This and That

No, the Manet painting has nothing to do with today's post, I just like it.  I just wanted to catch up on a couple of items.

CRABS

I think what the two Governors agreed upon was a sensible approach to trying to preserve the crab fishery in the medium term.  To do so in the long term will require some real progress on reducing the pollution levels in the Bay.  This won't be easy, particularly in the context of the growth expected in the region.  Stay tuned for more on this.

Growth

I see they have broken ground on new construction at Fort Meade for the new headquarters of the Defense Information Systems Agency.  More than 4,000 workers will fill this building when it is finished, most coming from Virginia.  The state needs to move quickly to ensure that the local infrastructure is ready for this and thousands of others that will move here as a result of the Base Realignment and Closing (BRAC) program.  In that regard, it's worth noting that the Maryland Department of the Environment STILL has not completed implementing regulations for the Stormwater Management Act of 2007 and they don't expect to finish until December of this year - more than 18 months after the Act was passed.  We've got to do better.

Transportation

Many want to see Maryland take the lead in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.  A significant portion of those come from transportation, yet we seem to be making little progress on putting into place mass transit options and highway improvements that will allow us to reduce the time we spend in commuting as well as the gas we use and the carbon dioxide our cars emit.  Somehow, we have to make better progress on this.  We all want to see a clear return on our tax dollars.  This would be pretty clear.

Energy

With the passage of the bill to reduce our per capita electricity consumption by fifteen percent by 2015, we need to get moving.  Let's hope the Maryland Energy Administration and the PSC don't drag their feet the way MDE has done with the stormwater rules.  I know it's complicated, but it's also important to get it done. It's less than 7 years to 2015, we can't fritter away 18 months on figuring out how we're going to do it.

More later!