O?Malley stays green, signs new measures

Gov. Martin O?Malley kept up the Earth Day theme he?s been advocating this week by signing more than 20 new laws that are designed to protect the Chesapeake Bay, curb development of its shoreline, reduce energy consumption, encourage conservation and promote the construction of environmentally friendly buildings.

“This is a huge, huge, huge year for the environment, and some of these bills were two, three years in the works,” said House Environmental Matters Committee Chairwoman Maggie McIntosh, who was credited with shepherding much of this legislation to passage.