Below is a response from Commissioner Paul Smith regarding criticism during the 2014 campaign that he is anti-women. On October 16th, a campaign hit piece was mailed to thousands of Frederick residents, criticizing me for (1) cutting funding to Head Start, (2) stating that “Mothers should be home with small children,” and (3) “saying women do not […]
Why are my opponents silent on these issues? Tax and Budget Increases – State budgets have increased over $1 billion/year for the last 8 years (from a budget of $29 billion to $39.5 billion). The Maryland budget is now $3 billion more than the Massachusetts budget ($36 billion), and Massachusetts has almost 700,000 more people. […]
Below are some comments and corrections Paul made on an opinion piece in the September 21, 2014 Frederick News Post in response to some misstatements about his positions. Katherine Van Der Lee’s September 21, 2014 letter in the FNP contains three errors, that I would like to correct. Her letter partly addresses my opinion piece of a […]
Laws and policies for cleaning our Maryland waters should include the following limiting terms: They should be uniformly applied to all jurisdictions in the Chesapeake Bay watershed; The financial burdens should be equitably shared among all of the people in all jurisdictions in the Bay watershed; The extent and amount of the financial burdens should […]
In 2012 Dorchester County Maryland initiated an organization of counties to help address environmental and economic issues related to the Chesapeake Bay. Frederick County was one of the initial parties in this coalition, which is called the Clean Chesapeake Coalition (CCC). The CCC has now grown to nine counties, including Dorchester, Allegany, Caroline, Kent, Frederick, […]
The Clean Water Act of 1972 (CWA) authorizes any citizen to file a law suit to require a State to comply with the CWA. This enforcement provision permits an abuse, such as is present in the case of Anacostia Riverkeepers, et al., vs. Maryland Department of Environment and Montgomery County, MD. If the Riverkeepers could […]
In June of 2014 six states, the District of Columbia, the United States of America and the Chesapeake Bay Commission all signed the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, agreeing to work together to clean the Chesapeake Bay. This agreement reaffirms the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership that was first formed in 1983 by Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and […]
One of the highest priorities for the O’Malley Administration was to clean up the Chesapeake Bay. As a result of a law suit brought by some citizens and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation against the EPA (Fowler v. EPA), a Consent Order was entered in 2010, by which the Bay states (including Maryland) had to take […]
Frederick County Should Oppose MDE’s Tentative Stormwater Discharge Permit Statement by Commissioner Paul Smith August 29, 2014 On about June 28, 2014, the Maryland Department of Environment (MDE) submitted its tentative (or proposed) stormwater discharge permit for Frederick County, Maryland. This permit would require Frederick County to do $22.5 Million/year in stormwater remediation work, to […]
At the request of Commissioner Smith, the Frederick Count Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) unanimously passed the following clean water policy for Frederick County. POLICY OF FREDERICK COUNTY, MARYLAND ON CLEAN WATER (unanimously passed 1/9/14) WHEREAS, working to improve the quality of our streams and rivers is essential to the health, safety and well-being of all […]