FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 24, 2021
For More Information:
Josh Tulkin, Maryland Sierra Club, josh.tulkin@mdsierra.org, 650-722-3171
Lindsey Mendelson, Maryland Sierra Club, lindsey.mendelson@mdsierra.org, 240-706-7901
Legislators & Advocates tell the Maryland Department of Transportation to Keep its Promises to Taxpayers and the Environment
ANNAPOLIS, MD - A few hours before a bill hearing on the Maryland Department of Transportation Promises Act, legislators and advocates gathered at a rally to urge Governor Hogan to keep his promises on the I-495 and I-270 plan. The rally follows on the heels of the Maryland Department of Transportation's announcement last week that they selected Transurban and Macquarie to develop the project. MDOT plans to seek approval for a contract in the Spring prior to the release of the Final Environmental Impact Statement despite making a commitment that they would wait to seek approval on a contract until after the environmental review process was complete.
The MDOT Promises Act (SB843/HB67), sponsored by Senator Benson and Delegate Korman would put into statute promises that MDOT made regarding the timing of the contract, funding, transit use of toll lanes, public hearings, and other provisions. A related bill, the P3 Reform Act (HB 485/SB 361) sponsored by Delegate Solomon and Senator Rosapepe would address the flaws in Maryland’s Public-Private Partnership law that enabled the Purple Line light rail project to have major cost overruns and allowed the I-495 and I-270 expansion plan to proceed without transparency and government oversight.
“Governor Hogan’s many broken promises on the I-495 and I-270 plan has shaken public confidence in our government. The fiasco of the cost overruns on the Purple Line show that our public-private partnership system is in need of reform. We call on MDOT to stop walking back their promises and not put forward a contract on this plan until we have a full accounting of how this project would impact our environment for generations to come.
-- Josh Tulkin, Director, Maryland Sierra Club
“P3's have to be done well on the public side as well as the private side. The devil is in the details. As we’ve learned from the challenges with Purple Line, Maryland needs to do better.” -- Senator Jim Rosapepe, District 21
“As the Governor continues to move ahead with his privatized toll lane road widening, the Administration continues to shift ground on its so-called promises. We cannot let the Administration tell the Board of Public Works, the General Assembly, and the public one thing one week only to see it change the next. In order to maintain the public trust and ensure accountability, it is vital that the Administration’s promises be put into statute. The Maryland Department of Transportation Promises Act does not represent how I would do this project, it simply requires the Administration to carry it out the way they claimed they would.” -- Delegate Marc Korman, District 16
“Maryland Department of Transportation is not moving in a direction which implies the keeping of a promise which was made through the Public Private Partnerships. What is being proposed creates a lack of confidence in MDOT by Prince George’s County and MNCPPC who have not been in the loop. We must move swiftly in sponsoring legislation which will hold MDOT accountable to the agreements which were made.” -- Senator Joanne Benson, District 24
"Good governance is the hallmark of good government. We must be good stewards of the environment and create financial certainty for our state. The P3 Reform Act is about adding common sense oversight and safeguards to the public private partnership process.”
-- Delegate Jared Solomon, District 18
“While the City of College Park continues to have concerns about the project to expand the I-495 Beltway and I-270, the MDOT Promises Act will help ensure that the State lives up to the promises it has made to limit the potential negative impacts of this project on the critical environmental areas that exist along the route of the project in College Park and around the region. As the project moves forward, this bill will help ensure that MDOT is accountable to what it has promised.” -- Patrick L. Wojahn, Mayor, City of College Park, Maryland
“Governor Hogan’s proposed expansion of I-495 and I-270 would be disastrous to local communities, watersheds, and parks. These new toll lanes would have a serious negative impact on more than 100 acres of national parkland at seven national parks. Maryland DOT made promises to Maryland taxpayers – that the project would cost them nothing and that MDOT would finish the environmental review process before handing out contracts. The MDOT Promises Act would hold MDOT to those promises and attempt to offset some of the worst aspects of this project.” -- Kyle Hart, Mid-Atlantic Field Representative, National Parks Conservation Association.
“MDOT has not provided any guarantee that it will see through important project elements – one of the most critical being a provision to help fund transit projects. This can be contrasted with similar projects in Virginia, where transit is guaranteed a certain amount of money per year, rather than after all $11 billion has been paid back to the private concessionaire." -- Jane Lyons, Maryland Advocacy Manager, Coalition for Smarter Growth
“The MDOT Promises Act is MDOT’s best shot at restoring public confidence in its word. The public cannot allow MDOT to ignore new commitments as easily as it forgot its promises to take no homes, share critical data, do the environmental review before hiring a developer, and ensure the $11 billion for-profit tollway will not cost taxpayers a net-dime. Passage of the MDOT Promises Act is essential.” -- Brad German, Co-Chair, Citizens Against Beltway Expansion
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