Environmentalists may soon have something big to rejoice: Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposal to upgrade Maryland's Chesapeake Bay Critical Area program appears to be headed for passage. The House has approved the bill - thanks to some reasonable compromises with local government and others who had opposed it. The Senate should soon follow suit.
Achieving such a broad consensus was no small matter. The legislation not only updates the basic components of the program, but also gives the Critical Area Commission greater say over land-use decisions and significantly strengthens enforcement standards.
But as important a victory for the Chesapeake Bay as this might prove to be, there also ought to be a reality check. The General Assembly can toughen the restrictions on shoreline development all it wants, but unless the necessary financial resources for enforcement are provided (along with a real willingness on the part of local government), the state's ambition to maintain a 1,000-foot buffer along the tidal waterfront will never be fully realized. To put it more bluntly, the law is an unfunded mandate that local government can choose to aggressively enforce or largely disregard. That the state has no plans to help pay for any of this enforcement - aside from whatever local governments receive from higher fines - is not surprising under the state's budgetary circumstances, but it's not helpful.
Consider, for instance, the plight of the Eastern Shore's Kent County, where local planning and zoning officials are looking ahead to educating landowners about the changes in the law. After all, a redrawing of the Critical Area maps will put some land in the Critical Area that formerly wasn't, but at least for the moment, there's no money set aside for such an outreach effort.
The law's advocates say that's a shortcoming that might be corrected in the future. But there are other issues unaddressed by the bill - such as what to do about the hundreds of waterfront lots grandfathered under the 24-year-old law that could yet be developed with no restrictions.
It's clear that even with this reform, the Critical Area law will not be perfect. Nor would a "perfect" Critical Area law be the bay's salvation. But a beefed-up Critical Area program is a crucial component in what must be a concerted and continuing effort to protect Maryland's most valuable natural resource. Achieving even that much is a notable accomplishment.