Folks may or may not be aware of the Blue Ridge Leader since it doesn’t show up unsolicited in the mail. If you’re not, you should be. The prospect of having no counterpoint to the only other source of news in western Loudoun (the Gazette) was unacceptable, so following the death of publisher Phil Hahn, community members have made sure the Leader continues to have a presence.
This article on the CBPO is Exhibit A in demonstrating why that presence is so important. Unlike most of the chatter about the ordinance, which has more to do with perceptions and emotion and their political impact, this is a remarkably clear, fair and transparent summary of the facts and statement of advocacy. One of those facts, of course, is the adoption of the CBPO by the local Republican establishment as a campaign issue, and this is treated in the same factual manner.
Of course, saying an issue is partisan doesn’t make it so. The costs associated with Loudoun’s deteriorating streams, such as the cost of treating the increasingly tainted water, are imposed on everyone. And the costs associated with preventing further deterioration need to be shared as equally as possible, too.
If meeting the public’s general needs imposes a burden on the individual, then this situation must be addressed fairly. The burdens should be shared by all beneficiaries – urban areas, rural areas, agriculture and development alike. How this fairness is accomplished – here in Loudoun – must be sorted out prior to passage of the CBPO.
This is a problem that needs to be solved, not a convenient hot button for irresponsible politicians to exploit. It goes straight to the question of what kind of community we want to be. Do we want to have intact, healthy streams and drinking water that doesn’t require expensive feats of engineering to render safe? And do we want leaders who encourage all the stakeholders to come to the table and figure it out, or leaders who actively discourage problem solving and dialogue in favor of creating division, anger and fear?
And if anyone wants to read the actual science on Riparian Buffers, the basis of the Bay Act ordinance, feel free:
http://www.biodiversitysouthwe… – 300 pages of scientific review done by the UK on this question.
http://nc.water.usgs.gov/repor… – The UGSG data analysis of North Carolina stream quality with and without Riparian Buffers.
http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/420/420… – Virginia Tech’s excellent summary of the science behind Riparian Buffers.
If yo don’t want to read 400+ pages, I can summarize for you:
Riparian buffers work.
So let’s dispense with the “the science isn’t conclusive” charade, shall we?
Leej, the quality of our streams is degrading every year. A significant and increasing percentage of them are contaminated with E. Coli and not safe for recreation. As for chemicals, the only thing that will remove all of them is reverse osmosis, and I don’t hear anyone proposing that for the whole county’s drinking water supply. What is being proposed with the CBPA is only standard best practices and some increased permitting and review to ensure that they are used. This is one more giant political storm stirred up by the same crowd of “property rights” people who handed windfalls to developers and handed Loudoun property owners the bill for all the costs. The Bay and all our waters are endangered and while the Bay Act won’t fix it all, it is the least we can do. Concerning Obama and your apparent blaming him for our economic situation, I’m as frustrated as you are that the jobs situation is as bad as it is. Still, it could be much worse; how much worse we will luckily never have to know, and I give Obama the credit for that. He stopped the hemmoraging, the Titanic hasn’t sunk yet and we still have a few lifeboats. I just don’t see who would vote Republican now after seeing that it was the Republicans that got us into two pointless wars and one near-depression, and seeing the Republicans putting up candidates like Christine “I dabbled in witchcraft and believe humans are crossbreeding with animals” O’Donnell.
There is new regs coming soon to address the real problem chemicals. So why are this BOS wasting time on this.
Build us some roads and get economic development happening. With major defense cuts coming, Loudoun should worry more about economic development. But the dems have shown they don’t have a clue about getting this economy going both locally and nationally, I vote as a independent and I will tell you all I will vote republican after what is happening in America since Obama got elected who I voted for.
And I am going to say this over and over get a interchange at rt 7 and countryside for a approval of Lerners new town center. as well as money or a school site for Lerners approval of kid producing suburban NOT Urban garden apartments. Suburban housing (garden apartments) equals more more kids and URBAN housing means singles and married without children which is needed in Loudoun to balance the population.
And further I went to my first baseball game at Lerners national stadium Sunday. the ugliest new stadium ever built you see cheap cheap cheap all over the place from the outside especially.