Action alert: Stop the water permits, stop the toll lanes

We just received an action alert from our partners at the Sierra Club. The Maryland State Highway Association has requested permits from federal and state agencies for water impacts related to the toll lane construction.

The permit requests outline insufficient plans to protect our regulated wetlands, waterways, and floodplains from the proposed I-495 and I-270 toll lane project. Likely impacts include irreversible harm to aquatic wildlife, stream bank and floodplain erosion, the destruction of several natural communities and habitats, and sending potentially toxic runoff into the Potomac River, a source of drinking water for 6 million people.

Our voices can be heard in this permitting process. Join this Sierra Club action alert, and raise your concerns.

The action alert sends your objections to these recipients:

• Nicholas.R.Ozburn@usace.army.mil

• MDE.SHAprojects@maryland.gov

• john.j.dinne@usace.army.mil

Comments must be submitted by September 29, 2022. Thank you for your support!

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Brian Ditzler, Sierra Club Maryland Chapter <reply@emails.sierraclub.org>
Date: Tue, Sep 13, 2022 at 8:08 AM
Subject: Tell the federal government: reject the water permits for the I-495 and I-270 toll lanes project

Take action!

Governor Hogan’s proposal to widen I-495 and I-270 with private toll lanes would not solve traffic congestion and would be a disaster for Maryland’s air, land, water resources, communities, and historic resources.

Right now, the Maryland State Highway Administration is seeking approval from federal and state agencies on permits that would authorize impacts from the I-495 and I-270 toll lane project on regulated wetlands, waterways, and floodplains.

Tell federal and state officials: reject the water permits for the flawed I-495 and I-270 project!

The efforts outlined in the permit application to mitigate impacts to water resources are grossly insufficient. With no plan for nearby stormwater mitigation for much of the expanded highway and bridge, there would be irreversible harm to aquatic wildlife, stream bank and floodplain erosion, and the destruction of several natural communities and habitats. There is no plan for the treatment of potentially toxic runoff from the American Legion Bridge directly into the Potomac River, a source of drinking water for 6 million people.

There continue to be concerns about the project's negative impacts on natural and cultural resources, including on an historic African-American cemetery in Cabin John, Maryland.

Write to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Maryland Department of Environment to reject the water permits for the flawed I-495 and I-270 toll lanes project!

Thank you for taking action to project our communities and the environment from the threats of major highway expansion.

Yours in the fight,

Brian Ditzler
Transportation Chair
Sierra Club Maryland Chapter

Lindsey Mendelson
Transportation Representative
Sierra Club Maryland Chapter

P.S. Interested in testifying at the virtual hearing on the water permit? Sign up here and message transportation@mdsierra.org for tips and talking points.

As Endgame Nears, Toll Lane Scheme is Still Vulnerable

Mark January 18, 2023 on your calendar

That’s the day Governor Hogan leaves office. The toll lane project has always been his. When he goes, the project could go with him. Unless, that is, he and MDOT try to beat the clock and recklessly commit Marylanders to this damaging project before he leaves office.

We can’t let that happen. You can help.

Despite USDOT’s recent OK for the toll lanes, MDOT must still clear significant hurdles before the end of Hogan’s term. See highlighted ones below, along with the important, related Action Item.

We’re nearing the endgame, but this project is still vulnerable.

Toll lane hurdle #1: Legal action

Hogan’s project could face legal challenges, including from a broad coalition of grassroots and advocacy groups. The Sierra Club of Maryland and 40+ partners, including the City of Rockville and DontWiden270.org, signed extensive comments on the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). Those comments, written by nationally recognized legal and technical experts, form the basis for potential litigation.

Action item: Support the Maryland Sierra Club’s legal fund

The Sierra Club’s "Maryland Smart Growth Defense Fund” is a key component of the effort to stop this harmful project. The Fund was formed for this project and helps pay for essential technical and legal expertise and legal counsel.

We hope you will contribute. To donate by credit card, click here. To donate by check, make your check payable to "Sierra Club Foundation". In the memo, write "MD Smart Growth Defense Fund." Mail to Sierra Club Foundation, 2101 Webster Street, Suite 1250, Oakland CA 94612. Donations to the Fund are tax deductible. Thank you!

More hurdles for toll lanes

Statutory delays to MDOT’s mad dash:

• Maryland law requires 30 days for legislative review of P3 project contracts before they go to the three-member Board of Public Works for an up or down vote.

• MDOT has to give the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission 60 days to review the project and make recommendations.

A challenge to the fairness of the bid process that won’t go away:

• The next stage of the lawsuit filed by a losing bidder for the MDOT toll-lane contract is expected soon.

Issues with Australian conglomerate Transurban:

• MDOT’s private for-profit consortium still doesn’t have a construction partner, despite having shortlisted three finalists a year ago.

• The company is under fire in Australia as a “monopoly of monopolies” for its “screwnami” practices.

• Transurban’s CEO recently said the I-495/I-270 toll lane project in Maryland still had “‘quite a few issues’…and it was uncertain if financial paperwork would be signed off by the end of the year.”

Flash of clarity (just one) in the Washington Post Editorial Board’s 20th Toll Lane Endorsement

A grain of truth makes it into the Washington Post’s newest pro-toll lane editorial. In the space of a single sentence, the Post stops pushing MDOT’s glossy, false scenario and admits that what it wants is exactly what Transurban, that “monopoly of monopolies” (see above) is selling: a high-priced means of escape for the wealthy, made possible by permanently induced congestion for the rest of us.

The sentence: “Mr. Hogan has stood nearly alone among Maryland’s major elected officials in pushing to add the toll lanes, which drivers would use voluntarily to escape the usual crawl in the regular lanes.” The Post is admitting that virtually nobody wants the toll lanes. The Post is admitting that after the $5 billion project is complete, traffic will keep on crawling in the free lanes the same as before.

So there it is, in a single sentence. Transurban’s business model, Hogan’s real transportation “policy”, and the lobbyists’ interests, all aligned. That’s what MDOT, with its pablum-like outreach and its thousands of opaque pages, has worked so hard to obscure. Stunning.

MDOT Cut Too Many Corners; Now It’s Backed Into One!

MDOT planned an action-packed toll-lane summer to clinch the Governor’s deal. June: Dump 26,000+ pages of rushed/incomplete/illogical/opaque documentation on the public. July: Declare the public review period over. August: Get a hearty thumbs-up from the federal government and start writing construction contracts for approval before Hogan leaves office.

It’s not working out so well:

• Opposition to the toll-lane scheme is broader, fiercer, and more knowledgeable than MDOT and Governor Hogan ever expected (see outstanding examples below).

• As of this writing, the Federal Highway Administration is continuing its due diligence, reviewing the project’s Final Environmental Impact Statement to ensure it meets federal requirements. (It doesn’t – see the latest evidence below.)

• MDOT’s private partner, toll-lane giant Transurban, STILL doesn’t have a construction contractor despite shortlisting three bidders a year ago. Something is not right.

And time is running out. Governor Hogan leaves office in the beginning of January. Candidates Wes Moore, Brooke Lierman, and others at all levels of government do not want to claim this harmful project as their own.

Back in 2018, grassroots activists and elected officials planted the seeds for evidence-based opposition to the toll-lane scheme. The evidence keeps piling up and the opposition keeps growing. Thank you for your part in all of it.

From The Washington Post, 8/6/22

ACTION ITEM

Until the day the toll-lane project is withdrawn, we need to keep broadcasting what’s at stake. Your person-to-person and social media sharing are a key part of the grassroots effort. You’ll find the latest revelations in the Sierra Club’s scathing analysis of MDOT’s Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). The analysis helps lay the foundation for legal action.

Choose topics that grab you from the Table of Contents  (pp. v-vi), then share what you learn as widely as you can. Shockers include:

• MDOT’s latest efforts to nullify the public voice (text pages 3-11).

• Evidence of manipulation of traffic models. Confirmation of increased travel times and new/worsening bottlenecks (pages 11-20).

• New info on serious public health risks and MDOT’s failure to disclose them (pages 20-25). 

Our determined coalition never lets up

Just last month, hundreds of you urged USDOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg to require a public comment period for the FEIS. Requesting the same thing at approximately the same time were the Montgomery County Delegation to Annapolis; Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich`; 62 advocacy groups, activist organizations, and Maryland mayors in a joint letter; and from Rockville, Mayor Bridget Newton and Councilmembers Monique Ashton, Beryl Feinberg, David Myles, and Mark Pierzchala.

The Sierra Club’s extensive, expert analysis of the 26,000+ page FEIS was put together in under a month by a dedicated, multidisciplinary team of legal and technical subject matter experts, professional and volunteer advocacy leaders, citizen activists, and more.

The Chair of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Casey Anderson, sent a letter last week asking MDOT and the FHWA for more time to review the potential environmental impacts of the project.

Our partner and chair of the Maryland Transit Opportunities Coalition, Ben Ross, called out the possibility of fraud in MDOT’s traffic modeling: Toll Lanes Critic Accuses MDOT of “Scientific Fraud” in Key Report.

Our partner Gary Hodge, vice chair of the Maryland Transit Opportunities Coalition, exposed the dangers of turning over public infrastructure to a private entity that looks only to its own gain.

Speedy when they want to be, but slooow in getting back to us

MDOT took 585 days (p. 8) to respond to the public officials, agencies, and members of the public (you!) who collectively submitted 2,909 comments about the Draft EIS. They took 199 days to respond to the 2,138 public comments about the Supplemental DEIS. Absurd!

If you jump through enough hoops, you can find your own comment and MDOT’s response (often just a reference to another section) in the 13 files of Appendix T of the FEIS. Start at the index (p. 2). Good luck.

Not the Washington Post again!

In its 19th hand-wringing editorial in support of Maryland toll lanes, the Post went after the Federal Highway Administration for doing its job and taking time to review the FEIS. The Post, like Governor Hogan, wants ASAP approval of the toll-lane project for reasons that seem to have nothing to do with real congestion relief or effective transportation planning. If those were the Post’s goals, the editorials would be quite different. More like this new one in the Baltimore Sun: “Controversial Maryland toll lane project best kept on the shelf until 2023”.