Issue Position: Environmen

Issue Position

Maryland is known as the "Land of Pleasant Living" because of our environmental treasures such as the Chesapeake Bay that supports the seafood and marine industry. The farmland in the surrounding watershed protects the Bay by maintaining open space, reducing run-off into rivers and tributaries and supporting our agricultural industry.

Protecting the environment and growing the economy can be done at the same time. As Harford County executive, I exercised my powers to improve the environment that are both realistic and have measurable outcomes in the areas of agricultural land preservation, recycling, stream restoration and upgrading wastewater treatment plants. As Governor, I will return land use decisions to local government where they belong and will replace a punishment and control regime with a conservation agenda. I will work with the Governors of New York and Pennsylvania to clean up the Susquehanna and reduce that major source of Bay pollution. I will end the practice of Maryland bearing the brunt of responsibility for cleaning up the Bay and being responsible for a 64,000 square mile watershed that includes surrounding states.

The O'Malley -- Brown Administration ignores our state's environmental heritage. To them, protecting the environment is not about conservation, or clean air, clean land and clean water. It is about punishment and control. Marylanders are punished for having a roof or a driveway with the "rain tax;" they are punished for using indoor plumbing with the "flush tax." They will be punished with an unproven offshore wind mill scheme on their electric bills. Moreover, agricultural and commercial fishing operations are subject to burdensome regulations that threaten their survival. This not only damages the economy but also the environment.

The Governor of Maryland is not the land czar. Yet, that is the power the Governor now has through Plan Maryland which gives the executive branch unprecedented powers to control development. I will work with local governments to promote sound planning but leave the control of land use where it belongs, closest to the people. I will fully fund Program Open Space, stop raiding the funds and stop spending the money on pork barrel projects like artificial turf fields for high school sports stadiums.

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