A February 9 Baltimore Sun B’More Green blog post reported that Anne Arundel County Executive Laura Neuman has selected environmentalist and South River Federation Executive Director Erik Michelsen to administer the County’s stormwater management program.  One of Michelsen’s primary tasks will be to oversee the use of funds generated by the County’s recently enacted stormwater remediation fee.

[Neuman] said she chose Michelsen for the job because he’s shown he can work well with environmentalists, private homeowners, businesses and government officials.

“He brings that balance of caring about the environment and the needs of the business community,” Neuman said. “For me, it was about finding both in a candidate.”  …

“In Anne Arundel County, we’re in a great position because the county has invested money on the planning side. … We’ve lacked the dollars for implementation,” Michelsen said. “Now the dollars are there to do the work.”  …

Remediation efforts are required for the county to comply with a federal stormwater permit it holds, as well as to meet its bay cleanup obligations under the federal “pollution diet,” Michelsen said. He said the county has a $1 billion backlog of needed stormwater pollution projects.

And while Michelsen is excited to take on that billion-dollar challenge, he has mixed feelings about leaving the South River Federation.