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Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources Tayloe Murphy says
State natural resources chief Tayloe Murphy stands near his downtown Richmond office. |
When lawmakers put conservation on par with hot-button issues such as transportation and education, Virginia will begin to turn the corner on cleaning up its air, rivers and the Chesapeake Bay.
Until then, says W. Tayloe Murphy Jr., the state's point man on the environment, the money needed for those tasks--and its critical support in the General Assembly--will come up short.
"That's the question: Is protecting the [bay] and our living resources a less-pressing priority than education, transportation, Medicaid, public safety? My position is--it is not," Murphy said last week during an interview at his Richmond office. It's a crunch time: The General Assembly session opens tomorrow and Murphy is entering the final year of his term as Gov. Mark Warner's secretary of natural resources.
Murphy has come to that conclusion honestly. He served 18 years in the legislature, as chairman of the Chesapeake Bay Commission, and knows the strain on the state budget.
The commitment to a cleaner environment, he says, has to include a steady and reliable source of dollars to address the bay's most pressing problem--nutrient pollution.
Nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, mainly from sewage-treatment plants and farmers' fields, cause algae to grow over vast areas of the bay and tidal rivers during the summer. The algae block sunlight to plants and suck oxygen from the water when they die, creating "dead zones" inhospitable to fish, oysters and crabs.
It's estimated that it will take about $150 million a year to upgrade treatment plants and reduce farm runoff to meet 2010 EPA guidelines.
"If you took the money from the general fund would it really severely impact other areas of state government? I don't think it would," Murphy said.
The lawyer and author of the state's Water Quality Improvement Act said it could be linked to sales-tax proceeds.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is pushing another proposal that would create a "flush tax" similar to one that just went into effect in Maryland.
The Virginia Clean Streams bill would collect $52 a year from homeowners and $1,200 annually from industries to provide grants to localities and farmers. It would raise about $160 million.
Murphy said he's not opposed to that approach.
"I'm in favor of any proposal to get the funding we need. If the General Assembly chooses to add a new flush fee, that's fine."
On the heels of last year's contentious session in which lawmakers were bitterly divided over enacting additional taxes, the bay foundation's bill faces an uphill fight.
Virginia's ranking: Dead last
Lawmakers have about $1 billion in surplus revenue, but budget writers have warned special interest groups and state agencies that they shouldn't expect any money for new projects.
Virginia's budget over the last biennium totaled about $60 billion, he noted, of which the eight conservation-related agencies under his control received about $600 million, or about 1 percent of the total. Among the states, Virginia is dead last in the amount of money spent on conservation per capita.
Del. Bobby Orrock, R-Caroline, said, "We do need to look at whether the needs are being met." But he points out that, with the money it has to work with, Virginia state parks several years ago were voted the best in the nation.
"It's a testimony to the efficiency of the system," said Orrock, who serves on the House Finance Committee.
Orrock is opposed to a flush tax, but says if the money could be found, Murphy's suggestion for using general fund revenue would be more equitable.
Murphy concedes there won't be big new legislative initiatives after last year's bruising session. He's hopeful that lawmakers will approve additions of $32 million over the next two years to the Water Quality Improvement Fund, which helps localities upgrade waste-treatment plants.
Three Fredericksburg-area plants have received millions of dollars under the program in recent years, and have reduced nitrogen releases as a result.
Murphy also would like to see final approval of new water-quality standards for the bay and its tributaries that would cap releases of chemicals such as nitrogen. The tributary strategy plans are still in the public-comment period and have not yet been adopted.
"It's our goal to get them adopted before the end of this year. If we're able to do that, it would be a real accomplishment," he said.
John Tippett, executive director of Friends of the Rappahannock in Fredericksburg, agrees.
"I think that one of the key factors for determining the success of his [Murphy's] term is whether he can get tributary strategies funded," Tippett said yesterday.
Despite funding limitations and the political climate, Murphy said his agencies have made progress.
"In the area of air quality, we've been working with Dominion [parent company of Dominion Virginia Power] to get approval of their settlement with EPA to substantially improve air quality at Virginia power plants," he said. In September, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland reached an agreement with Mirant Corp. to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions from its four Mid-Atlantic plants by 65 percent over seven years. Emissions from Mirant's Potomac River plant in Alexandria prompted the settlement.
And in Tidewater, "We've taken the initiative to get the ghost fleet removed," Murphy said. The James River Reserve Fleet of rusting hulks that pose a pollution threat to the lower James and the bay, are being removed and a federal assistance plan is in the works.
Money for Stafford peninsulasTwo items of interest to Fredericksburg-area residents--Crow's Nest and Widewater--are on Murphy's radar as well.
On Crow's Nest, "The question is one of cost. It's very, very expensive and the price keeps going upand the state doesn't have that kind of money," he said.
Last month, the landowner, K&M Properties of McLean, filed a plan to carve the environmentally sensitive peninsula in Stafford County into 646 residential lots of about an acre each.
Meanwhile, the county is trying--with help from the state--to raise the money to buy the land, but is still way short of the $50 million needed to match the price offered by other potential buyers.
Stafford County supervisors have explored various ways to finance such a purchase. In December they won approval for a low-interest $30 million loan from the Virginia Clean Water Revolving Loan Fund.
"We're working with the county and our representatives in Congress to come up with the amount necessary," Murphy said. "Whether we can do it is still an issue. It should be acquired and it ought to be a top priority. The people of Stafford and the Fredericksburg area would be greatly benefited by having it protected and having access to it as a natural area preserve."
Stafford's Widewater area is another issue. The state wants to acquire a swath of land along the southern tip of the peninsula along the Potomac River for a state park. But a zoning dispute and subsequent court challenge have delayed plans by Dominion Lands Inc. to sell its holdings for the park.
A Circuit Court judge ruled in favor of Dominion, which went to court to void previous contracts related to the property's development. An appeal is pending.
When that's resolved, "We'd then be in a position to go ahead with the purchase," Murphy said.
Good stewardship
Chuck Epes, a spokesman for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said Murphy has done a good job "given the limited resources Virginia makes available for natural resources protection."
Epes said the proposed improvements in water-quality standards and the governor's recent addition of about $39 million for conservation agencies will help. And that pushing sewage treatment plant operators to adopt the best technology available for cutting pollutants such as nitrogen, is commendable.
"Those are all very positive things, but that's it. He [Murphy] has a wonderful opportunity now to dramatically move forward with the [flush tax] legislation we are promoting," Epes said.
Murphy concedes there are many areas of concern. One is land use.
"I think the state needs to exercise more leadership--influencing patterns of growth," he said. "We're consuming so much land. If a shopping center becomes outdated, rather than just go in and rehabilitate it, we just abandon it and go build another one. In my judgment, land is not an expendable commodity."
He added, "One of my biggest disappointments has been our inability to increase funding for natural resources and historic preservation."
That won't be a quick fix.
"We can only overcome it when the people of Virginia--the voters--become as engaged in these issues as they are in the other issues that take priority."
Murphy is no stranger to the Fredericksburg area: He owns a house in Westmoreland County and was a longtime advocate of removing the Embrey Dam to help migratory fish. He was one of the keynote speakers when the dam near Fredericksburg was breached last February.
Murphy, 72, intends to return to Warsaw in the Northern Neck to resume his law practice when his term ends next January, and to continue his sometimes lonely battle for the environment.
"When I came along there were crabs everywhere. Oysters were plentiful. Rockfish? You could go out anytime of day and catch them," he said.
The Potomac and bay of his youth are long gone, but not forgotten. And that's why he keeps fighting.
"The bay is not going to protect itself. It's going to take money."
To reach RUSTY DENNEN: 540/374-5431 rdennen@freelancestar.com
