Carroll's Chesapeake Bay Plan Said to Need Work

An environmental coalition gave Carroll County a low ranking on its Chesapeake Bay restoration plan, suggesting that the plan is skeletal and without clear implementation strategies.

The rankings were released by a coalition of Maryland organizations to gauge whether counties are on track to clean local waters as local, state and federal governments finalize their plans to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Chesapeake Bay “pollution diet.”

According to a news release, Carroll County's plan falls in the lowest "much work ahead" category. The other counties in this category are Allegany, Cecil, Charles, Frederick, Garrett, Somerset, Washington and Worcester.

Carroll County Board of Commissioners President Doug Howard said that the plan was intentionally submitted without too much detail.

"Our thinking was that, because there is still so much ambiguity out there--even between the state of Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay organizations--that we wanted to leave the draft plan as open as possible, with objectives as broad as possible," Howard said.

"We understand there is much more work to be done. We are hoping to get a clearer explanation from the state before we get too far down the road in making commitments for Carroll County," Howard said.

Coalition experts worked with a planning consultant to review the county plans.  That team then had conversations with advocates from each county to ensure that the analysis reflected local efforts, according to a news release. The counties were evaluated against three main factors:

• Does the plan compute – does the plan provide a measurable path toward long-term pollution reduction targets?
• Are there short-term commitments – does the plan list the actions each county needs to take in the next two years (two-year milestones)?
• Will it be paid for – does the plan list the funding needed to cover the local costs of reducing the county’s share of pollution?

The other counties in the lowest category are Allegany, Cecil, Charles, Frederick, Garrett, Somerset, Washington and Worcester. Which ranked the highest? Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Caroline, Dorchester and Montgomery Counties were rated as having a “strong start.”

The plans, submitted to the Maryland Department of the Environment in December, are part of the statewide Phase II Watershed Implementation Plan required by the Environmental Protection Agency.  The state released its latest draft plan on Jan. 26 and has a public comment period open until March 9.

Counties have until July 2012 to improve or refine their plans.