Rural Internet access slowed (MD Eastern Shore)

The Washington Times ^ | 3-10-08 | Kristen Wyatt

[JZelle]

ANNAPOLIS (AP) — A $10 million plan to bring less-expensive high-speed Internet access to rural parts of Maryland is on hold because of a bureaucratic dispute that critics say is a case of red tape getting in the way of progress.

State lawmakers voted two years ago to set aside the money to build a "spine" of fiber-optic cable in three rural regions of the state — Southern Maryland, the Eastern Shore and Western Maryland — where Internet-service providers don't always provide high-speed access.

At the time, supporters said the Maryland Broadband Cooperative would bring big-city Internet access to underserved parts of the state, which would attract high-tech businesses and allow more rural Marylanders to work from home.

The money was set aside, politicians trumpeted the initiative and about 100 miles of cable were laid. Workers laid cable from Wallops Island, 42 miles south of Salisbury, on the Eastern Shore, up to Dorchester County on the way to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

But work stopped last fall at the Choptank River in Cambridge because the Maryland Department of the Environment told the cooperative it would need wetlands permits to cross the river. Though the cooperative is quasi-governmental, and the cable was to be laid along an existing bridge, not under the Choptank or through undeveloped land, environmental officials declared a $1-a-foot annual permit would be needed.

[Abby4116]

Doesn’t surprise me. Remember this legislature under this governor put a tax on computer services, thereby making Maryland an unattractive state in which to do business in the computer industry. Southern Maryland, Eastern Shore, Western Maryland - Republican areas all.

[Heatseeker]

Can you ping your Delmarva list?

[Rick.Donaldson]

At least they are keeping it on fiber and not trying to push in broadband over powerlines (BPL) - which ought to simply be put to rest because of its inherent interference.

[Gabz]

DelMarVa PING!!!!!!!!

Abby4116 nails it exactly - payback from the O’Malley regime...............

[Pyro7480]

Banish Howard, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Prince George’s, and Montgomery County and make them part of DC!

[freepertoo]

I live a half hour beyond the Bay Bridge on the Eastern Shore. Right now, we use an exorbitantly expensive satellite dish. The salt in the wound is that the only technical help we can get (and we need it often) is based in India. They’re very nice people, but we cannot understand a word any of them say. Frustrating isn’t the word for it.

[Tijeras_Slim]

I think the Va part would be wiser to work on that indoor plumbing thing first. :)

[Gabz]

Works for me! How ‘bout adding some parts of NoVa to the mix.......that would leave the rest of us to enact commonsense things.....

[Gabz]

EHEM.........excuse me, dear..........

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

But work stopped last fall at the Choptank River in Cambridge because the Maryland Department of the Environment told the cooperative it would need wetlands permits to cross the river. Though the cooperative is quasi-governmental, and the cable was to be laid along an existing bridge, not under the Choptank or through undeveloped land, environmental officials declared a $1-a-foot annual permit would be needed.

Maryland "Freak State" PING!