Legum’s New Line

Check out my opening statement at the October 2 candidate forum in Cape St. Claire:

Comments Off

This article in The Capital tells you everything you need to know:

COLLEGE PARK – Swimming in the rivers that feed the Chesapeake Bay after a hard rain could be as hazardous to your health as hopping into an unflushed toilet.

At least that is the key finding of a water quality experiment conducted last month by reporters at the University of Maryland working for News21, a national consortium of journalism schools.

The team took water samples before and after significant rainfall at seven beaches and recreation spots along five rivers that feed the Chesapeake Bay, including two in Anne Arundel County.

Their goal was to gauge the impact of stormwater – one of the fastest-growing pollution sources in the Chesapeake Bay – on bacteria levels in the water

You can find more information about stormwater, including steps you can take to limit stormwater runoff from your property, here.

Comments Off

July 28, 2010

Annapolis, Md. – Today, two of the state’s leading environmental organizations, the Maryland League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club, endorsed Judd Legum for the House of Delegates in District 30.

Legum is the only challenger not running for an open House seat to be endorsed by both organizations.

“Judd Legum is an exciting new leader who will bring fresh energy and perspective to the General Assembly and the fight to restore the Chesapeake Bay and protect our natural resources,” said Cindy Schwartz, Executive Director of the Maryland League of Conservation voters, “We are impressed with his understanding of and commitment to environmental issues. The Maryland League of Conservation Voters enthusiastically endorses his candidacy.”

David Prosten, chair of the Anne Arundel Sierra Club, said, “Judd Legum has a thoughtful and well-articulated understanding of environmental issues and clearly views the health of the Bay and its tributaries as a top priority. He understands the nexus of land use, transportation and other concerns that have an impact on our quality of life. He deserves the support of every voter.”

“I’m running because the next four years represent the best – and possibly last – chance to make real progress in restoring the Chesapeake Bay to health,” said Legum, “I’m proud to have the support of two organizations who care so deeply and work so hard to protect the Bay and our environment.”

Legum is currently an Annapolis Representative to the Severn River Commission, a joint body of the City of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County, charged with providing advice to protect the Severn River Watershed.

The Maryland League of Conservation Voters and the Maryland Sierra Club represent tens of thousands of members throughout Maryland.

1 Comment »

If you are concerned about the Chesapeake Bay and how to restore it to health, don’t miss former Senator Gerald Winegrad’s article in today’s Capital. An excerpt:

Agriculture contributes 43 percent of the nitrogen, 45 percent of the phosphorus and 60 percent of the sediment to the bay, more than any other source of these three key pollutants;

For some river systems, farm pollutants overwhelm pollution from development and all other sources;

Agriculture has met only 50 percent of its pollution reduction goals that were supposed to be met by 2010. For wastewater treatment plants, 99 percent of the phosphorus and 78 percent of the nitrogen goals have been met despite huge increases in sewerage flows and great expense, including the Flush Tax on all Marylanders; and

Reducing farm pollutants is the most cost-effective way to save the bay.

Winegrad asks, “We wouldn’t let a town of 25,000 people dump untreated human waste on open lands; why should we allow the dumping of the equivalent amount of manure from 150,000 chickens without meaningful regulation?”

Winegrad is part of a group environmental leaders that’s recommending 8 science-based measures to curb pollution into the Bay from agriculture. You can read that entire report here.

Comments Off

Some great news today for anyone who cares about the health of the Chesapeake Bay. From the Washington Post:

The Environmental Protection Agency will be legally bound to clean the soiled waters of the Chesapeake Bay after reaching an agreement Tuesday to enforce tough new standards for pollution reduction.

…Under the agreement, the EPA will mandate that states limit their nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment flow into the bay in compliance with an overall daily maximum being formulated by the federal agency.

The lawsuit, in which the [Chesapeake Bay Foundation] joined with watermen, fishermen and several public officials, was filed after state governments and the EPA admitted three years ago that they would fall far short of meeting bay cleanup goals set under the 2000 agreement

More details on the agreement from the Feds press release:

The new federal strategy for the Chesapeake region released today focuses on protecting and restoring the environment in communities throughout the 64,000-square-mile watershed and in its thousands of streams, creeks and rivers. The strategy includes using rigorous regulations to restore clean water, implementing new conservation practices on 4 million acres of farms, conserving 2 million acres of undeveloped land and rebuilding oysters in 20 tributaries of the bay.

To increase accountability, federal agencies will establish milestones every two years for actions to make progress toward measurable environmental goals. These will support and complement the states’ two-year milestones…

The strategy deepens the federal commitment to the Chesapeake region, with agencies dedicating unprecedented resources, targeting actions where they can have the most impact, ensuring that federal lands and facilities lead by example in environmental stewardship and taking a comprehensive, ecosystem-wide approach to restoration. Many of the federal actions will directly support restoration efforts of local governments, nonprofit groups and citizens and provide economic benefits across the Chesapeake region.

A federal, coordinated solution is necessary because the Chesapeake Bay watershed includes six states and the District of Columbia.

Still, much work needs to be done.

First, the federal government has made promises regarding the Bay previously and has failed to follow through. Second, the settlement agreement leaves it to the states to create plans to comply with new federal pollution levels. So it will take leadership at the state level to ensure that Maryland, and all the other states in the watershed, do their part.

You can read the entire strategy, released today, HERE.

Comments Off

There was fresh evidence this week that we aren’t doing nearly enough to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, particularly the rivers in the district I’m running to represent.

The West/Rhode Riverkeeper released its annual report card this weekend of the two Southern Anne Arundel County rivers. It wasn’t pretty.

You can check out the entire West/Rhode Riverkeeper report here.

The South River, which is also in my district, also received poor scores in a recent report card. You can check out the report card for the South River from the South River Federation here.

The Chesapeake Bay Program, a state/federal partnership tasked with restoring the Bay, had similar news for the Bay as a whole. Despite progress on some specific indicators, the overall condition of the Bay remains bleak.

A key graph:

Water quality, for example, is only at 24 percent of its goals. …Bay Barometer also shows that much more progress is needed to reduce nonpoint source pollution from agricultural, suburban and urban runoff.

You can read the full report from the Bay Program here.

There are three report cards but there is one overriding message: what we are doing now isn’t working.

Comments Off

Yesterday, I expressed my opposition to a resolution recently co-sponsored by Ron George, the incumbent Republican Delegate in District 30. The resolution states that climate change is a “conspiracy” and urged the Environmental Protection Agency to “immediately halt” all efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. I noted that, setting climate science aside, this action would have disastrous consequences for the Chesapeake Bay.

This morning, Ron George responded. You can read his full response here.

First, George claims that I “misrepresent” his views on climate change because “The term ‘climate change conspiracy’ did not come from us and does not refer to climate change itself but to falsehoods that have been uncovered.” He states he actually believes that “Climate Change is a true concern.”

The best way to respond is to simply quote from the resolution George co-sponsored. The stated purpose of the bill is to investigate the “climate change conspiracy.” More from the body of the resolution itself:

[T]here is a well–organized and ongoing effort to manipulate global temperature data and incorporate tricks to substantiate the theory of climate change.

The Earth’s climate is constantly changing, and recent warming indicates a return to more normal temperatures

Second, George claims that “The resolution asks the EPA to separate facts from fiction so we can deal with the science. That is all it does.” Actually, the bill urges the EPA to “immediately halt its carbon dioxide reduction policies and programs.”

This is the real problem for District 30 and Maryland as a whole, because of severe damage such action would cause to the Chesapeake Bay. Of course, the co-sponsors of this resolution did not take that into account. They simply copied the language verbatim from a contentious resolution in the Utah legislature.

Cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay is a huge challenge. To succeed, we need to set aside the kind of partisan ideology that is embodied in George’s resolution and work together toward our shared goals.

Comments Off

A few days ago, Ron George – the incumbent Republican delegate in Maryland’s District 30 – co-sponsored a resolution stating that climate change is a “conspiracy” and urging the Environmental Protection Agency to “immediately halt” all efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Besides ignoring the overwhelming consensus among the world’s climate scientists, George is advancing a position with disastrous consequences locally for the Chesapeake Bay:

– Increased carbon dioxide concentrations can increase algae blooms, which are the source of large “dead zones” in the Chesapeake Bay. [Source]

– Many of the most effective agricultural practices to sequester carbon — such as forest buffers, no-till farming and cover crops — are also essential to improving water quality in the Chesapeake Bay. [Source]

In a time of economic challenge, Maryland can’t afford to allow the Chesapeake Bay to continue to degrade. The Bay is Maryland’s most valuable economic resource: driving commerce, buttressing property values and attracting tourists.

But Ron George is more focused on far-right ideology than our shared goals in Maryland. We need to work together to clean our water and grow our economy. That’s why I’m running for Delegate.

Please stand up for the health of the Bay by signing this petition protesting George’s anti-environment resolution: juddlegum.com/baypetition

1 Comment »

We are fortunate to have a President who understands to importance of restoring the Chesapeake Bay, even in difficult economic times. Early in his first year, President Obama issued an executive order, committing the federal government to improving the health of the Bay. Now, he’s backed up that commitment:

President Barack Obama’s proposed budget for fiscal 2011, released yesterday, includes $63 million for the Chesapeake Bay Program – a $13 million increase over the current year.

…Lisa Jackson, the EPA administrator, said her agency’s money for the bay is intended to help carry out Obama’s executive order from last year for the federal government to do more for the bay.

In a conference call with reporters, Jackson said it’s important for the EPA as well as the states to make headway in reducing pollution from stormwater runoff, which she called “primarily the intractable problem for the bay.”

The money also will help the EPA come up with new rules for controlling stormwater and pollution from large farms with animals if the states don’t design their own rules.
“We need people to see that we’re serious,” Jackson said.

Governor O’Malley also doubled funding to Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay Trust Fund.

Funding alone, however, will not solve the Chesapeake Bay’s problem. We need to use these resources more effectively. More on that topic soon.

Comments Off

Yesterday, I attended the Maryland Environmental Legislative Summit at St. John’s College here in Annapolis. The highlight was a speech from Congressman Elijah Cummings on the importance of moving forward with efforts to restore the health of the Chesapeake Bay, even in the face of challenging economic and political circumstances.

The was recently a lot of publicity about a poll which suggested that Marylanders are more interested in jobs and the economy than restoring the Chesapeake. The question itself sets up a false choice. We need to aggressively address both issues.

Congressman Cummings ended his speech with this quote (which I believe originated at the 1988 Democratic National Convention):

I’m tired of sailing my little boat, far inside the harbor bar. I want to go out where the big ships float, out on the deep where the great ones are. And should my frail craft prove too slight for waves that sweep those billows o’er, I’d rather go down in the stirring fight than drowse to death at the sheltered shore.”

We’ve got to go out, my friends, where the big boats are.

Congressman Cummings is sponsoring The Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act of 2009 which would set and enforce a total maximum pollution budget for all states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. You can read more about this important bill here.

2 Comments »