Former Gov. Glendening Slams Ehrlich On Maryland's Environmental Problems

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Former Gov. Parris N. Glendening delivered a rebuke of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s environmental policies yesterday, breaking two years of silence on his successor's administration. Glendening never mentioned Ehrlich by name in his speech at the Maryland Progressive Summit in Annapolis. Since leaving office, he has stuck to a gentleman's agreement with Ehrlich not to criticize the new governor, and he said yesterday's speech was meant as a policy critique, not a personal attack. But he said he was angered by policies employed by high government officials - and, he later clarified, he didn't mean the Democrats in the General Assembly - to build new highways without regard for mass transit, to cut spending on open space programs, to pursue the sale of public lands and to appoint officials who have long opposed conservation programs.

"Everyone here knows the past couple of years in Maryland have been difficult for those of us who care about the environment," Glendening told the crowd of nearly 400 liberal political activists. "You might get the impression that people here really don't care about land use. They don't care about sprawl. Let me state this clearly: If you were to believe this, you would be wrong. You would be very wrong."

Ehrlich spokesman Greg Massoni said the governor is deeply committed to protecting the environment and preventing sprawl. He pointed to Ehrlich's backing of the so-called "flush tax" to pay for improved sewage systems that would reduce pollution in the Chesapeake Bay.

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Although environmentalists praised Ehrlich's embrace of the flush tax and efforts to clean up and reuse old industrial sites, the governor has had a mixed record in winning support for his conservation policies in his first two years in office. His first nominee to head the Maryland Department of the Environment, Lynn Y. Buhl, failed to win confirmation in the Senate amid questions about the strength of her conservation convictions. Ehrlich vetoed a bill to increase energy efficiency standards for appliances. Amid budget troubles, he reduced funding for preservation programs, and, most recently, he came under fire after reports that his administration was considering selling environmentally sensitive land."

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http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.summit09jan09,1,4422050.story?coll=bal-local-headlines&ctrack=1&cset=true