Environment Maryland is continuing its work to restore the Chesapeake Bay by focusing on the fastest growing threat to its health—runoff from construction sites and development. New developments continue to pave our farms, forests and wetlands, taking land that should be filtering and cleaning our waters and turning it into a source of pollution.

Stormwater runoff scours streams, eroding banks and washing away vegetation. It carries sediment from construction sites and nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous into the water, contributing to the dead zone in the bay. And it pollutes our rivers with toxins, such as oil and pesticides, which scientists believe led to cancerous lesions on catfish in the South River.

This summer we have seen alarming signs of the danger of stormwater runoff. The flooding that hit the state this July was made far worse by the amount of development in the region.

Our current approach to designing development is to get water off the site as quickly as possible. Because of this approach, when heavy rains hit Maryland in early summer, the water had nowhere to go. The resulting flooding hit the bay with a load of polluted runoff that will undoubtedly have a lasting impact on its health.

There are ways to create new development so that it produces less runoff and maintains the original hydrology of the site. Environment Maryland is working to require new permits for developers that would force them to build in less polluting ways. These permits should be designed to account for stormwater, certifying that building will produce minimal runoff both during construction and once the development is complete.

Coalition sharpens focus on new growth policies

Maryland is already the fi fth most densely populated state, yet growth is not projected to slow. In addition to our natural growth, the federal military base realignment will bring 40,000 new jobs to Fort Meade and Aberdeen, many of them coming quickly in the next few years.

This rapid growth will have disastrous consequences if developers continue to have too much infl uence on the decision-making process. The proposed developments near Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge on the Eastern Shore and Terrapin Run in western Maryland are perfect examples of a system out of control. Local long-range plans were ignored to approve gigantic developments on environmentally sensitive land.

Environment Maryland is working with leading experts to craft policies that will minimize the environmental impacts of rapid development. We need to encourage redevelopment of our existing cities and towns, take advantage of development opportunities around transit stations, and cluster new developments so they are not sprawling out into the countryside. State funding should be withheld if local governments do not restructure their zoning to protect agricultural land and natural areas. Repairing infrastructure should get a higher priority for funding than building new infrastructure.

Environment Maryland is teaming up with 1,000 Friends of Maryland, Partners for Open Space, and other organizations to form a smart growth coalition, crafting a common agenda and raising the issue as a top priority in state policy debates.

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