4 pm. Warsaw.

6- “O Come All Ye Faithful” Traditional songs, carols, and hymns sung a capella. Historic Christ Church volunteers and community friends are invited to participate in this seasonal songfest in the beautifully “greened” church. 3:00 pm. Historic Christ Church, Irvington.

7-8 – Annual Christmas at Stratford Hall. 4:30-8:00 pm. Start your tour with a presentation on Christmas traditions in the Visitor Center and then cross the foot bridge to refreshments and caroling. Learn how food was prepared at the outdoor kitchen and then join your guide at the Great Hall for music and dancing. Cost of the tour is $10 for adults and $5 for children. Restaurant is open by reservation only. Cost for dinner and tour is $48 for adults and $24 for children. Stratford.

8 – Santa arrives in Reedville. 9:00 am. St. Nick arrives by boat at the dock of the Reedville Fishermen’s Museum.

8 – Santa arrives at the Richmond County Museum. 1-4 pm, photo with Santa, refreshments, gifts, and corner gift shop open. Warsaw.

8-9 – Annual Christmas on Cockrell’s Creek house tour and holiday event. Reedville Fishermen’s Museum.

8-9 - Holiday Open House. Celebrate the holidays with refreshments, tours, tastings, and special holiday wine. 10-5 Sat., 12-5 Sun. Ingleside 

14 – Holly Ball Exhibit – Kilmarnock Museum.

14 – Kilmarnock’s Annual Illuminated Christmas Parade.

14 – Colonial Beach House Tour.

15 – Christmas Open House. Come celebrate the season. Refreshments. Mary Ball Washington Museum. Lancaster.

15-16- Art open house. 11-5, poetry and music. Sunday - 3-5 pm. A-Ibanez Museum & Sunrise Studio gallery 

29 – Join in the celebration of the 12 days of Christmas. The Memorial House is decorated for Christmas, candlelit and filled with Colonial music. The plantation will be busy with demonstrations and activities performed by costumed interpreters. 9-6. George Washington Birthplace National Monument.

Remember to keep searching the Northern Neck MLS for your real estate needs.

As most of you know I use to be a commercial fisherman. Sometimes I take a break from Northern Neck real estate and work a few days on the water.

Some people find that crazy as working on the water is hard phsyical work but I find it to be relaxing.

In October the the associated press was watching use work. The VMRC patronmen carried then to certain boats where the crew asked questions.

In November their article started showing up papers across the country.

I was quoted in the article.

Here is that article taken from the Free Lance Star.

Part of Rappahannock open for oyster season

Date published: 11/22/2007 BY SONJA BARISICASSOCIATED PRESS WRITERON THE RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER–After five hours of seeking oysters in a section of a Chesapeake Bay tributary that has been off-limits until recently, Gerald Condrey was ready to call it a day.The commercial fisherman hadn't caught much, and his take was about to be reduced further.When a Virginia Marine Police boat happened by, he agreed to sell a couple bushels of the largest shellfish to the state–not for eating, not for cooking in traditional Thanksgiving stuffing, but for dumping back into the Rappahannock River."We're going to watch y'all drop them over on the reef," Marine Police Capt. Steve Pope called out as Condrey steered his workboat toward a marked sanctuary area in the river. There, Cordrey raised a tub and poured its gritty contents overboard.BAY'S OYSTER BOUNTY HAS DECLINED STEADILYThat simple action is part of a plan attempting to breed future generations of oysters that can stand up to the diseases that since the 1950s have devastated the bay's once-bountiful oyster population.It is being tried in tandem with a new scheme to rotate harvesting to different parts of the river each year so no one area is overworked. That has opened part of the lower Rappahannock to oystering this fall for the first time in more than 15 years.Condrey and other watermen, as commercial fishermen are known locally, are skeptical.They say the area should have been opened long ago and they blame years of management plans and regulations for the small amount of oysters they're encountering in the newly opened area–so meager they predict the oysters will run out before the season ends Nov. 30.They want to be allowed to harvest the entire river. "They need to open up where the oysters are," said Condrey.WATERMEN SAY THEY KNOW RIVER BESTWatermen argue that, like farm crops that grow better when fields are tilled and weeded, oysters will grow bigger and faster if they are harvested regularly from the river bottom."You should see the oysters that have died" because the state hasn't permitted them to be harvested, said oysterman Ken Smith of Heathsville, disgust in his voice. "You've heard of supply and demand? Let the watermen decide. They're not going to come out here and work if they're not going to make money."Jim Wesson, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission oyster scientist who designed the rotational harvest and buyback program, said the state is trying to make the most efficient use of what oysters are out there and that time is needed to see if this will work.Wesson also said he never expected watermen to find a windfall in the newly opened area, estimating a total yield of 3,000 bushels of oysters that are market-sized–at least 3 inches."That's the way oysters are right now," Wesson said. "There are no oysters in Virginia to speak of."OYSTERS A BIG PART OF VIRGINIA HISTORYAs food and as filters of pollutants in the water, oysters have been important to the ecology, economy and culture of the Chesapeake Bay for centuries.When Jamestown founder John Smith explored the bay in the early 1600s, he described in his journal oysters so abundant that they "lay thick as stones."Following the Civil War, thousands of unemployed men sought to make a living harvesting oysters on the bay. Both Virginia and Maryland established oyster navies to enforce boundaries and prevent poaching; there were border disputes between Maryland and Virginia watermen and even "oyster wars" between the state of Virginia and oyster dredgers.WATERMEN SAY OYSTERS REGULATED TOO MUCHAs recently as 1957, Virginia was producing 30 percent of the nation's oyster supply.Timmy Belvin of Gloucester has been a waterman since he was 12. He's now 49."Twenty years ago, you could come out here, you wouldn't come under 75 bushels a day," Belvin said. Now, he's barely catching his limit of eight bushels per day of market-sized oysters."There's too much regulations," Belvin said.With disease, as well as overharvesting and pollution, the native oyster population in the bay today is about 1 percent of its historic level, according to a recent report by a blue-ribbon panel of watermen, scientists, seafood merchants and VMRC members who spent about a year studying what Virginia had been doing to restore oysters. (Other states bordering the bay have made their own efforts to save the Chesapeake's oysters.)OYSTER HARVEST RULES ARE STRICT, SPECIFICFollowing a recommendation by the Virginia panel, VMRC approved reopening parts of the Rappahannock to harvest from Oct. 1 through Nov. 30. Under a three-year rotation, two areas of the river will be open every year.Watermen may use hand scrapes–old-fashioned rakes for scooping up the bivalves from the river bottom–from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays.They must cull oysters larger than 4 inches, either throwing them back into the water or selling up to three bushels of the larger oysters back to the state per day.The state pays $25 per bushel, or about $5 less per bushel than some watermen recently said they were getting paid for oysters they're selling to seafood houses. Wesson said the state likely will buy back no more than 1,000 bushels.Oysters the state buys are immediately placed on a reef in a sanctuary within the harvest area. Monitoring has shown that oysters in the closed areas were very large, meaning they are reaching 7 or 8 years of age, about twice the age when oysters in the bay typically die of disease. Scientists want to know if the large oysters may have developed resistance to disease that could be passed on to create sturdier subsequent generations.Improving enforcement is another goal of the blue-ribbon panel. In the past, it found, fines weren't enough to deter those intent on violating harvest rules.So, VMRC has established a zero-tolerance policy for oyster violations in state waters. A waterman must have a state license to work commercially, plus a special permit to harvest in the Rappahannock. A significant oyster violation now results in immediate confiscation of the permit; a waterman also faces a one-year suspension of his license for a first oyster offense and additional years for subsequent offenses.MARINE POLICE OFFICERS WILL PATROL THE RIVER Virginia has 77 Marine Police officers who patrol more than 5,100 miles of shoreline on the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean. They conduct inspections, investigate accidents and conduct search and rescue missions. They bust illegal oyster-shucking and crab-picking operations, and even moonshiners.Pope, who leads the Marine Police station in Gloucester, said, "This is a great opportunity for the watermen to come out here and ply their trade and keep the tradition going."Watermen say they understand that the police are just doing their jobs but that does not mean they accept the regulations."I'd like to see the whole thing opened up so everyone can go to work and make a living and provide for their families," said Mike Croxton Jr., a 47-year-old oysterman from Kilmarnock who works the river with his son, Mike III, in his Chesapeake deadrise, the Tammy C."If you got a farm, you don't fence off one little section and put all your cows on it. They eat that grass all up."

The following came from the website, http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/thyd/ne161/ncabreza/sources.html.

When you read this remember the price for 3 barrels of oil was $84. Today the price is higher than that for 1 barrel of oil.

Logic tells me that this trickles down and affects eveything from real estate here in the Northern Neck to the price of the food we eat.

Logic also tells me from the cleanest of nuclear fuel it would also be a large step in helping to clean the Chesapeake Bay.

Here goes.

Nuclear Power VS. Other Sources of Power

Neil M. Cabreza

Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1730

NE-161 Report

Abstract

Nuclear energy provides one-fifth of the United States electricity supply. The other major sources of electricity come from oil, coal, and natural gas. The use of each of these power sources have its drawbacks as well as its advantages. This paper will present the facts associated with the use of nuclear energy and give detailed explanations on why the prime source of electricity for the future should be come from the nuclear industry.

Contents

• Introduction
• Environmental Aspects
• Economic Aspects
• Question of Safety
• Other Options
• Conclusion
• References

Introduction

No energy source is perfect, but nuclear energy comes close. The use of nuclear energy is cheap and environmentally safe since its waste is contained. All the existing and operating nuclear power plants of the United States are regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and abide by their safety standards. Nuclear energy also creates jobs since it is the most labor intensive electricity source. Furthermore, the use of nuclear energy will decrease the United States dependency on imported oil.

Environmental Aspects

The unceasing public outcry over the use of nuclear energy was one of the major factors that led to the termination of the construction of nuclear power plants in the United States. People believe that nuclear energy produces radioactive wastes that can destroy the environment. People also believe that nuclear power plants emit cancer causing radiation and for this reason its use should be discontinued.

What most people don't realize is that most of what they hear are false rumors started by anti-nuclear activists. The waste nuclear power plants generate is all contained and none of it is released into the environment. This, however, does not hold true for the other major sources of power. A typical 1000-megawatt coal-burning plant emits 100,000 tons of sulphur dioxide, 75,000 tons of nitrogen oxides, and 5000 tons of fly ash into the environment per year while a typical 1000-megawatt oil-burning plant emits about 16,000 tons of sulphur dioxide and 20,000 tons of nitrogen oxides. These emissions account for damaging human lungs, the formation of acid precipitation that defaces monuments and buildings and kills the life in countless lakes. However, the problems don't stop here. These type of plants also emit great quantities of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide tends to trap heat on the earth's surface and thus in sufficient concentrations, could create the dreaded greenhouse effect. High enough concentrations could also increase global temperatures which could affect the distribution of rainfall and could create deserts of much of the Northern Hemisphere, causing irreversible catastrophes of unparalleled magnitude, affecting all of mankind.

The use of nuclear power since 1973 has been able to offset the demand for electricity provided by oil and coal, thus decreasing the mentioned figures significantly. In a span of twenty years, electricity generated by nuclear power plants averted the cumulative emission of 1.6 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, 65 million tons of sulphur dioxide, and 27 million tons of nitrogen oxides.

The only environmental drawback associated with the use of nuclear power is where to store the radioactive waste. Studies show that geological disposal is the answer. In this way, no radiation will be emitted into the environment, thus keeping the public safe from its emissions.

As for the belief that nuclear power plants emit cancer causing radiation into the environment, there exist no sufficient evidence that can prove this. In fact, the use of nuclear power plants only add a very tiny fraction of radiation exposure to the more common types of radiation (i.e. cosmic rays from outer space, radon gas, television sets, watch dials, smoke detectors, etc…). In numbers, the average radiation dose rate people get from the common types of radiation is about 360 millirem. Nuclear power plants would increase this dosage rate by only 1 millirem.

Economic Aspects

Because the fuel used in nuclear power plants exist in abundant supply, the price is very cheap, unlike for fossil fuels where the supply is finite and slowly diminishing. A typical fuel pellet cost about $7. This one fuel pellet has an equivalent energy of three barrels of oil, which cost $84, or one ton of coal, which cost $29. In 1993, the fossil fuels displaced by nuclear energy totaled: 470 million tons of coal and 96 million barrels of oil which translated to about $17 billion. By using nuclear energy at $7 per pellet, a savings of about $13 billion was generated in just one year.

Question of Safety

People tend to associate nuclear power plants with nuclear bombs. They believe that nuclear power plants are capable of exploding like a bomb. They don't realize that nuclear power plants are not capable of detonating like a bomb. The enrichment of the fuel is not great enough and all reactions are controlled, unlike in a bomb. There also exist the fear of nuclear accidents occurring like Chernobyl or Three Mile Island.

It should then be pointed out that from the Chernobyl accident, countries from the European Community can expect 1000 extra deaths over the next 50 years. But what is that statistic compared the 10000 deaths per year due to coal and its associated black lung disease. What should also be pointed out is that the Chernobyl reactor had no containment structure, unlike the reactors in the United States where all reactors are required to be kept in containment structures. Containment structures could have prevented this accident. As far as the Three Mile Island accident, it was contained and no detectable radiation was emitted. Also, from this accident, a lot was learned and all nuclear power plants similar to the Three Mile Island Reactor were modified so that an accident of that type would not occur again.

No other industry has invested so much time and money in the safety aspect of their business than has the nuclear industry. Over half the initial capital investment goes into the safety system of a nuclear power plant. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission enforces nuclear power plants to abide by certain standards set by the government to protect the health and safety of the public. Breaking any of their rules may result in a hefty fine or shutdown of the plant, thus most nuclear power plants are maintained with extreme care.

Current reactor design now rely on passive safety systems which can operate due to the forces of gravity, rather than relying on circuits and generators. This new safety modification hopefully will gain the support of the public so that these new designs could finally become implemented.

Options

Research is currently being conducted for the utilization of solar and geothermal power. These types of energy will have very little environmental impact as well as no threat of a nuclear accident, however, these technologies have not been perfected. Solar power has proven to be an expensive power source while geothermal is unreliable as well as expensive.

Conclusion

As stated before, there exists no perfect energy source. Coal and oil burning plants emit dangerous gases into the environment. The coal, oil, and natural gas supply are not finite and are slowly diminishing. Solar and geothermal power are costly and unreliable.

Nuclear energy, however, contains all of its waste, is abundant in supply, is cheap, and has proven to be reliable and safe. The public needs to be informed of these facts and must be able to distinguish the truth from the false rumors, otherwise, its use will be wasted.

References

• National Energy Institute (1994) "Impact of Nuclear Energy on U.S. Electric Utility Fuel" National Energy Institute, Washington, DC.
• EPRI Journal (1987) "Chernobyl in Perspective," EPRI Journal, Palo Alto, CA.
• National Geographic (1981) "Energy," National Geographic, Washington, DC.