Advocates Trying to Fight the Holmes Bill (HB 1125)

Teams of people are visiting Annapolis this week, to push back against the Holmes Bill (HB 1125).

Advocates are asking anyone who cares about the Chesapeake to call their state senator and tell them you don’t support the proposed legislation.

I think that Diane Cameron of the Audubon Naturalist Society said it best last week:

“We all pay the costs of damaged infrastructure resulting from weak stormwater standards. If we allow projects to be built this year without adequate stormwater controls, and allow developers to avoid paying their share of the cost of stormwater prevention, we will all pay more next year for the many costs of dirty water: dead zones in the Bay and blown‐out streams in every County in the State.” (To read her full click here .)

This year was to be the year that all of Maryland began to see the changes the Stormwater Act would have made. But if the Holmes bill passes in the Senate then many of those protections will be severely loosened to the point of being almost non-existent.

Here’s the background:

On Friday, March 26, 127 Maryland State delegates voted to pass the Holmes bill, despite the fact that some of the people who have worked hardest and longest for the Bay’s restoration efforts have vocally opposed it.

The Baltimore Sun’s B’More Green Blog did the kind of reporting on the bill that all of the papers should have done. If you can only read one story about the entire thing, this is the one to read.

The Baltimore Sun’s regular coverage can be found here.

The Washington Post also ran a story from a different angle:

WTOP radio also covered it.

The Capital (in Annapolis) also covered the controversy.

The Anacostia Watershed Society has called the votes for the Holmes Bill “bad for the Anacostia and bad for the Bay.” As the bill begins its way through the Senate, AWS and many other organizations all over the state are frantically calling upon their members and supporters to contact state senators NOW to show opposition towards this piece of legislation.

To read the AWS action alert includes a list of key Senators that should be contacted.

Audubon Naturalist Society’s Diane Cameron, stated in her testimony against the bill that “weak stormwater standards Are costing us billions.” You can read her full testimony on the ANS website or visit:

http://www.audubonnaturalist.org/Images2/campaigns/24march2010camerondirtywaterbilltestimony.pdf