Runoff

Mandating a runoff fee that is the same for all homeowners in a jurisdiction is patently inequitable taxation ("Fees statewide proposed to cut runoff pollution," Mar. 3). There is no justification for charging the same amount for a large property in Mt. Washington or Roland Park and a small one in Pigtown that might have less than a tenth the area. No matter how small the fee, it is unjustly applied. It would make far more sense to make a minor addition to the property assessment worksheet and generate the needed revenue for runoff remediation through a calculation that bears some rational relationship to the size and physical characteristics of the properties producing runoff.

Reading about the rain water tax, I see that government buildings do not have to pay this tax. The government evidently knows how to keep their runoff from causing pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. Why not tell the rest of us their secret so we can keep our rain water from being contaminated and the Bay will quickly become pristine clean? Believe that and I'll tell you another one. Mary Chesney Schwind Cockeysville

Reading about the rain water tax, I see that government buildings do not have to pay this tax. The government evidently knows how to keep their runoff from causing pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. Why not tell the rest of us the secret so we can keep our rain water from being contaminated and the Bay will quickly become pristine clean? Believe that and I'll tell you another one. Mary Chesney Schwind Cockeysville

Hurricane Sandy's rains caused 84 million gallons to run off into Maryland bodies of water, according to a report by research organization Climate Central. In New York and New Jersey, meanwhile, more than 5 billion gallons of sewage spills are estimated to have occurred. The District of Columbia also had more spillage than Maryland, with 475 million gallons from a single pumping station. Nearly half of Maryland's estimated total came from sewage overflows related to heavy precipitation.

PHOENIX (AP) -- The legislature will be called into special session "no later than the 19th" to work on legislation to facilitate a gubernatorial runoff, Gov. Rose Mofford said yesterday.Governor Mofford said after a meeting with legislative leaders that a bill to set the runoff election procedures has been drafted but that no details would be revealed before it was reviewed by House and Senate party caucuses.Republican Fife Symington, who was born in Baltimore and is a Gilman School graduate, beat Democrat Terry Goddard by about 4,000 votes in Tuesday's election, but 11,309 write-in votes for other candidates prevented him from getting the absolute majority of all votes cast that he needed to avoid a runoff under a previously untested amendment to the state constitution.

NEW YORK - A campaign poster for mayoral candidate Fernando "Freddy" Ferrer on a wall of his headquarters identifies him as "A Mayor for All New Yorkers." It bears a silhouette of the Manhattan skyline, complete with the now-vanished twin towers of the World Trade Center. That poster pretty much captures the essential ingredients of Thursday's Democratic primary runoff election between Bronx Borough President Ferrer, seeking to be the city's first Puerto Rican mayor, and Mark Green, the city's elected public advocate, for the right to face Republican Michael Bloomberg on Nov. 6. Before the Sept.

Baltimore-Washington International Airport would pay $50,000 in civil penalties and agree to pay for a study of nearby streams to settle two lawsuits that alleged the airport allowed toxic de-icing chemicals to flow from runways into the Chesapeake Bay. The agreement is outlined in a consent decree filed last week in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. It could take effect after a 30-day public comment period, with the approval of a federal judge. Under the decree, airport officials do not admit any violations of the Clean Water Act, as alleged in separate lawsuits by the federal government and a New York environmental group.

The Maryland Farm Bureau voted unanimously yesterday to support legislation proposed by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s administration to limit agricultural runoff into the Chesapeake Bay. The plan - which would simplify existing rules and eliminate a requirement that farmers sign a "right of entry" agreement for state inspectors - has been debated vigorously since the administration presented it Monday in Ocean City. Many farmers wanted more sweeping changes to the 1998 law requiring limits on use of fertilizers and manure on fields.

The state Aviation Administration will spend $13.4 million over the next two years to reduce by more than half the amount of deicing fluid that drains from runways at Baltimore-Washington International Airport into two streams.One of the streams, Muddy Bridge Branch, is in the Sawmill Creek Watershed, one of four watersheds the state has targeted in its plan to improve water quality in waterways leading to the Chesapeake Bay. The other is Kitten Branch. Water from both eventually flows into the Patapsco River.

A dismissed department head took his concerns about repairs to a runoff pond at a Baltimore landfill to the city's top officials yesterday, saying the contractor should not be paid more money to fix deficiencies because the work was done improperly.Kenneth J. Strong, fired last month as head of the city's Bureau of Solid Waste, appeared before the Board of Estimates to protest a proposed $41,900 contract with L. F. Mahoney Inc. to make further repairs at a runoff pond at the Quarantine Road Sanitary Landfill in South Baltimore.

There has been much hue and cry in recent days about the General Assembly approving a "rain tax" this year that is punitive, anti-commerce and unnecessary. What's truly remarkable about these protestations is how none of the underlying claims are true. Rather, this may be a lesson in the perils of approving a policy at the state level but leaving the business of carrying it out to local government. It's far easier for county elected leaders to point a finger at Annapolis than to actually educate themselves on an issue - let alone try to explain why a tax is so clearly in their constituents' self-interest.

A move to delay controversial new fees to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay failed Monday night, when a Senate-passed measure to postpone the stormwater charges didn't get a vote in the House of Delegates. Earlier Monday evening, the Maryland Senate voted overwhelmingly, 34-13, for a two-year moratorium on collection of stormwater pollution fees in Baltimore City and seven of the state's largest counties. But in an 11th hour session, the House Environmental Matters Committee did not take up the bill.

As a concerned mother and environmentalist, I want to thank The Sun for its recent article on pollution in the Chesapeake Bay ("Report finds widespread contaminants in the bay," Jan. 22). Meaningful efforts to significantly improve the bay must address pesticide runoff. The Pesticide Use Reporting Bill would require certified pesticide and fertilizer applicators to report usage data to a centralized database. Centralizing such information would benefit public agencies in their response to fish kills, dead zones and human health outbreaks.

The county council will soon take up an issue that has swirled below the surface of Anne Arundel County politics, has the attention of environmentalists and constitutionalists alike, and will spark debate: Bill No. 2-13, which would impose fees on county residents toward stormwater management projects. The Anne Arundel County Council will soon take up an issue that has long swirled below the surface of county politics. It's an issue that has the attention of environmentalists, property owners and constitutionalists alike, and will surely spark debate at a time when people are already watching their pocketbooks.

Robert Prettyman walked along the uneven ground surrounding Anne Arundel Community College's resource management building and pointed to soil erosion, storm runoff and other evidence that the area is losing its battle against the elements. "You can see the erosion. It's a mess," said Prettyman, 51, a student at the college. He then ventured down a series of weather-beaten steps in the woods to a small waterway known as Divided Creek. Runoff from the resource management building flows through underground pipes and spills into the creek before heading to the Magothy River and Chesapeake Bay. Prettyman, a Glen Burnie resident studying ecosystem restoration and environmental monitoring, wants to stem that tide of erosion, and he recently came up with a project to reduce and naturally filter some of the runoff from the building.

Baltimore's ailing harbor remains fouled by trash and pollution that make it largely unfit for swimming, but cleanup efforts are starting to pick up steam, according to the latest report card on the urban water body's health. The Waterfront Partnership, a group of harbor businesses, tourist attractions and city agencies, released its first update Thursday on the two-year-old Healthy Harbor campaign aimed at making it swimmable and fishable by 2020. The report card found water quality did not improve overall last year, when compared with the initial assessment the year before.

NEW YORK -- The Democratic mayoral primary headed for an interim but muddied conclusion last night as the Board of Elections said that Ruth Messinger appeared to have broken the 40 percent barrier, though by fewer than 1,000 votes, and would not have to face the Rev. Al Sharpton in a runoff.Sharpton said he would file suit this morning in state and federal courts to force the board to reinstate the runoff.As of 8: 30 last night, Messinger, according to a still unofficial count, had 40.17 percent of the 410,773 votes that had been tallied, 729 more than the 40 percent threshold.

THE BILL EMERGING from the House Environmental Matters Committee on control of agricultural runoff pollution is a good compromise on a contentious issue. It shows understanding for farmers, yet reflects the reality that strong steps must be taken to protect the health of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.Originally the bill, sponsored by Chairman Ron Guns, a Cecil County Democrat, would have retained the system of voluntary control of nutrient pollution. Mr. Guns, an ardent defender of the farming community, pitted himself against Gov. Parris N. Glendening, who wants mandatory plans to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus runoff, which causes harmful, oxygen-destroying algae blooms in the bay and is suspected of provoking toxic Pfiesteria outbreaks in bay tributaries.

Toll Brothers, one of the nation's largest home-building companies, has agreed to pay $741,000 in penalties for allowing polluted runoff from construction sites in Maryland and 22 other states, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday. The Pennsylvania-based builder was accused of failing to stabilize disturbed soil or properly install and maintain runoff controls such as silt fences, swales and sediment ponds. Forty of the 370 building sites found in violation by EPA are in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, where officials say storm-water runoff is a significant and growing source of pollution.