CBF to Hold Candidates Forums in Talbot and QA Counties

The next four years will be pivotal for the health of Eastern Shore creeks, rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay. With that in mind, voters from Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties will have an opportunity to learn the positions of candidates for county leadership on environmental issues.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) is holding candidate forums on June 5 for those running for the Queen Anne’s County Board of Commissioners, and on June 12 for those running for the Talbot County Council.

The Queen Anne’s forum will be held at Christ Church Parish, 830 Romancoke Road in Stevensville, from 7 – 8:30 p.m. The Talbot forum will be held at the Avalon Theatre, 40 E. Dover Street in Easton, from 6:30 – 8 p.m.

Both events are free and open to the public.

No less of a Bay expert than Dr. Donald Boesch, President of the Center for Environmental Science at the University of Maryland, has said this is “THE moment in time” in the long and checkered history of the Bay’s restoration. That’s because the rubber has finally met the road. The six states within the Bay’s drainage area, along with the District of Columbia, have agreed to a science-based plan to finish the job of cleaning up the Bay. Unlike previous agreements, this one has accountability.

Counties and larger municipalities also are strongly encouraged to do their share to implement the Bay clean-up plan, sometimes called the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint. That is precisely what is beginning to happen.

Queen Anne’s County, for instance, has approved a mandatory septic pump-out ordinance. It also has planted trees, created man-made meadows and installed permeable pavement at various county, school, and other properties to better treat polluted runoff from streets, parking lots, and roofs. The county also is working with non-profit organizations on a pilot program to potentially use private sources of funding to reduce the cost of pollution control.

And Talbot County is developing an innovative roadside ditch retrofit partnership that has reduced pollution control cost estimates by 90 percent, and could provide a model for other jurisdictions.

Meanwhile, farmers also are being asked to accelerate their pollution reduction by limiting the spreading of manure in winter and on fields already over-saturated with phosphorus pollution.

But all these efforts hinge on political leadership. At the state level, regulatory updates reflecting the best available science for managing chicken litter have been repeatedly withdrawn amid protests from agricultural interests. Locally, some counties have not adopted maps for future growth in line with a recent state law governing septic systems. And local-level investments in clean water projects have been slow to emerge since the Blueprint was put in place.

CBF is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization which does not endorse candidates. The forums are intended simply to educate voters on the issues.

All registered candidates for the two counties’ leadership positions were invited to attend the forums. The candidates for the Queen Anne’s County Board of Commissioners who have accepted so far are: Paul Comfort, Suzanne Hogan, Larry Lauterbach, Gene Legg, Tim McCluskey, Fred McNeil, Bob Simmons, Jack Wilson, and Steve Wilson.

Candidates for the Talbot County Council who have accepted so far are: Dwight Bartlett, Chuck Callahan, Corey Pack, Laura Price, Steve Saulsbury, and Hillary Spence.

The moderator of the Queen Anne’s forum will be Gregory S. Farley, associate professor of biological science at Chesapeake College, and the director of the Center for Leadership in Environmental Education. The moderator of the Talbot forum will be Don Rush, News Director at Public Radio Delmarva (WSCL/WSDL).

The moderators will develop and ask questions of the candidates. The public also will have an opportunity to ask questions.

Topics are expected to include: Chesapeake Bay restoration, energy and climate, and managing the future growth of these two counties. All of these issues have been in the news, and county leaders most likely will be faced with decisions on some or all of these issues in the future. For instance, several wind farms recently were proposed for the Eastern Shore. And Queen Anne’s County commissioners have faced a number of controversial growth issues, including the proposed Four Seasons development, and a proposed growth corridor along Rt. 8 on Kent Island.