Only in her second year in the General Assembly, Delegate Jane Lawton (D-18) sponsored the major piece of environmental legislation to pass this year. Here is a synopsis of the legislation which was lauded by the Baltimore Sun in an editorial:
Makes me proud I worked on her campaign.The Stormwater Management Act of 2007 is the strongest stormwater law in the country. It requires developers to use Environmental Site Design (ESD) as the primary method for managing stormwater. The purpose is to curb urban runoff, which is a significant and growing source of pollution in our State's tributaries and in the Chesapeake Bay. Urban run-off carries pollution from parking lots, roads, and other impervious surfaces to the Bay. This run-off carries nitrogen, phosphorous, bacteria, sediment, insecticides, herbicides and metals such as copper, lead and zinc. These are the pollutants which are destroying sea life in the Bay and are harmful to its recreational use as well. If runoff is not managed properly, it also washes out streams, as the rainfall hits asphalt and accelerates the heat and the flow, entering streams at speeds that erode stream banks and scour stream floors.
This legislation is needed to ensure that as development increases, we are doing all we can to protect our tributaries and the Bay. The facts show that low impact design techniques are usually less expensive in the short and the long term. Such site design is a versatile planning tool and flexible enough to be used on most projects. The bill provides that when ESD cannot work, the developer is allowed to use standard management practices. The new regulations are not applied to small projects like infill development on single lots.
