Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Republicans allege 'war on rural Maryland'

Republican legislators "from rural (or once-rural) parts" of Maryland have introduced bills to fight Gov. Martin O'Malley's efforts to "clean up the Chesapeake Bay, to limit new development on septic systems and to use state funds more effectively in fighting rural sprawl," accusing the Democrat of waging "war on rural Maryland," Tim Wheeler reports for The Baltimore Sun.

"None of the measures is likely to get a hearing, much less a vote, until the General Assembly returns for its regular 90-day session in January. But the rural lawmakers were serving notice they intend to push back against O'Malley's initiatives," Wheeler writes. "The Environmental Protection Agency is requiring local governments around the bay to submit bay cleanup plans by next year, and a task force is looking at whether to resubmit failed O'Malley legislation to limit new large-scale development on septic systems." The group 1000 Friends of Maryland "argues that rural Maryland is already under assault by sprawling development, and it will only get worse" if such bills pass. (Read more)

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