Students, Rosapepe clash on ICC funding

A group of students argued unsuccessfully with a state senator about introducing legislation to strip funding from the planned ICC, a highway they said would be an environmental disaster and a drain on the state's finances.

About 20 students met yesterday with Sen. Jim Rosapepe (D - Anne Arundel and Prince George's), almost immediately drawing a contrast between the senator's environmental agenda and his unwillingness to try to stop the Intercounty Connector.

Rosapepe implied but did not outright say he doesn't support the ICC. Instead, he said he would not spend any of his time fighting a losing battle against a road already under construction.

"At this point, it's already being built, and in terms of environmental priorities, I think our efforts should go into things we can actually do," Rosapepe said.

The state has already spent about $80 million on the ICC, an 18-mile toll road intended to connect Laurel and Gaithersburg and relieve pressure from local roads. The project is slated to cost about $3.1 billion.

Davey Rogner, a senior environmental science major who helped organize the meeting with Rosapepe, was one of many students who said those billions should be spent elsewhere.

"With how much money is being poured into the ICC, there should be a greater priority and emphasis put on trying to defund the ICC in favor of other transit items," Rogner said.

But Rosapepe offered a pessimistic viewpoint on the feasibility of the students' suggestions.

"I believe the decision's over with," he said. "In a practical sense, I don't think that money will be available to other projects."

Yet students were undeterred. Citing state and federal highway studies, they said the ICC would increase driving in the region by as much as 700 million miles per year by 2030, noting this is at odds with Rosapepe's support for carbon emissions reductions.

"By funding the ICC, you're undercutting the environmental priorities you yourself support," said sophomore sociology major Ali Adler, a former opinion columnist for The Diamondback and campaign director for Clean Energy for UMD.

Rosapepe eventually offered to meet with the students again if they got broader legislative support, but said he didn't think they had a good chance.

"How are we going to win widespread support for this if everyone gives us the same answer?" countered Joanna Calabrese, senior vice president of the Student Government Association.

"You aren't, but it's the truth. You aren't going to like it, but it's the truth," responded an increasingly agitated Rosapepe. "I'm frustrating you, obviously, because I know you want me to say, 'Yes, yes, yes.' But you're frustrating to me because so many smart people are putting so much time and energy into a fight you can't win."

Rosapepe suggested the students at the meeting focus on other environmental initiatives, but that didn't make them any less interested in opposing the ICC.

Next week, several of the meeting's organizers will join state Del. Joseline Pena-Melnyk (D - Anne Arundel and Prince George's) in a rally at a State Highway Administration meeting to call for funding to be deferred from the ICC to other projects.

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