COMMITMENT

Nowhere is the health and well-being of future generations more at-stake than in our actions to protect the environment and to preserve Virginia's unique and irreplaceable natural heritage. Through well-reasoned policy decisions, we can strengthen Virginia's economy as we conserve her resources.

I still enjoy back country camping with my grandsons. I love the beauty and thrills of Virginia's whitewater. I smile when trillium re-appear behind our house each spring. Especially in times of great change, many of us reach to nature to regain our sense of stability.

But even as Virginia's lush vegetation, stream valleys, and open waters can be a source of peace, they cannot endure like the ancient Appalachians without our help.

We need to make critical land purchases now to buffer the Chesapeake Bay from run-off. The phenomenal increase in transit use revealed capacity restraints and the need to expand the system. Laws to control land use, protect ground water, prevent air and water pollution can't be effective without sound environmental impact research and the will to enforce them.

SMARTER GROWTH
As Secretary, I chaired a year-long, unprecedented regional effort of top local officials, staff, and citizens that brought land use and transportation plans together for the first time to create a coordinated Northern Virginia Transportation Plan. As chair, I prevailed over VDOT’s objections and insisted that citizen participation be equal to technical staff input. I fully support the 2020 update of that plan, which includes a transit corridor between Springfield and Tysons Corner and rail out I-66.

The key to preserving the integrity of designated growth areas and keeping the designation from being undercut by a court challenge is to establish the area upon defensible planning premises that can be and are documented using measurable factors. In addition, an inclusive public processes will help establish broad community acceptance of the principles and hopefully prevent electoral swings in philosophy.

TRANSIT
Both as a legislative leader in changing the transportation formula and as Secretary, I increased Metro funding 4-fold. I will continue to work for more transit funding and am very concerned that, because budget language is overriding the Code, transit funds are being taken away from urban areas to be used for statewide road maintenance. I was shocked in 2005 that the Family Foundation labeled additional money for Metro as anti-family and caused the Senate bill to be killed by a party-line vote in House Finance Committee. I believe users of Virginia roads should pay a larger share of the cost of the transportation system, rather than currently less than half of what they did in 1990.

OPEN SPACE AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION
I was very pleased to have been appointed to the Joint Committee to Study the Land Preservation Tax Credit. I believe that it is essential and will do everything that I can to assure that stopping abuses by developers that have been cited does not undercut it. I am especially concerned that we preserve the ability to sell the credit because of the important incentive this represents to some of the lower income people I represent who back onto streams which are part of the Chesapeake water shed. The Tax Credit can play an important role in helping Virginia meet its commitments under the Chesapeake Bay Interstate Preservation Agreement.

I support transferable development rights, but want to be sure that the sale of the development right is in perpetuity and cannot be reversed by a Master Plan change. Based on my work on the Land Preservation Tax Credit Study, I look forward to taking an active role in assuring that Virginia’s Historic Preservation Tax Credits also are fully implemented.

ENERGY AND CLEAN AIR
I support a Renewable Portfolio Standard that would require that a certain percentage of the state’s electricity come from renewable resources with preference to zero-emission resources. I oppose drilling for natural gas off Virginia's coastline.

Coal-fired power plants – most built in the 1940's and 50's – are the greatest source of air pollution in Virginia. Unfortunately, recent federal Clear Skies rules allow these plants to continue to pollute even when they’re upgraded. Other east coast states are reacting by passing state regulations and I believe that Virginia should join these initiatives. Technology could remove 95% of pollutants, equivalent to taking 4 million cars off Virginia roads.

CLEAN WATER
Using part of the current budget surplus as required by law, we will deposit over $153 million into the Water Quality Improvement Fund to upgrade wastewater treatment plants. This is more than all previous years' deposits combined. 7,000 miles of Virginia rivers and streams, including our portion of the Chesapeake Bay, are on the national “dirty water” list. A study will recommend a source of ongoing funding to the 2006 General Assembly, since after 2010 the federal government could takeover clean up of the Chesapeake Bay.

In 2000, I supported crucial protection of Virginia’s rivers, marshes, and, of course, the Chesapeake Bay through passage of Non-Tidal Wetlands Protection legislation. Its significance for controlling land use was underscored by how hard it was fought. At one point, a “compromise” proposal would have permitted development of 90% of the Great Dismal Swamp!

STATE PARKS
Virginia is dead last in funding for parks and natural areas, which limits their use and proper care. In 2005, I supported adding $2.6 million and 30 positions for maintenance and operations.

TRASH
Throughout the last decade, a number of our poor counties accepted large private trash “dumps” to increase local tax revenue and create jobs. Between 1993 and 1998, the annual increase would fill a line of trash trucks stretching bumper-to-bumper from the Atlantic to the Pacific. By 1999, Virginia had become second in the nation in the amount of out-of-state trash coming into the state, causing concerns about ground water contamination and transport spills. Unfortunately, not only has Congress failed to grant state's the power to limit trash under interstate commerce, but in 2005 the General Assembly agreed to allow waste dumps significantly closer to water supplies.