July 7, 2011
Bulldozer Blaine Young
by Jack Lynch
There he goes again! Fresh off the deregulation of builder’s codes and requirements across the board, and after launching a proposal to gut county employees with a ham handed privatization scheme, our good old boy “Bulldozer” Blaine Young has released his latest diatribe aimed at the heart of Bay cleanup plans from the state.
First, a bit of background on septic growth from the Maryland Department of Planning (MDP):
“Maryland has about 430,000 septic systems on developed parcels; 420,000 of them are on residential parcels. About 50,000 are located in the Critical Area, sensitive areas within 1,000 feet of tidal waters.
Septic systems release pollutants, such as nitrogen, into ground water. Ultimately, much of this groundwater is discharged to surface waters. For example, in the Critical Area about 80 percent of nitrogen from septic systems will reach the estuary.”
A graphic on state septic growth from MDP’s Chesapeake Bay goals planning:
Here’s an overview of Blaine Young’s Tentacle column Here. It contains two boogey men, state planning personified by Governor O’Malley, and Democrats, whose little lefty hearts only beat in rhythm to sissy little feel good causes – not the manly Bob the Builder type’s interests!
A sampling of the impressive intellectual output of those big boy pants:
“…proposal to all but eliminate private well and septic development in the State of Maryland.”
Strike One! – sorry Blaine, but allowing up to 5 septic lots per farm is not really eliminating property rights, it’s really only stopping the kind of massive developments sought through rezoning by the builder boys.
“…governor’s proposal fits squarely with the philosophy and strategy of the Democratic Party.”
Strike Two! – sorry Mr. Blame, but Democrats believe in their children’s futures too, and thinking a bit farther out than suburban sprawl as the highest achievement of human happiness.
“…squarely target people only in certain portions of the state…fits in with the overall strategy of the Democratic Party, moving forward in their effort to win more political campaigns. The Democratic Party leadership does not like rural and suburban areas. The reason for that is simple: They vote Republican.”
Strike Three! – sorry Bad Boy Blaine, but you’ve objected to a proposal based on hearsay and illogical thinking rather than addressing the basic facts and rationale – where do you address the actual concept of limiting septic growth?
Do you think that if we were living back in the 1950’s Mr. Blaine would be fighting for outhouses in the City? Excuse me for a cigarette break, and a martini at lunch, and a call to make sure my wife's home doing my laundry!
Here’s a more reasonable look at what is being proposed with septic limiting regulations. A few facts from the Maryland Department of Planning website:
“An estimated 7 percent (3.6 million pounds per year) of the Chesapeake Bay's total nitrogen load in Maryland comes from septic systems. Based on current growth trends, MDP projects about 145,000 new septic systems will be added over the next 20 years, resulting in a 34-percent increase in total nitrogen load.
The average person using a septic system contributes about 9.5 lbs of nitrogen per year to ground water. Installing or upgrading to a nutrient enhanced removal septic system, reduces the nitrogen load delivered to the Chesapeake Bay by half.”
And from the B’more Green reporter’s blog on the Baltimore Sun’s website:
“Each household on a septic system produces up to 10 times as much nitrogen as one connected by sewer to a wastewater treatment plant.”
“This is far more important than just meeting our nitrogen reduction goals," said Russell Brinsfield, director of the University of Maryland Center for Agro-Ecology. He noted that if state planners' projections are correct, nearly one-fourth of the state's remaining agricultural lands could be lost to development in the next 25 to 30 years.”
And a look at a mapping of septic growth across the state of Maryland from MDP:
So who’s going to benefit?
#1 Blaine Young, with campaign cash and a Builder Boy campaign for County Executive!
#2 Bob the Builder’s, they can put away the dry mock crying towels and pave a few parking lots and bulldozer more large developments!
So who’s going to lose?
#1 Farmers, who stand the watch creeping growth and rising land development values eat away at their passion to keep farming.
#2 Ordinary citizens stuck in increasing traffic to drop their children at overcrowded schools.
#3 The wallets of future residents who will someday have to mitigate the problems of privatizing increased growth profits and passing along responsibility and costs.
Watch out when the big bulldozer comes through, it’ll run you over and never stop!