State officials working to preserve more open space in Maryland ..

Read more about the announced plan to purchase 9,200 acres of forest, farmland and even waterfront along the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River in the Baltimore Sun. For perspective, 9,200 acres is approximately 2.5 times the surface area of Deep Creek Lake, so in the big picture it's not much but every little bit makes a difference.

Don't forget to check back to Dan's Deep Creek Blog for future updates.

Finally, another editorial in the local paper that I can relate to ..

Republican Newspaper Editorial.

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Now I believe the bear was only trying to demonstrate the wastefulness of those renting vacation homes ..

I suppose the bear is a recycling advocate.

I personally know countless people who have been attacked by a dog and required medical attention while in Garrett County, yet know of no one who has received as much as a scratch from a bear. Sometimes it's the things you don't worry about that end up biting you not those that get sensationalized in the media. As just one example, you are something like 250 times more likely to die in a car crash than a plane crash yet the same people who are terrified of flying think nothing of getting in a car.

Don't forget to check back to Dan's Deep Creek Blog for future updates.

America for Sale ..

With the news that an American icon, Anheuser-Busch, may be sold to a foreign company, Belgium's InBev, I thought I would provide a link to this editorial by Fortune senior editor-at-large, Geoff Colvin, in which he predicts more of the same unless we change our ways. The last three paragraphs are especially worth reading and the final paragraph does offer a ray of hope as seen below, but as is generally the case it is completely up to us to change our bad behavior.

"We can turn our situation around by saving more and spending less, and market forces, such as a weakening dollar, will help us do that. But every day we don't, the hole we have to climb out of gets a little deeper."

If you don't want your children and grandchildren to be working as indentured servants for foreign investors and oil tycoons maybe you should consider what you can do today to prevent this from happening. In the words of Teddy Roosevelt, "each one must do his part" and for my part I hope to encourage others to wake up and make changes.

Don't forget to check back to Dan's Deep Creek Blog for future updates.

John McCain to promote energy conservation and oil and gas exploration ..

See the story from Yahoo! News. And a few highlights of McCain's upcoming speech below:

"Conservation serves a critical national goal."

"I believe it is time for the federal government to lift these restrictions and to put our own reserves to use," he will say. "We can do this in ways that are consistent with sensible standards of environmental protection."

Now the question is which candidate will the people of Garrett County support since neither is for the energy status quo? Hopefully more people will begin to recognize that conservation and changing behaviors are a big part of the solution.

Don't forget to check back to Dan's Deep Creek Blog for future updates.

Score one for the editor of the Republican Newspaper ..

I'd like to personally thank the editor of the Republican Newspaper for pointing out that there are many things we can do besides blaming the oil companies for the high cost of gasoline. I don't think I could have said it any better myself. I look forward to more pieces such as this one from the editor.

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Paging Dee Anderson, paging Dee Anderson ..

Perhaps we could join forces and work together to promote common sense and conservation. We obviously have a similar point of view judging by this Republican letter to the editor.

Great job Dee! We need more people like you to help educate our citizens. Perhaps soon these "big energy consumers" will be forced to pay for their share of the damage they are doing to our environment. We can only hope.

Don't forget to check back to Dan's Deep Creek Blog for future updates.

Is bottled water contributing to higher oil prices?

In a word, yes. Slightly as it may be, consider a few highlights from the USA Today story discussing the downsides of bottled water in our society:

"Doug James, a professor of computer science and computer graphics at Cornell University and a recycling advocate, found that of the 30 billion plastic water bottles sold in the United States in 2005, only 12 percent were recycled. That left 25 billion bottles "landfilled, littered or incinerated,'' according to James' Web site."

"Plastic water bottles produced for U.S. consumption take 1.5 million barrels of oil per year, according to a 2007 resolution passed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. That much energy could power 250,000 homes or fuel 100,000 cars for a year, according to the resolution."

"On the waste reduction hierarchy, reduce and reuse should be above recycle, said Tompkins County Solid Waste manager Barb Eckstrom."

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Baltimore Sun writer urges protection of Hoye Crest in Garrett County ..

See the full story here. The land is currently owned by a subsidary of a "Houston-based company that owns and manages coal fields".

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There seems to be a disconnect in the thought process of some Garrett County residents ..

as I saw exhibited once again in reading some of the latest happenings on The Deep Creek Blog. It seems one of Becky's readers is convinced that news of potential natural gas exploration in Garrett County is "negative" and in her opinion not welcome news. Just a few weeks earlier the editor of the Republican was crying foul over high oil and gasoline prices. Well folks, I'm here to tell you that you can't have it both ways. You can't be for lower oil and gasoline prices and against all alternatives, sources of new supplies and conservation at the same time. Personally, I'm in favor of all four, but it remains to be seen if we have the collective political will or foresight to make even one happen.

I also believe that natural gas is something many people are overlooking in the ongoing energy debate. Few recognize, for example, that we have significant reserves of natural gas right here in North America including the Marcellus shale reserve which according to some sources is the third largest reserve in the world. It can also be extracted with relatively little disturbance to the land and is a much cleaner burning resource than either oil or coal. I'll talk more about this at a later time including how it is also being used as a transportation fuel, specifically in a number of airports and city fleets around the country.

For now though, let me see if I have this correct, the people (or perhaps just some people) of Garrett County are against high energy prices, against wind energy, against natural gas exploration and I've even seen some comments indicating nuclear energy was a bad idea. The question I have is what exactly are the people of Garrett County for? The way things used to be when most of the world was dirt poor and energy was plentiful and cheap for those of us lucky enough to live in the United States? Or are they for energy just as long as it comes from somewhere else and is cheap?

If people are truly interested in lowering energy prices, maybe it's time to consider some of the benefits of alternatives, new supplies and conservation. Otherwise, we could continue to get our energy from the backyards of others while they demand higher and higher prices to provide it to us. The choice is ours.

Don't forget to check back to Dan's Deep Creek Blog for future updates.

Lost in the news of a big rally on Wall Street yesterday ..

was more evidence that American consumers are shifting their purchasing behaviors to respond to market conditions. For someone like me who likes to see people trying to solve problems for themselves and not simply rely on someone to come bail them out this is good news indeed. From a purely business standpoint this is likely to force a lot more tough decisions for builders and suppliers as their already thin margins are almost assuredly not going to reach the historic levels of the recent past anytime soon. Over time though they will find a way to adapt just as KB is now. Despite the pain for some, the news is certainly a welcome change from the recent past for those of us concerned with conservation and sustainable living.

It remains to be seen how this might play out in the Deep Creek market and whether or not more developers might begin to scale down plans while more buyers seek out smaller more manageable homes. Perhaps Mike Kennedy could shed some light on this subject. Based on the data he has previously presented things seem to be trending more towards the extremes KB saw in 2005 and 2006 when they experienced record selling prices as well. A key question would be whether square footage and building price per square foot (i.e. better amenities) are increasing in the Deep Creek market or is it the land cost driving prices higher (assuming there is enough data to show such a trend conclusively)? Then maybe we could get a better idea if the Deep Creek market was truly immune or simply out of sync and a few years behind the rest of the country. Stay tuned.

Don't forget to check back to Dan's Deep Creek Blog for future updates.

Now that GM finally recognizes that oil and other fossil fuels have a finite supply ..

maybe the last hold-outs in Garrett County will also accept this and change their behavior.

See yesterday's news story on GM's SUV and truck plant closings here.

It also seems as if the news that Americans are finally moving away from gas guzzlers to smaller more efficient cars is having a dramatic effect on the price of oil (down 10% from its recent high). Imagine that, we indicate we are going to take steps to strengthen the dollar and consumers shift purchasing behavior and oil prices drop. A novel concept.

In the wake of yesterday's news from GM a number of national columnists have penned their own views on related topics. In today's New York Times, David Leonhardt discusses the lifetime cost of ownership of various vehicles and in today's Wall Street Journal, Joseph White, makes an interesting comparison of the relative fates of the markets for over-sized SUVs and houses.

Don't forget to check back to Dan's Deep Creek Blog for future updates.

A government website for anyone interested in saving energy and money ..

With ever escalating energy costs there are many things individuals and businesses can do to reduce energy use and thus save money. This website is fairly comprehensive and has resources for everyone (and who doesn't want to save a little money these days). According to the Energy Savers website, "many households could save 20-30 percent on their household energy bills by implementing energy efficiency improvements".

Under the "Homeowners" link of the above page there is another link to the IRS website detailing the Tax Credits from the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This act of Congress was intended to "provide tax credits for individuals who make energy efficient home improvements or who purchase hybrid or alternative fuel vehicles," but in the typical fashion of our political leaders you will see that these tax credits for home improvements have essentially expired. All credits from this act had to be claimed for energy saving items "placed in service after Dec. 31, 2005 and before Jan. 1, 2008".

This blogger can't think of a worse time for these tax credits to expire, right when the average person needs them most! I would encourage anyone reading this to write your Congressman and urge him or her to make reinstating these energy saving, home improvement tax credits a priority over steroid investigations, questioning of oil executives, a farm bill filled with wasteful subsidizes for wealthy farmers and even the housing bailout plan to help people stay in houses they couldn't afford in the first place. Why not do something to help the middle class for once? And why not do something to promote common sense and conservation?

Don't forget to check back to Dan's Deep Creek Blog for future updates.

Paulson goes begging ..

Another interesting video and story from Yahoo! Finance. Make sure you turn the sound on to hear their frank and to the point message that things need to change in a lot of respects including conservation. I applaud these guys for trying to educate the American public that we got ourselves into a big mess by borrowing far too much and being far too wasteful and need to give up begging the Middle East for help every week and start doing something to help ourselves. Hopefully the editor of the Republican Newspaper sees this as well, maybe he could gain a new perspective on why oil prices are where they are.

Don't forget to check back to Dan's Deep Creek Blog for future updates.

Deep Creek Dream Home 2008 ..

You don't have to share Al Gore's opinion on global warming or be a extreme treehugger to realize that conservation of our natural resources is a good thing and good for future generations as well. I'm hardly an Al Gore fan but I do believe each of us could do more to reduce our own impact on the planet by conserving energy, recycling more, using less and generally making a few easy sacrifices. Phil and Lisa Malone have taken these ideals one step further at Deep Creek Lake with their earth sheltered, passive solar, geothermal home which is why I'm calling their home the Deep Creek Dream Home 2008 (although it was built several years earlier)..

I applaud their efforts and hope to see more individuals and businesses following in their footsteps in the years to come. Just as it is hard to imagine what the American West might look like today if not for the leadership of an American icon, Teddy Roosevelt, it is also hard to imagine what the next 100 years might look like without more leaders like the Malones.


"We have fallen heirs to the most glorious heritage a people ever received, and each one must do his part if we wish to show that the nation is worthy of its good fortune."
Theodore Roosevelt

Don't forget to check back to Dan's Deep Creek Blog for future updates.