Thanks so much, Chuck, for your gracious introduction… and thanks to the League of Conservation Voters for inviting me to share part of your evening with you.
There are so many friends of the environment in this room… Governor Harry Hughes, Senator Joe Tydings, Senator Bernie Fowler… If not for your leadership, we could probably hold this event around a kitchen table. You understood the importance of this work before it was a political benefit.
And I also want to take a moment to recognize another leader who isn’t here tonight… but whose presence is felt and whose legacy lives on every time we’re fortunate enough to spend some time on the Bay – John Kabler.
He believed if you’re willing to knock on doors, and if you have the courage to tell people the truth about the choices we face, then the good people of Maryland will make wise decisions… At least the ones who don’t slam the door in your face.
With your help, we hope to prove him right on November 7th. I am humbled and grateful for your endorsement. And together, we are going to restore common sense to the State House.
The Choices We Have to Make
I don’t know about you, but I’ve learned a lot about choices in the past few weeks.
Who would have thought when we were paying our three dollars a month into something called the Chesapeake Bay Restoration fund – paying our “flush tax� like good citizens – that we were actually financing a new handout for developers? Instead of cleaning up aging plants, the people in the State House are building new capacity.
So, we’re paying more taxes to sit in more traffic and fuel more sprawl – which, contrary to the name, harms the Bay. Where’s the common sense in that?
And who would have ever thought the Live Near Your Work program – which was meant to reduce traffic and sprawl by getting people to use public transportation or even walk to work – would end up providing incentives for new developments that aren’t really near any jobs?
You could commute from South Baltimore to north Annapolis and, according to the State’s definition, you’d be living near your work. Having just made that drive, it’s hard to see how that makes any sense.
John Kennedy said that to “Govern is to choose.� And while the current administration has made some bad choices, we have the power, this year, to choose a different course. We have the power to make government work again, so we stop sliding back… so we don’t just safeguard our environment – but begin to make it healthier… So we begin, finally, to improve the Chesapeake Bay.
So, what then are the choices we have before us this year? There are two fundamental questions that need to be asked:
First – will we have leadership that makes short-term choices that benefit narrow special interests… Or leadership that that understands that the choices we make today affect the strength of Maryland for generations to come?
As one participants in the recent series of “Reality Check� growth seminars put it, we are talking about a legacy for “our children’s children’s children.�
Second – Will we passively allow growth to determine the character of Maryland, or will we choose to ensure that the character of Maryland determines our growth?
Growth is coming to Maryland. The BRAC process guarantees we will be getting new jobs and new neighbors. But, we can and must choose to shape our growth so it strengthens Maryland communities, rather than weakens them.
Our Environmental Legacy
So – Do we have leadership that makes choices, looking no further than the next election… Or leadership that looks to the long-term with the interests of our families in mind?
Let’s look at the evidence:
Four years ago, right after taking office, the new administration chose to cripple the state’s two premier environmental protection agencies, the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Environment.
They cut staff, starved the departments of funds, and – most importantly – drained them of experience and brainpower. You all know the good people who were forced to leave.
They decided not to take responsibility for enforcing Maryland’s landmark Critical Areas’ law – the most important provision that links what we do on the land with the quality of the water in the Bay.
Shortly after the Administration essentially declared the oyster population “functionally extinct,� they pushed to expand oyster harvesting for the few remaining pockets of native oysters that are left… and tried to dump non-native oysters into the Bay.
These aren’t the choices we would have made.
When it came to being a responsible steward of our air quality, the administration sided with narrow interests against public health.
When the General Assembly proposed the Healthy Air Act, this administration opposed it – with utility lobbyists writing letters signed by the Secretary of Environment.
And when the bill passed over the administration’s objections, they actually locked the doors to the governor’s office and hid so he could avoid having to take a stand. Eventually, they came out of hiding, and now they’re claiming credit for it.
And it’s not enough to try to block enforcement. This Administration does not use its power to enforce our laws. According to public records, Power plants in our state pollute unchecked.
This Administration is all for law and order – unless the law isn’t what the special interests ordered.
This approach to the environment is not an accident; it’s a political philosophy. It’s a philosophy that proclaims during an election that government cannot work – and then spends the next four years proving it can’t work.
Now, our families are paying the price for this failed philosophy. We’re paying for this set of choices.
In a few days, with great fanfare, the Governor will hold a conference on the environment at Sandy Point State Park. But this summer, that very beach was closed down twice by pollution – for the first time in decades.
According to the National Resources Defense Council, 40 public beaches in Maryland remain dangerously polluted.
Every year since 2002, the number of miles of Riparian Forest Buffer plantings in Maryland has steadily declined. It was 251 miles in 2002, 160 miles in 2003, and dropped to a paltry 76 miles in 2004.
The recent CBF report still notes concerns with “dead zones� in the Bay.
And, we’re all going to be voting on a ballot question in November to keep our Governor from selling state parks and forests to developers. It’s important, and I support it. But who on earth would have even thought that it would be necessary to tell elected officials not to sell public land to campaign donors?
There’s a better way – there are better choices. And with your help, we’re going to knock on doors, we’re going to tell the truth, and we’re going to move our state in a better direction. Maryland is going to lead again.
Here are the choices an O’Malley/Brown administration will make:
First, we will work with Governor Kaine in Virginia, Governor Rendell in Pennsylvania, and the other states to create the Chesapeake Bay Financing Authority.
Second, we will refocus our efforts to reduce runoff from agricultural lands – supporting our farmers – and at the same time establish new initiatives to address urban stormwater runoff.
Third, we will work to restore funds to both DNR and MDE and direct those agencies to start recruiting experts who actually understand Bay issues. And we’ll make decisions based on their expert opinions.
Fourth, we’ll look into ways we can establish a dedicated environmental fund to sustain long-term funding for agricultural conservation practices.
Fifth, we will make sure the resources we invest are being expended in a way that makes the most impact. We will institute BayStat to target our resources, to drive improvement and monitor our progress. And we will give citizens real-time access to information on pollution threats and the status of restoration and enforcement actions.
Sixth, Maryland will become a full partner with other Northeastern states by joining the lawsuits to clean up the dirtiest out-of-state power plants that send polluted air our way.
And Seventh, we will have the state lead the way in alternative fuel vehicles and energy-efficient equipment for state buildings.
These are the short-term choices – with lasting impact – that we should make for our state.
Growth
The second question that needs to be asked is “Will Maryland’s growth determine our state’s character or will Maryland’s character determine how we grow?�
Growth is the one issue that links all of our other environmental challenges.
It is unchecked growth that puts stress on the Chesapeake Bay and on the fish and crabs and oysters and underwater grasses that live there.
It is unabated growth that puts pressure on stormwater and wastewater treatment facilities, on the availability of drinking water, and on how clean – or dirty – our air is.
And, it is poorly-planned growth that puts pressure on our transportation networks and results in the gridlock that most Marylanders suffer with every day.
So given all these challenges, what has our governor chosen to do? And who have his choices benefited?
A few years ago, Maryland was a leader in managing sprawl. Smart Growth is a term coined here – describing a set of ideas created here – that is used across the country.
But after four years of Bob Ehrlich, the bright people who came up with these ideas are gone – and even the Smart Growth office is gone.
It was replaced by something called Priority Places – which doesn’t come with any resources or incentives. It basically says: We’re not doing anything to manage sprawl, but if we were, this is where we’d be doing it.
He has zeroed-out or sharply cut back many of the financial incentives offered under Smart Growth.
And he has tacitly, and at times explicitly, supported unchecked development – sometimes, they just throw up their hands and say your government can’t do anything… And you know what, right now, that’s a truthful statement. What does it produce: 3,200 homes up against the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Dorchester County and 4,300 homes at Terrapin Run in Western Maryland.
We would make different choices. Recognizing that needs differ in from region to region, we need to ask a simple question: Does a proposed new development bring value to our community?
That is neither a pro-growth nor an anti-growth position; that is a pro-community position.
There may be some who don’t think it’s possible… But, I think we can grow in a responsible way and keep our sense of community at the same time. We can absorb BRAC-related growth and maintain our quality of life… We can be green and growing.
Here are the choice an O’Malley/Brown administration would make to get us there:
First, set a goal of preserving more land each year than is consumed by development.
Second, fully fund Program Open Space – just as the law says we should.
Third, re-establish the Office of Smart Growth, with a new emphasis on creating a genuine partnership with municipalities and counties on how best to plan for and manage the growth that is coming to Maryland.
And bring a stronger focus to encouraging growth in older communities – where we have infrastructure and public support for redevelopment.
Fourth, increase technical and financial assistance to local governments to help them plan for growth.
And Fifth, invest in transit and telecommuting rather than weakening incentives for them – or failing to plan past the end of this fiscal year.
We make choices. We reap results. And it is these differences on which elections are decided.
Conclusion
Standing alone, these initiatives can only do so much… but together we can start reversing stubborn trends of environmental decline under this administration.
Our problems are not local, they are not isolated… they are statewide… and we need a partner in the State House who is willing to come together in a spirit of compromise to find a way forward together. We need someone who will return phone calls from people who invest their professional lives to better our state.
Tonight marks the beginning in the next phase of our partnership.
And with your help, I know that we can make Maryland a cleaner, healthier, safer community that lifts up our heritage and preserves it for the next generation.
I appreciate all that you have done to strengthen Maryland. And now we need you to talk to your families and friends… Tell our co-workers about the choices we face… And yes, even knock on a few doors.
We begin making progress, first, by winning this election. It’s that simple. We have 49 days left. Please don’t leave anything in reserve. Thank you.