O'Malley's green grade slips a little
The Maryland League of Conservation Voters gave Gov. Martin O'Malley a B+ today for his environmental record over the past three years, a slight decline from the record-high A- grade it gave him shortly after he moved into the State House.
The slippage represents activists' unhappiness over O'Malley's backing and signing a bill this year to boost incentives for generating electricity by burning trash. Under the measure, "waste-to-energy" plants get top-tier status and lucrative incentives under Maryland's program meant to promote renewable energy developement. Green groups complained that encouraging more trash burning would pollute the state's air while undermining prospects for developing other renewable energy sources, notably solar and offshore wind projects.
The group also downgraded O'Malley on water quality, reflecting its concern that he has yet to push for an increase in the "flush fee" to finish upgrading the state's largest sewage treatment plants.
The league did give O'Malley top marks for funding land preservation, pushing through climate-change legislation, for drafting the most aggressive Chesapeake Bay cleanup plan of any of the bay-watershed states, and for restricting wild oyster harvests while encouraging watermen to move into aquaculture.
It also credited him with pushing to develop offshore wind energy and for seeking to ban large-scale new development on septic tanks. Both measures failed to pass this year, though O'Malley hopes to revive them.
"Governor O'Malley made the environment one of the hallmarks of his administration," Fred Hoover, chair of the league's board of directors, said in a statement. "He not only kept the state's commitment to restore the Chesapeake Bay, but proposed significant environmental initiatives in each legislative session."
Still, the group pointed to areas where it wasn't satisfied and hoped for more. Besides wanting to see the "flush fee" increased, the league said it's worried that new regulations being drafted by the state to curtail farm pollution from animal manure and sewage sludge could be held up or watered down.
And, noting its unhappiness a couple years ago over the administration's compromise with developers on new storm-water pollution regulations, the league said it wants the administration to act on expired permits regulating storm-water runoff from cities and suburbs and to push for new funding so communities can pay for needed controls on storm-runoff pollution.
(Gov. Martin O'Malley wades into septic-contaminated Eastern Shore lake to push for curbs on development using individual household waste treatment systems. Photo courtesy governor's office.)
Comments
How about the fact that he steals from the flush fee every year to pay for anti-environment acvitivites like building roads?
Posted by: Amy | October 12, 2011 1:22 PM
Then raids the transportation budget to balance the general fund.
Posted by: John | October 17, 2011 11:19 AM