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Leopold blasts O’Malley’s veto of fly ash probe reimbursement
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BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold is calling Gov. Martin O’Malley’s veto of a bill repaying the county for helping out in a landmark coal fly ash investigation an “offensive and irresponsible anti-environment action.”
“The governor’s veto sends a chilling message to local governments that they should not be equal partners in the vital effort to protect people’s health,” Leopold said in a written statement.
O’Malley’s veto denies a $100,000 reimbursement from the Maryland Department of the Environment for the county’s effort in helping expose water contamination in wells around fly ash dump sites in Gambrills.
The Senate passed the bill 45-1, and the House of Delegates passed a similar version of the bill 135-0.
“It diverts resources of [MDE] to reimburse a single local government a specific amount for a past event, and an uncapped, indeterminate amount for future events, for functions the county has agreed to perform,” O’Malley wrote in his veto letter.
When asked if O’Malley had any response to Leopold’s comments, a spokeswoman said the governor vetoed the bill because it only affected Anne Arundel. O’Malley said in his letter that many other counties perform similar efforts without reimbursement.
The county tested more than 30 wells in Gambrills when Constellation Energy made public that two fly ash dump sites near Crain Highway were leaching heavy metals into the water table. Several private wells had high levels of arsenic, cadmium and aluminum — substances that can cause disease and cancer.
MDE used the data in its action against Constellation Energy and the dump site operator, BBSS Mining Inc. MDE required both companies to pay a combined $1 million for damages, and the county sought through state legislation to get reimbursed through that fine.
But MDE Secretary Shari Wilson said the agency did not account for repaying Anne Arundel, and it broke agency policy.
Leopold said he is directing the county’s attorneys to seek reimbursement from Constellation Energy, a move that MDE had suggested.
Constellation Energy spokesman Kevin Thornton said the company is reviewing Leopold’s request and would not comment.
Leopold’s office did not return comments about how the absent funding would affect the proposed fiscal 2009 budget.
jflanagan@baltimoreexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
6:09 AM MST on Sat., Aug. 2, 2008 re: "Anne Arundel could extend ban on coal fly ash dumping"
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6:44 PM MST on Thu., Dec. 27, 2007
re: "Elevated aluminum levels in Gambrills raise health concerns"
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2:21 AM MST on Thu., Dec. 20, 2007
re: "State’s fly-ash crackdown part of national effort"
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1:20 PM MST on Tue., Nov. 6, 2007
re: "Fly ash no longer allowed in AA"
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Examiner Reader said:
Should children play outside in the surrounding properties from the fly ash dumping grounds ?
2 agree | 2 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
hey smart guy.....can you point out where in the article mercury is mentioned? since you seem to be an expert in everything should only take you a nanosecond.
161 agree | 165 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
The EPA needs a push to get it started every morning.The Administrator has just denied California's request for a waiver to enforce it's own new law limiting pollutants in that State. Mercury is only one of the heavy metals contained in fly-ash.Arsenic and sellenium and cadmium and aluninum all leach out of these unlined waste dumps.These all cause neurologic damage.
161 agree | 144 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Do Constellation Energy and government officials plan to pay for fly ash clean up in Northern AA County?
181 agree | 193 disagree
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