From Friends of Harford:
Legislative Bill 14-036 was introduced on December 9, 2014 in county council session. Public testimony is scheduled for
Date/Time: Tuesday, January 13, 2015 at 6:30 pm
Location: Council Chambers, 212 S. Bond St, Bel Air
The stated purpose of the bill is to “repeal in its entirety Article III, Watershed Restoration and Protection, all of Chapter 214, Sediment Control and Stormwater Management of the Harford County Code, as amended; to provide that no stormwater remediation fees will be charged or collected in Harford County; and generally related to stormwater management.”
Friends of Harford believes that Bill 14-036 is being introduced because Governor-elect Hogan has stated his plan to remove the “rain tax”. Because we are required by the Federal Government EPA to reduce stormwater runoff from our existing infrastructure, it seems we will pay for the stormwater management program out of the general budget. In other words, this bill does little. What the County should be doing is giving us their plan of action to slow down the pollutants we generate.
Bills become county-wide laws when passed by the County Council. Bills are introduced in one session, a time for future public testimony is scheduled (usually 2 – 3 weeks after the bill is published), and then the bill is voted on. Public testimony is your chance to be heard (3-minute time limit). You may also send comments to the council by that date.
This county has put in place many storm water management policies already. The past 2-3 years they have become more stringent. We already have many sediment ponds where development has been done for many years. We just finished family conveyances and to install a storm water management system for 3 lots the cost is $11,00 and an additional $13,000 for the engineering plan that was finally approved by the county.
Any future building must use the new septic system that is to protect the environment.
I travel Fallston Rd and several hundred trees have been planted on the state right of way. These are very close to each other, so I wonder how effective their growth will be. Seems like they are too close to each other and many will die. In time these areas will grow up to be a wilderness area.
If swales are built along the waterways, this would help keep the pollutants and sediment out. However, I think the cost would be too excessive for the government to afford.
Where is the flush tax going that we have been paying for many years. Seems that if this was put in to a clean up fund, we would have cleaned the bay by now. It has gone from $30 a year under Ehrlich to $60 a year under O’Malley.
We also need to put our trash in the trash can. Each week I pick a small bag of trash up from my fields that is thrown out or blows out of the back of pickup trucks. In the summer I pick up supplies in Baltimore City and I observe people just throwing trash in their hand on the street. Our litter campaigns are ignored by many.
I agree, Jean. I think that the fines for littering need to be more strictly enforced. I’m constantly picking up litter in front of my property but luckily, not a lot. I once had to pick up a baby’s diaper thrown onto my lawn (yuck!)
It’s a small issue in the bigger picture in terms of the health of the bay – but it’s true with regard to litter. There was a time this county had enough pride and concern for the neighborhood that dumping liquor bottles, diapers, trash of all types…food wrappers, mattresses. Yes, some moron threw their nasty old mattress out along Watervale in an otherwise clean naturalized open field. It’s a symptom of a bigger problem – little respect for yourself or your neighbors and zero regard for the environment. We wouldn’t need a bunch of rules and regulations if the idea of showing respect and being careful with the environment was done because it’s the right thing, but instead we act like pigs as if it’s somebody’s right to trash the place.
The bay is a sewer hole and has been for the last century. The only way to clean it up and also clean up the world is to reduce or stabilize the population. We just have too many people.
Sewer hole is putting it mildly. When AA county puts up a warning every summer that if you get bay water on your skin to flush the area immediately with clean water you really have to wonder about those who eat fish with sores, deformed crabs and oyster that flourish in million gallon municipal sewage spills.
If we were really dedicated to cleaning up the bay they should put consumer warnings at every seafood store counter and restaurant in the area. You would be able to see 10′ to the bottom in August.
The burden of keeping the Bay clean should not fall solely on Marylanders. Period! NoMalley never has asked PA, DC, or VA come to the table. The Susky River starts in NY state so have them man-up as well. Very tired of the EPA and the OweTaxMe people breaking my stones I can tell you.
It isn’t. There is a multi-state compact regarding pollution levels and clean-up. Each state is responsible for its own pollution under the supervision of the EPA.
And it works so well that the Conowingo Dam personnel periodically collect an acre or so of garbage and general flotsam that bungs up against the dam… and this is just the stuff that’s floating on the surface that we can see. I imagine if they stopped, eventually the trash would back up to the state line. That’d be something to see… square miles of trash afloat on the river. Unfortunately they probably can’t get permission to truck it back to a PA landfill so we get to keep it.
What floats is easy to handle. It is the phosphorus and nitrogen that we dump into our rivers and creeks every time that it rains is the problem. This is especially noticeable in areas like the Eastern Shore, where industrial farming is prominent, but it occurs in urban and suburban areas as well, particularly in areas that need an upgrade to their stormwater and sewage treatment facilities.
The good news in all of this is that Glassman feels that the County has more than enough money to pay for the upgrades we need and is therefore will eliminating the tax that is dedicated for this purpose.
Why is it fair that only 10 counties in the state are being asked to pay when the entire state enjoys use of the bay and its products. If the entire state shared equally in the stormwater fees the price could be lower and maybe more palatable. I also have my own septic which I pay to have pumped out and then have to pay a $60 flush tax on top of that. Where does it end?
No different than the emissions gimmick that only “metro I95” residents of our state get mailed letters every 2 years, for those who own gasoline powered cars.