A decade-long attempt to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, reduce air pollution and combat sprawl has left Maryland's environment no better off than it was 10 years ago, according to a report to be released today by the University of Maryland.
"Maryland's efforts are a mixed picture of success, failure, and perhaps most important of all, lost opportunities," the 160-page report concluded. "We aren't losing ground in most areas, but we aren't moving forward either, and our worst problems continue to grow."
In many cases, the state has passed progressive laws without providing the money needed to enforce them, according to the report. After the Pfiesteria outbreak in the Chesapeake Bay in 1997, for example, the General Assembly passed a law requiring 12,000 farmers -- almost all of Maryland's farmers -- to develop plans to lower runoffs from their fields into the bay.
Those reports were due this month. Thirty-two percent of the farms have submitted them. The Maryland Department of Agriculture has assigned six people to review the plans for 12,000 farms, with no one assigned to monitor their implementation.
The report also warns that the Baltimore region could lose federal transportation funds if it does not clean up its air, and that development continues at an "alarming rate" beyond areas designated for growth.
"We cannot afford to keep chasing the last townhouse into the last cornfield with roads and sewers," said state Sen. Brian E. Frosh, who commissioned the study from the Environmental Law Clinic at the UM law school. "We just don't have that much money and, in addition to that, it makes everyone's quality of life deteriorate if you put people on the road for longer times."
Frosh and environmental advocates praised Gov. Parris N. Glendening for his efforts to halt sprawl and clean up the bay and air. They said they hope Gov.-elect Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. will continue that commitment.
"We have done a lot over the past 10 years, but the population has increased, pollution has increased, the runoff into the bay has increased. ... We've got to do better," Frosh said.
The report recommends raising user fees charged by the Maryland Department of the Environment for everything from industrial discharges to vehicle emission inspections. The report also recommends charging fees for permits that are free. Both suggestions were welcomed yesterday by the MDE.
"We realize that our fees are not keeping pace with our administrative costs or the degree of work that has to be done," said MDE spokesman Richard J. McIntire. But the General Assembly consistently has rebuffed efforts to raise fees, he said.
The report is pessimistic about Maryland's ability to meet federal air standards by 2005. The Baltimore region has some of the dirtiest air in the country and is rated "severe" for its high levels of ozone pollution.
If the region does not meet federal standards by 2005, the federal government can put on hold all highway and transit projects not under construction, and prohibit the state from adding projects to the Baltimore region's transportation plan.
The report includes some alarming numbers on staffing at the MDE, which it attributes to poor funding from the state and poor salaries for employees. For instance, the agency has 20 inspectors to monitor pollution at 10,000 industrial plants.
"It's scary. It's unacceptable," said Dru Schmidt-Perkins, executive director of 1000 Friends of Maryland. "Every day another farmer files for development. Every day we sit longer in gridlock. These are things the state can ill afford."