Anne Arundel lawmakers grilled the state?s top environmental official, who said her agency would not repay the county for collecting vital data in the Gambrills coal fly ash case.
“We have a system in place [of not reimbursing local governments], and it is working well … and changing that system could be disruptive,” Shari Wilson, secretary of the Maryland Department of the Environment, told the county?s delegation recently.
The delegation was considering a bill to require MDE to repay the county $108,000 for testing wells near a coal fly ash dump site in Gambrills to find possible contamination.
Some of the lawmakers wanted to know why MDE would not reimburse the county Health Department, which found dozens of wells to contain the same dangerous heavy metals found in fly ash.
“The county is being penalized for being aggressive on this,” said Republican Del. Tony McConkey, who represents the Gambrills area.
“They did your job for you.”
The well-testing data was an important factor in MDE pursuing and obtaining a $1 million fine against Constellation Energy and BBSS Mining, the operator of the mine where the ash was dumped.
Wilson said the long-standing practice has been that any fines collected by MDE go only to the state, not local governments.
Republican Del. Robert Costa asked Wilson why MDE couldn?t simply add local expenses to the fines sanctioned against violators.
She said current regulations would not allow MDE to collect money from violators that would reimburse local governments. Those agencies would have to do that for themselves through the court system.
Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold?s bill before the General Assembly would require future MDE penalties to reimburse local governments who assist in investigations.
