A bill has been introduced into the Maryland General Assembly (House Bill 106) that would repeal the Sustainable Growth and Agricultural Preservation Act of 2012, otherwise known as the septic bill. One of the bill’s sponsors is Calvert County Delegate Mark N. Fisher [R-District 27B].
Maryland Executive Director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation Alison Prost issued a statement Thursday supporting Governor O’Malley’s spending plan for Fiscal Year 2014, and decrying the introduction of HB 106.
Prost said, “Today we witness the one-step forward, one-step backward pattern that has plagued the 30 -year Chesapeake Bay clean-up effort. On the one hand Governor O’Malley proposed a budget that accelerates our progress, but on the other hand some legislators dug in their heels.
“The Governor’s budget increases funding to local counties and municipalities to help clean up local creeks and rivers. But a bill introduced by some rural legislators would allow 2 million pounds of new nitrogen pollution to be discharged into local water bodies in their districts.
“In our recently released State of the Bay report we noted the Chesapeake’s health index has improved 10 percent since 2008 because of cooperation between government, business and citizens. Yet we have a long way to go. Cooperation will finish the job, not obstructionism.
“We are disappointed a few rural legislators are fighting against the cleanup of their local creeks and streams. A growing part of that pollution is coming from sprawl development. Legislation passed by the Maryland General Assembly the past session would give counties a tool to better manage that sprawl. That bill makes rural areas stronger by preserving farmland, forest and their natural ability to filter and clean water, and also by discouraging the use of antiquated septic technology. Yet HB 106 would repeal that bill.”
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