Connector absorbs federal agency blow

Fish and Wildlife requests that corps deny approval

Conservationists and other area critics of the Charles County cross-county connector received an unexpected Christmas gift after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Chesapeake Bay Field Office sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recommending the corps deny a wetland permit for the road.

While there have been numerous criticisms on the state and county level about the six miles of proposed roadway between Middletown Road and Route 210, it is the first time a federal agency has taken a critical position on the project.

The bay field office is part of the larger Fish and Wildlife Service which falls under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

In the letter, dated Dec. 23, Leopoldo Miranda, the supervisor for the field office, advised Col. David Anderson of the corps' Baltimore District to consider a permit rejection until the county can produce "a more complete assessment … of the proposed highway … in addition to a more comprehensive evaluation of alternatives …"

"We're not saying [the road] shouldn't be built, but there needs to be more information; not just direct impacts but indirect as well," said Julie Slacum, division chief of strategic resource conservation for the bay field office. "Highways do facilitate growth."

"My main concern with the letter is that it's based on outdated information," Charles County Commissioner Gary V. Hodge (D) said. "It appears clear to us that it's based on a 1996 [National Environmental Protection Act] report … and also some earlier county information provided to the corps in 2008 before the public hearings were held."

"If [the office] requested the information, of course, we would provide it to them," said commissioners' President F. Wayne Cooper (D). "But they haven't requested it. We have provided piles of information to the corps and Maryland Department of the Environment."

Before ground can break on the east-west connector, the county must get the approval of MDE and the corps.

MDE handles issues with nontidal wetlands, while the corps monitors open waterways and wetlands.

A month earlier MDE announced it would delay its permit decision until two threatened species of plants could be studied during the warmer months.

"This is great news," said Jim Long, president of the Mattawoman Watershed Society. "This vindicated what we've been saying all along. It's good to see federal agencies shouldering their responsibilities to protect the bay because that's what's at stake."

Hodge objected to the letter being sent to Mattawoman Creek advocates as well as to the corps.

"I respect the advocacy process. It's very challenging for an organization to stop a project," Hodge said. "But I have to look at this for what it is: A federal agency copied opponents without copying state and local agencies, and that's very odd to me."

While Slacum acknowledged she was not an expert in choosing a planning area, in the context of environmental preservation if a county is going to concentrate growth she advised doing it in an area that is more urban and won't affect any more natural resources.

"The unique thing about this area is that there are a lot of big spaces of unbroken forests and these support a lot of rare bird species," Slacum said. "There's a lot of vibrant wildlife throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed."

The threat of that loss of diversity, she said, is what prompted the office to write the letter.

Currently stalled at the intersection of Billingsley and Middletown roads, the four-lane connector is the county's solution to motorists' safety, a smoother commute and supervised growth, county officials have told state and federal agencies.

Billingsley Road is the site of many accidents and traffic jams, they say. Providing a straighter and more modern alternative to the windy, two-lane street would allow that road to become a local route rather than one used for a commute, the county has argued.

With 70 percent of the connector corridor already developed and the remaining percentage zoned for some residential development, the commissioners have warned that not laying down an environmentally friendly connector road would result in a haphazard web of streets that would do more damage than the disputed alternative.

"Development has already started. It's moving forward, and it's part of the development district," Cooper said. "You can look at Billingsley Road as a major safety concern. And with development coming, the road was not built for that capacity of traffic being on it.

"The extension is to relieve traffic, to make it more convenient and make a safer road."

Not counting the more than $500,000 spent to study the effects of the road on the local environment, the county has estimated it will cost $47 million to finish the connector.

But the tens of millions of dollars that would be spent on the connector is no match for the invaluable worth of the Mattawoman Creek, conservationists say.

"We cannot lose the best tributary for fish spawning and still say we are saving the Chesapeake Bay; there's a disconnect," said Bonnie Bick, a spokeswoman for the Sierra Club.

"The road itself has impacts. The purpose of the road is the problem: The only true purpose with this proposal is to promote growth."

Hodge said Tuesday he agreed with recent efforts by President Barack Obama to get the federal government more involved in cleaning up the bay, but said stopping the connector is not the way to do that.

He wrote in a letter to the editor to the Independent last fall that "anti-growth extremists" exert undue influence on state agencies to oppose the connector.

Slacum said her office had not been in contact with the county commissioners when the letter was written and submitted, and while the agency does meet with its partners frequently, under law its job is to protest fish and wildlife resources.

Likewise, while local groups will highlight attributes and issues to the state, it is still up to the agencies to make their decisions, Long said.