HARRY HUGHES, Governor

3549

automobiles, highway structures, and damaged underground

utilities; and

WHEREAS, Alternatives must be studied to assure public
safety and the continued free flow of highway traffic with less
severe economic and environmental costs; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, That the
Department of Transportation is requested to study the economic
and environmental impact of using salt to remove ice from
highways, and to evaluate and recommend possible alternatives;
and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Department of Transportation report its
findings and recommendations to the General Assembly by December
31, 1986; and be it further

RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution be forwarded by the
Department of Legislative Reference to the Honorable William K.
Hellmann, Secretary, Department of Transportation, P. O. Box

8755, Baltimore Washington International Airport, Baltimore,

Maryland 21240.

Highway Deicing Salts and Chemicals - Effects
on Chesapeake Bay

FOR the purpose of establishing a task force to study the effects
on the Chesapeake Bay of salts and other chemicals used to
deice highways.

WHEREAS, The Chesapeake Bay is a natural resource of
inestimable value to the State and the nation; and

WHEREAS, This State has acknowledged the great importance of
the Chesapeake Bay by taking measures to restore and protect the
Bay, its tributaries, and adjacent lands; and

WHEREAS, Salts and other chemicals used to deice highways
may have a detrimental effect on soils, vegetation, and surface
water and groundwater supplies, thereby negating the positive
efforts made to clean up the Bay and to protect its delicate
ecosystem; and

WHEREAS, In order truly to protect the Chesapeake Bay, road
deicing chemicals with potentially serious negative impacts on
the Bay must be studied carefully and weighed against the
alternatives; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, That the
Legislative Policy Committee is requested to establish a task
force to study the effects on the Chesapeake Bay of salts and
other chemicals used to deice highways; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the task force be composed of: