Saving Our Bay – Local Good-News Editorial About This Legislative Session. But…

— Dedicated to Earth Day 2015–

THE BALTIMORE SUN – EDITORIALS
Wins for the bay (4/16/15) EXCERPTED

“Our view: Environmentalists expected to battle with Maryland’s new Republican governor, but so far, he’s been something of a pleasant surprise.

“Here’s a sentence that nobody expected to be written this week: The 2015 legislative session turned out pretty well for the Chesapeake Bay and some other environmental causes. How that happened almost defies logic.

“While the state budget — and the acrimony and politics that surrounded it during the last few days of the Maryland General Assembly’s 90-day session — stole the headlines, bay-related initiatives quietly advanced and, in some cases, produced bipartisan agreements. No single piece of legislation proved as unexpectedly beneficial to the cause as the so-called “rain tax repeal” — a description that requires quotation marks because, frankly, not a single word within them is accurate.

“First, there was never a tax on rain, and second, there was never a need for repeal as the counties involved already had the option of using other funds to pay for federally-mandated stormwater pollution reductions. But finally, and most astoundingly, the legislation actually strengthens the law. Strange but true: It now imposes stricter reporting requirements and greater accountability. Now there will be potential penalties if Baltimore and the nine counties fail to demonstrate how they can meet remediation goals.

“That willingness to compromise on environmental issues is starting to seem something of a pattern. Earlier in the session, Mr. Hogan agreed to tough new rules on phosphorus that Eastern Shore poultry farmers had initially protested as costly and burdensome restrictions because they would prevent some farmers from spreading chicken manure as fertilizer on their fields as they’ve done in the past. Mr. Hogan initially pulled Gov. Martin O’Malley’s version of those regulations but eventually agreed to standards that, while delayed two years, are largely what his predecessor sought. By some estimates, Mr. Hogan’s agriculture secretary, former Baltimore County Councilman Joe Bartenfelder, has actually been a more effective and enthusiastic advocate for the so-called Phosphorus Management Tool than Mr. O’Malley’s was.

“Meanwhile, lawmakers agreed to place a two-year moratorium on the use of hydraulic fracturing technology to drill for natural gas in Western Maryland.

“Finally, legislators adopted tougher penalties for oyster poaching, which is helpful to the growing aquaculture industry, and a ban on personal care items like facial cleansers or teeth whiteners that contain microbeads — tiny bits of plastic that enter the ecosystem and harm marine life after they drain down the sink or are flushed down the toilet.”

While this is most of the editorial, you can see all of it here.

BTW, if interested in knowing more about microbeads, in your facial scrub, your soap and your toothpaste, etc., see here and here.

Long live the marine industry on the Chesapeake Bay!

The “But…” – As reported just last weekend in the Sun, “Hogan revises smog rules – coal-fired power plants received increased flexibility.” Yes, thankfully, the summer “smog season” requirement to lower emissions remains. But, the MD Department of the Environment is going to take “another look” at what coal-burning facilities may have to do by way of further GHG reduction over the coming 5-year period. The EPA helped solve for this recently in one application recently blogged about here. Other posts about the killing zone created by GHG: harmful (10/1/14) and remedial effort (9/12/14).

While the MD DOE dallies and further sea rise occurs, planting more trees and rooftops will certainly help.