The leaders of Maryland, Virginia and the
District of Columbia joined Tuesday to form a regional initiative to harness the area’s location as the seat of the federal government to make it a globally competitive powerhouse of innovation and a leader in green technology.
“We are IT leaders today,” said Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va. “The Internet was born here, we’ve taken a lead with some of the biosciences and research and development there. But on energy, we’ve kind of yielded, and today we’re trying to get back in.”
Davis joined Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., and D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty in announcing the public-private Chesapeake Crescent Initiative, which is still in its early stages but will include a new level of collaboration among regional leaders, officials said.
On the private side, local businessmen and philanthropists Herb Miller and George Vradenburg will lead the initiative.
Miller is chief executive of Western Development, and Vradenburg recently served as executive vice president at AOL Time Warner.
Officials said the federal resources available in the Chesapeake Crescent, which stretches from the northeast corner of Maryland to Hampton Roads in Virginia along the Interstate 95 corridor, give the region a competitive edge in developing a strong industry focusing on environmental initiatives.
Davis said he commissioned the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, to assess whether the region has the infrastructure in place to support the emerging plug-in hybrid vehicle technology. Once the study is complete, he will introduce legislation to require federal agencies to increase their fleets of plug-in hybrids by 2010, when the vehicles are scheduled to become available for commercial use.
“That critical mass can make the region a leader in green energy,” he said.
