Ruppersberger

Ruppersberger wants company to withdraw LNG plant application Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger is calling upon federal regulators to direct AES Corp. to withdraw its application to build a liquefied natural gas terminal on Sparrows Point. In a letter sent yesterday to the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which decides where LNG facilities can be located, Ruppersberger wrote that the National Gas Act places a strong emphasis on protecting coastal areas. Last month, a federal judge upheld a Baltimore County law that bans LNG plants from sensitive coastal areas such as Sparrows Point.

Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger is seeking $74 million for local projects in the fiscal 2008 federal budget, mostly for roads, mass transit and other infrastructure to accommodate growth at Maryland military bases, he said yesterday. Ruppersberger, a Democrat whose district includes Fort Meade and Aberdeen Proving Ground, said that improving mass transit to handle thousands of new defense workers coming to those installations "is one of our highest priorities." The congressman made his comments in Linthicum during the annual luncheon for the Fort Meade Alliance, the lobbying arm for the Army post.

A congressman is pushing to build math-and-science magnet schools on or around Fort Meade to serve an expected influx of children from the national base realignment and expansion of the National Security Agency - the world's largest employer of mathematicians. The school would raise future generations of scientists, engineers and other specialized workers to support a growing cadre of defense agencies coming to Maryland, Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger told more than 100 commercial developers, lawyers and government officials in Linthicum yesterday.

Gov. Martin O'Malley helped Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton raise nearly a half-million dollars for her presidential bid last night at a Baltimore County fundraiser that attracted some of the region's most notable Democratic contributors. The event was held on a day that the New York senator picked up her latest high-profile Maryland endorsement. Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, a Baltimore County Democrat, announced yesterday that he is backing Clinton's bid. Clinton, in turn, praised Ruppersberger, along with O'Malley and Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, who also attended the dinner, before telling the crowd of 300 that the country needs a leader "that sets goals for America again."

Alison DuVal should have been planning her wedding this spring in Maryland, followed by an exciting life in Italy as the wife of E. Austin Koth, a sailor in the Navy who would have been stationed there. Instead, DuVal was sitting with her mother under a white tent at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens yesterday, remembering her fiance, a petty officer second class who died in July in Iraq when a bomb he was defusing exploded. The DuVals joined the families of 26 other soldiers, Marines and sailors who were honored yesterday at the Baltimore County cemetery.

Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger says he hopes to strengthen the nation's child care industry and ease the financial burden it puts on working families with a bill that he announced at a day care facility in Hanover. "Blue collar, white collar, whatever," Ruppersberger said, "families are suffering and we need to give relief to these people." Ruppersberger, a Cockeysville Democrat and soon-to-be grandfather, announced Wednesday at the Childtime Learning Center that when Congress returns from the holiday break, he will introduce the Right Start Child Care and Education Act of 2007.

One minute you're nobody, an anonymous Irish expat in America, opining on Emerald Isle politics at the dawn of the blog age. Next thing you know, a dozen years zip by, and you're director of a governor's office. And not just any governor, but one fancied far and wide as a Democratic up-and-comer. One whom presidential hopefuls - Hillary Clinton, for instance - might well seek out for help on the campaign trail, just as Bill Clinton helped Martin O'Malley when he was running for governor.

Republican Jimmy Mathis has struggled to be heard in the campaign for Maryland's 2nd District congressional seat. He's raised hardly any money. He says the party hierarchy has offered little help other than a handshake. Mathis mocks his troubles in a lighthearted commercial running on a few local cable stations. "I'm Jimmy Mathis, and I approve this message," he says into the camera. A voice-over announcer responds, "Good for you, Jimmy. Now go tell someone who cares." This has been life as a Republican political newcomer in the 2nd District, says Mathis, a 28- year-old video production business owner.

Former U.S. Rep. Helen Delich Bentley, former state Sen. Joe Miedusiewski and a lobbyist with ties to the governor have done work for a company that wants to build a liquefied natural gas plant on Sparrows Point. But some residents opposed to the project say they weren't always told who was being paid by AES Corp., the global power supply company that is proposing to build the LNG terminal at the former Bethlehem Steel shipyard. Responding to those concerns and suspicions that some eastern Baltimore County residents might be receiving payment to support the project by, for instance, writing letters to local newspapers, U.S. Rep. C. A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger introduced legislation last night that would require anyone being paid by a company wishing to build a LNG facility to disclose their ties.

J.D. Urbach says if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. The 31-year-old Essex resident believes that with the Republicans in control of Congress and the White House, Maryland residents in the 2nd Congressional District are being left out when it comes to federal dollars because their two-term representative, C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, is a Democrat. "Sending Democrats to Washington takes money out of our pockets," Urbach said. Four challengers jumped into the race on the final filing day to ensure that Ruppersberger's bid for a third term has opposition.