Building a Green Maryland : Maryland Green Building Lawyer & Attorney : Megan Reuwer : O’Malley, Miles, Nylen & Gilmore Law Firm : MD Green Building, Sustainability

Last Thursday, July 15th, I attended the last scheduled Bay Watershed Implementation Plan Regional Exchange, held at the Prince George's County Soil Conservation District Office in Upper Marlboro...and let me tell you - The. Room. Was. PACKED! There's obviously a lot of interest in how this plan is going to be created, implemented, and then monitored, and rightly so! The plan will have a huge impact on how we address nutrient and sediment deposits in the Bay watershed.

The purpose of this meeting was twofold: first, for the primary host, Maryland's Department of Natural Resources, to explain a bit about the eventual phases of the Plan (there are three) and the basic tasks that they've been charged with addressing in the plan; and second, for input from citizens on how to tackle the challenges of meeting the interrelated goals established by the TMDL and by the President's Executive Order (see this post for general information on the WIP, this post for information on the recently announced TMDL allocations for Maryland, and this post for information on the President's Executive Order on the Chesapeake Bay).

Highlights from Catherine Shanks (Department of Natural Resources) informative presentation include the following:

• The state can and will allocate loads to sectors and sources - this means eventually allocating nutrient and sediment maximums per County (probably in Phase II of the WIP). (My editorial: important questions here include: What branch of the County government will be responsible for implementing, tracking, and monitoring the plan? How will land use designations be correlated amongst counties in determining the allocations? How will allocations within the County be doled out? What happens when maximum capacity is reached?)
• Accounting for growth will be a major component of the plan. (My editorial: this could have a profound impact on the building industry).
• The WIP's interaction with other water management plans is still something that is on the table - how will the plan interact with MS4 programs?
• DNR is considering implementing water policies at the state level as a possibility to address growth issues, including zoning and transportation factors.
• Anne Arundel and Caroline counties are currently in pilot programs at the county level, and the results of these programs will likely be attached to the Phase I WIP as an addendum.
• Phase I of the WIP will be available for public comments starting on September 24 and concluding on November 8, 2010.

The public pulse - here are a few comments and ideas generated at the meeting:

• The amount of nutrient and sediment flowing into the watersheds near already developed/urban areas will likely be higher than in less developed, rural areas. How are we going to prevent the unintended consequence of pushing development into more rural areas that have less nutrient and sediment impact (i.e., will the plan create higher allocations at urban centers to encourage infill and redevelopment?)
• MDE should raise its permit fees to help pay for inspection and monitoring (My editorial: this is of concern - the concept of increasing already high fees simply because these permitees are easy targets doesn't gel).
• There should be a critical area type program created for ALL the waters of the state
• Make those responsible for the nutrient deposits responsible for the cost of implementing the plan (My editorial: this could be very fair for the industry - many studies and reports show that farming activities are the highest producers of nutrient and sediment deposits in the watershed).
• The state should create legislation mandating a tax/fee on impervious surface area created.

As you can see, some of the comments made, if taken into consideration in the WIP, will be very unfavorable towards the industry. It's going to be important to comment during the public review phase (September 24- November 8, 2010) to get the industry's voice heard.  There were a few representatives of the industry present at the meeting who spoke quite eloquently and appealed to the plan makers on the concept of growth management, but the meeting was primarily attended by citizen environmental activists and environmental groups.

If you're interested in reading comments made at other regional exchange meetings, MDE has posted each meeting in PowerPoint format on its website, available here.

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Last night, I attended the Prince George's County Green Power Coalition's Candidate Briefing event held at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers building in Lanham, Maryland (Lisa Lincoln, Co-chair of the Coalition, is featured in the image at left). 

Even though it's an election year and therefore one might expect a flurry of politicians and would-be politicians to be in attendance, I have to admit that I was both suprised and impressed by the sheer numbers of candidates, incumbents, and members of the public who attended this briefing.  I think this shows that the green movement is growing in force and in interest in Prince George's County. If our future leaders are listening (and I think they are), they know that some of the topics discussed last night and in the Coalition's Platform document, titled "Building Healthy and Vibrant Communities" (available here as a pdf), are going to be very hot topics in the coming years.

The Coalition briefed candidates on six main areas that they urged were necessary to address in order to establish a healthy and vibrant community, as follows:

1. Climate Change and Energy - reducing energy consumption and increasing the production of renewable energy in the County can have a major impact on the local economy and on local health. The Coalition suggests that the County should mandate energy audits for large energy users in both the private and public sector; work with the private sector to create a loan program to promote investing in remediation projects; and require local governments to have comprehensive energy plans.
2. Waste Management - creating partnerships between the County, local governments, and the private sector to improve waste management will provide a cleaner County, save money, and stimulate local business opportunities. Suggestions made in Platform document include implementing a zero waste goal; creating a mandatory and comprehensive residential and commercial waste recycling requirement; and creating legislation that calls for a plastic bag fee, among others.
3. Land Use and Transportation - the Coalition alleges that the 2002 Prince George's County General Plan is "broken and needs to be revised." The Coalition wants to see our land plans focusing on development around metro stations in the County and on strengthening pedestrian-oriented and multi-modal (read: bicycle) linkages.
4. Green Business - to foster the growth of green business, the Coalition suggests that the County create an "Office of Sustainability" to promote existing green businesses and encourage green building practices in the County.
5. Sustainable Agriculture and Local Foods - protect farmland and improve the County's farm economy by enhancing land preservation policies and expanding farmers' markets.
6. Water Quality and Natural Resources - the Coalition recommends that the County implement a policy to ensure that the first 1.7 inches of rainwater during a storm stay on the land where it falls. It also recommends that the County create a fee structure to discourage the creation of impervious surfaces and encourages redevelopment in areas that already have a high amount of impervious surfaces.

Obviously, a lot of the suggestions noted in the Platform document directly relate to the land development and building industry. While I believe that many of these ideas are great in theory, my hesitation is that some of these suggestions, if implemented exactly as stated in the Platform document, could have a chilling effect on business opportunities in the County - especially as our economy is still in the process of recovering from the recession. Reaching that perfect balance between fostering opportunities for growth and protecting our existing resources is a constant struggle, but I'm confident that we'll get there one day.  Opportunities to engage in a dialogue and present ideas, like the Coalition's event last night, will help us get closer to striking that balance.

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EPA submitted this letter to Maryland on July 1, 2010 detailing the revised annual nutrient loadings that will be proposed under the Chesapeake Bay TMDL for each of the Bay states and Washington, DC. 

These annual loadings are expected to be achieved by the end date of the Bay Restoration Program of 2025 (2020 for Maryland).  The TMDL’s annual loading for sediment in each state will be provided by EPA to the states on August 15, 2010. 

The nitrogen and phosphorus draft allocations are intended to be used to during Maryland's development of its Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP). Let's take a look at the jurisdiction-wide allocations for Maryland:

Important Deadlines:

• August 15, 2010: EPA to provide the basinwide, jurisdictional, and major river basin draft allocation for sediment
• September 1, 2010: EPA expects jurisdictions to submit draft WIP's which sub-allocate these nutrient and sediment allocations among source sectors and the 92 Bay TMDL segmentsheds.
• September 24, 2010: EPA to propose for comment (for a 45-day public comment period) the draft Bay TMDL.
• November 29, 2010: Maryland to submit its revised WIP to EPA

I've heard several members of the development industry remark that Maryland's Watershed Implementation Plan will have a significant impact on the industry - and, the draft nutrient load allocations presented in EPA's letter (and the sediment load allocations to come on August 15) will, in turn, play a major role in the WIP.

MDE is still hosting listening sessions on the WIP - the last one occurs on July 15, 2010 from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon in Upper Marlboro, MD at the Prince George's County Soil Conservation District Office (5301 Marlboro Race Track Road).

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