Environmental Law

"More than 90 Maryland homeowners with beautiful views of the Chesapeake Bay say they?re now staring at an ugly reality. The structures are perched on an eroding cliff, but the property owners can?t do anything to stop the soil from wearing away because of a rare insect.

The Puritan tiger beetle is an Endangered Species, and the majority of the known beetles live in the cliffside underneath Chesapeake Ranch Estates. Residents say it?s not just a matter of losing their homes, it?s literally a life and death situation.

In 1996, a landslide killed a 12 year old girl. Since then, some residents have awoken to find large sections of their property have literally vanished into the Bay.

Residents have been fighting for years for the right to put in reinforcing stones or other structures, but have been denied at every turn because of the beetles. Glenn Therres, a biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MDNR), says the agency will try to help homeowners ? but not at the cost of the beetles."