Fight the Holmes Dirty Water Bill, Keep Stormwater Regs Strong

The internet is on fire tonight with info about the Holmes Bill going down in Annapolis.

I'm cutting and pasting what has been sent to me from the Anacostia Watershed Society. I also got pretty much the same email from the Potomac Conservancy, and any number of other organizations out there. I'm cheering them all on.

Stormwater ain't glamorous. But the tightness of the Stormwater Act of 2007 holds great promise for bringing this problem under control, at least a little bit.

As the AWS email says, we've asked others in the Chesapeake to play their part in the clean up. Now it is time for the developers to join the effort and do their part, too.

From AWS:

"Wednesday, March 24 at 11AM there will be a press conference in the Maryland State House room H-124 featuring a trio of environmental elder statesmen: former US Congressman Wayne Gilchrest, former US Senator Joseph Tydings, and former Maryland Governor Harry Hughes.

These three will be speaking out against the developer's efforts in the General Assembly to weaken the 2007 Stormwater Management Act. Despite having three years to get ready for the Act's May 4, 2010 effective date, the developers are crying that the sky is falling and are asking that their industry be allowed to continue its special exception to pollute our rivers and Chesapeake Bay. We have asked farmers, wastewater treatment, and industry to do their parts for clean water - it is time for the developers to do their fair share....

Write one of our Anacostia Senators, Paul Pinsky (22nd) (paul.pinsky@senate.state.md.us) and tell him that you will stand with him to oppose the "emergency regulations" sent to his AELR committee that would roll back significant provisions of the 2007 Stormwater Act.Write members of the House Environmental Matters Committee (http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/mdmanual/06hse/html/com/04env.html) and tell them to oppose HB1125, Delegate Holmes' dirty water bill.

In particular, contact these members of the Anacostia delegation:Delegate Al Carr (18th) - alfred.carr@house.state.md.usDelegate Tom Hucker (20th) - thomas.hucker@house.state.md.usDelegate Barbara Frush (21st) - barbara_frush@house.state.md.usDelegate Anne Healey (22nd) - anne_healey@house.state.md.usDelegate Doyle Niemann (47th) - doyle.niemann@house.state.md.usAsk all of your elected officials to stand up for clean water and vote no on dirty water bills and proposals that would weaken the Stormwater Management Act of 2007! (www.msa.md.gov/msa/mdmanual/07leg/html/ga.html)

Background: Maryland needs clean water. We need to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay and other waters, even as the state continues to grow and develop. Three years ago, the Maryland General Assembly enacted the Stormwater Management Act of 2007 - a strong clean water law that requires developers to design sites to retain and reuse rainwater. The Stormwater Management Act requires use of green techniques like street trees; green roofs; and permeable pavements to slow down, spread out, and soak in stormwater rather than funneling it into our streams. Now, developers and their allies want to weaken this clean water law, with dirty water amendments that would allow projects to be built using obsolete techniques that will continue to kill our streams.

Developers want to weaken the Stormwater Management Act, so they can continue business as usual - to keep funneling polluted stormwater runoff into our streams and to let the public pick up the tab in the form of erosion, continued dead zones in the Bay; damage to public infrastructure; and future "stormwater retrofit projects."Existing damage from stormwater to Maryland's streams - erosion damage that is yet unaddressed - has been estimated to cost the public $12 billion in unmet restoration costs. This price tag will continue to mount if the dirty water legislation is allowed to weaken the Stormwater Management Act. Let's not let that happen."