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Subcommittee presses Maryland Department of the Environment on greenhouse‑gas accounting, lead data and stalled permits
Summary
At a House appropriations subcommittee hearing, analysts recommended review of MDE’s FY27 budget increases and raised concerns about gaps in greenhouse‑gas spending tracking, delays in blood‑lead surveillance data, and a late concentrated‑animal‑feeding operation permit; Secretary Serena McElwain defended agency progress and pledged fixes.
The House Appropriations Committee’s Transportation and the Environment Subcommittee on Feb. 26 reviewed the Maryland Department of the Environment’s (MDE) fiscal 2027 operating request and probed agency performance on greenhouse‑gas accounting, lead surveillance and permit backlogs.
Legislative analysts from the Department of Legislative Services (DLS) told the panel that MDE’s FY27 operating allowance increases to about $269.7 million and spotlighted several issues: the agency’s air quality managing‑for‑results exhibits show continued difficulty meeting the ozone 8‑hour standard, the agency recalibrated older data to reflect a tighter annual PM2.5 standard, 2024 childhood blood‑lead surveillance data were not posted as expected, and two timeliness measures (PIA responses within 30 days and permit processing time) are no longer being reported. DLS asked MDE to explain large changes in permit issuance metrics and why the two measures are absent from current reporting.
“Point here is to look at that 0% line,” DLS analyst Andrew Gray said while walking members through trend charts…
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