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Committee debates climate communications and Water Quality Protection Fund outreach, places items on reconciliation list
Summary
The committee examined DEP proposals including a climate communications NDA and a Water Quality Protection Fund increase to cover bag‑fee outreach, Clean Water grants and an inspector position; council members debated overlap with Green Bank funding and asked for alternatives and clearer priorities.
The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) presented three linked items to the Transportation and Environment Committee: a modest general fund package, a climate change planning NDA that includes a $230,000 one‑time communications pilot and $148,000 base communications support, and enhancements to the Water Quality Protection Fund to support bag‑fee outreach, Clean Water Montgomery grants and an additional maintenance compliance inspector.
Sarah Coblesmucker, the county's climate change officer, described the climate NDA as a flexible instrument for interdepartmental climate action and highlighted the Climate Smart campaign and a behavior‑change pilot focused on mode shift. Committee members raised questions about overlap with the Green Bank's $68M greenhouse gas reduction funds and the imminent DOT free‑fare publicity; Chair Glass and others suggested the communications line items be reconsidered and potentially moved to the reconciliation list for further council discussion.
On the Water Quality Protection Fund, staff identified roughly $600K of enhancements that translate into about $1.65 on the ERU water‑quality charge: business outreach for a revised bag fee law, more Clean Water grants (estimated at three additional $50K grants) and an inspector focused on privately owned stormwater facility maintenance. John Monger, DEP director, emphasized that bag‑fee outreach is critical for small businesses and equity considerations and noted that some outreach funding would phase down by 2028.
The committee agreed to place the communications items on the reconciliation list for the full council to consider, and the committee supported the DEP's items 5–7 as presented "without objection" while asking staff and OMB to provide more detail and options before final council action.
Next steps: The committee forwarded items to the reconciliation/full council process with requests for alternative tranching and memos from OMB on NDA demand; DEP will provide outreach plans and follow‑up briefs.
