H.B. 190 is a thoughtful and careful update of Title Seven of the Coastal Zone Act. It has broad, bipartisan support in the House from legislators from all over the state who have undoubtedly heard from their constituents. It provides for remediation and reuse of the designated site as well as expeditious review by DNREC.
Despite opposition from some very thoughtful individuals, as well as the usual suspects, HB 190 should be passed with the widest support possible, signaling Delaware is interested in both protecting the environment as well as supporting working families while doing just that.
An update is probably overdue. It was passed 46 years ago and much has changed. This is the nature of updating legislation to reflect the current milieu. We have had much bad legislation that has had to be changed. Laws concerning religious, racial and ethnic groups as well as labor and, more recently, the LBGTQ community had to be changed.
My guess is when those original laws were passed, the authors thought they were right. We now know otherwise. That the CZA is somehow sacrosanct and immune from any update is just a bit disingenuous. That somehow Governor Peterson's legacy will be tarnished is a bit of a stretch despite the concerns of those who were in on the original bill, friends of Russ or the honorable governor's widow.
They are, of course, well-meaning individuals. Their call for public hearings all over the state about an update to the CZA is probably a reasonable idea if it pertains to future uses, and expediting regulations and permitting. That is for the long term. This bill addresses our current situation. Those types of meetings also tend to be dominated by the usual suspects, the activists who normally are for only what they are against unless, of course, we agree with their myopic vision.
To this point we have generally been spared from the self-important one, he who has to tell everyone what they need to do, to the shrill one, last seen leaving Middletown in the wake of her devastating defeat on the data center, to the condescending one, waiting for the levee to break in Delaware City so he can call everyone an idiot.
Unfortunately, the extremists tend to crowd out the many thoughtful groups that have expressed some concern and sometimes opposition to the bill. Much of the opposition centers on what can go wrong, spills and such. Some of these things have already happened over the past and have been successfully remediated. We simply can't let the sky is falling or specious arguments like carbon footprint and the like to derail a very good bill for Delawareans.
Rep. Osienski and Sen. Townsend have crafted a bill that has widespread support among many diverse groups across the state.
The fact HB 190 was released from committee by a 9-1 vote is certainly a testament to that. Its success will still protect the environment, help working Delaware families and let everyone know that we are about progress and open for business.
Mike Spencer
Mayor, Town of Newport
Council member, Wilmington Area Planning Council
Member, DTC Community Advisory Board
Member, Delaware League of Governments Legislative Committee
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