HB 91, Public-Private Partnerships – Pre-solicitation Reports - Environmental Impact Statement Requirement
The Action Committee for Transit strongly supports HB 91 as a curb on the State DOT’s full-throated pursuit of private-public partnerships to expand I-495 and I-270 highway capacity without a full review of alternatives, including transit on the highway rights of way and on parallel facilities serving much the same markets.
Projects of this magnitude inevitably have significant environmental impacts that trigger requirements for NEPA environmental review. During the NEPA process reasonable alternatives to the proposed action must be developed and evaluated, and public input to the planning needs to be taken into account. The result is often a project or projects that are quite different from what was originally proposed.
Consequently it makes little sense to start soliciting private proposals until the environmental process is reasonably complete (i.e. the draft EIS stage specified in HB 0091). And we support the prudent requirement that a proper comparison of different procurement methods be made as the bill requires.
As an additional measure to ensure that such mega-projects have local support, we believe that the power currently enjoyed by Eastern Shore counties to approve or turn down State toll projects should be extended to all counties in the state. Several such bills along these lines have been proposed, some extending the power to selected additional counties. We believe that extending the power to the entire state is a better approach, and prefer HB 102 which does so.