A June 25 article from The Daily Record [Subscription Required] relays comments made by House Environmental Matters Committee Chair Maggie McIntosh that the State may remove or waive its exemption to paying local stormwater fees.  Delegate McIntosh made the comments while participating on a stormwater panel at MML’s annual summer conference.

“[Delegate McIntosh] said Tuesday that lawmakers were in talks with Gov. Martin O’Malley about how the state could contribute money…

“I do believe the governor or lieutenant governor will have an announcement about that in the new future,” McIntosh said.

Takira Winfield, a spokeswoman for O’Malley, said there was nothing to announce right now but that “discussions are ongoing.”  Another O’Malley aide said the governor was “engaged” in the stormwater issue and had been emailing staff about it while away in Ireland.

According to the article, Delegate McIntosh also acknowledged that stormwater mitigation  was one of the most expensive components of the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load [TMDL]  and that both public and private money was needed to create better stormwater infrastructure.  She also expressed doubt that the TMDL goals could simply be met by less expensive methods of preventing stormwater runoff, such as cover crops.