Enforcement of Critical Area law lacking, report says

The state's Critical Area Law lacks teeth to fully protect the Chesapeake Bay in part because local jurisdictions don't have enough resources to enforce it and often side with development over environmental protection, according to a new study released today.

The University of Maryland Environmental Law Clinic found that although Anne Arundel County has more inspectors on the job and hands down more serious fines than most other jurisdictions, it still has lot of work to do.

Because 63 individual counties and towns enforce the law, Critical Area decisions, especially those regarding variances, reflect the "private property...