Thursday, June 19, 2014

$3.7 Million to Paint Baltimore Green

State and federal officials joined a Chesapeake Bay nonprofit Thursday in announcing the award of more than $3.7 million to 34 organizations to reduce storm-water pollution in Maryland and three neighboring states and the District of Columbia. Nine of the grants totaling more than $1 million went toward planting trees, removing pavement and other greening projects in Baltimore city, while two smaller grants targeted plantings in Baltimore County.
So call it 10 grants totaling $1 Million, or an average of $100 k each. The definition of a pittance in government.  Just enough to pay a few interns, a few hours of salary for the muckety mucks, and a toy or two.  Or a few trees and and a short strip of pavement.
Shawn Garvin, Mid-Atlantic regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, whose agency provided some of the funds, said investing in such "green infrastructure" to soak up rainfall is "critically important to restoring local waters and the Chesapeake Bay." Storm-water runoff is a significant and growing source of pollution fouling the bay, but controlling it in dense, older communities is challenging and costly.

The "Green Streets, Green Jobs, Green Towns" grants are underwritten by nearly $3 million from the state, more than $600,000 from EPA and the rest from the Chesapeake Bay Trust, a nonprofit funded through state tax checkoffs and sales of bay license plates.
This is our money.  Why can't Baltimore pay for its own, self generated problems? This is just green graft.

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