Group Seeks More Money for Bay

By KRISTEN WYATT

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – An environmental group that pushed unsuccessfully this year for a new development fee to pay for Chesapeake Bay cleanup is renewing calls for passage of the so- called Green Fund.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, a nonprofit advocacy group, released a report Monday critical of federal environmental authorities for calling this summer an "average" year for pollution.

Though the year was typical of recent summers – pollution caused dangerous low-oxygen zones, algae blooms and fish kills across the 14,700-square mile Chesapeake Bay Watershed – the Foundation said the Environmental Protection Agency’s use of the word "average" in a prediction by its Chesapeake Bay Program gives the wrong impression that water quality in the Chesapeake is OK.

"Here’s my greatest fear – that people are getting used to the Chesapeake Bay being polluted," said foundation president Will Baker.

West Virginia is part of the watershed but is not a partner in the foundation.

The foundation detailed continuing problems in the Chesapeake, such as a so-called "dead zone" caused by dissolved oxygen levels so low most aquatic life can’t survive. The Chesapeake’s dead zone, a summer occurrence for decades, is growing both in area and duration, Baker said.

The foundation used the summer water quality data to renew calls for Maryland lawmakers to create a fund to pump $60 million a year into Chesapeake cleanup efforts, more if federal funding is not approved.

A development fee on impervious surfaces, such as traditional pavement, was approved last session by the House, but not the Senate. The fee, called a "Green Fund" by supporters, failed amid concerns about Maryland’s projected budget deficit coming up next fiscal year.

The foundation argues that even though Maryland faces tough fiscal times, an infusion of cash is needed to help improve the Chesapeake.

"We have the science and the strategies to reverse the trend," said Kim Coble, the foundation’s Maryland director.

Delegate Maggie McIntosh, chairwoman of the committee that passed the Green Fund last session, said Monday that some sort of new fund for Chesapeake cleanup is likely to be considered next year, but perhaps in a new form.

"I don’t know if we will land on the same funding source," the fee on new development, she said. Baker and McIntosh said the next attempt may put a fee on all hard surfaces, not just new development.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Martin O’Malley said the governor supported the Green Fund idea last year and is likely to support some version of it again. Spokeswoman Christine Hansen said it wasn’t clear yet whether O’Malley would include a Green Fund in his proposed budget for next year.

"Everything remains on the table," she said.

Baker said the foundation is not pushing for any specific plan for boosting cleanup dollars, as long as lawmakers pass something.

"There are plenty of priorities for the state, we understand that," he said.

Originally published by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.

(c) 2007 Charleston Daily Mail. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.