BALTIMORE, MD (June 22, 2007) – Secretary Shari T. Wilson named Brigid E. Kenney as planning director for the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) today. Ms. Kenney is a recognized leader with far-reaching expertise in state and federal environmental laws and regulations.

“Ms. Kenney’s 28 years of extensive environmental and regulatory experience and eight years of service to the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay position her well to lead the department’s planning functions and guide regulatory improvements” said Secretary Wilson. “She is a prime example of the Department’s ongoing effort to create a more efficient, and accountable, professionally-staffed state government.”

Effective August 6, Ms. Kenney will provide oversight of critically important planning issues to ensure safe drinking water supplies, adequate wastewater treatment capacity, maximizing development within priority funding areas, and emergency and homeland security preparedness.

She currently chairs the Board of Directors of the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, a regional nonprofit organization that builds partnerships to protect and to restore the Bay and its rivers. Prior to accepting the MDE planning position, Ms. Kenney was a partner in the environmental practice group of Venable LLP. Listed in “The Best Lawyers in America” for Environmental Law, Ms. Kenney was admitted to practice in Maryland and the District of Columbia. Ms. Kenney served on the Governor-appointed Hazardous and Toxic Substance Commission and chaired the Environmental Law Section of the Maryland State Bar Association.

“I can think of no better use of my education and experience than helping to develop a coordinated strategy to assure Maryland remains a great place to live,” said Ms. Kenney. “MDE has many tools, some of them new, to protect the environment while ensuring sustainable growth. I am very excited to be working with Secretary Wilson and the MDE team to develop a unified approach to these critical issues.”

Ms. Kenney received her J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law and a B.A. from Goucher College. Her history of community involvement includes service to The Children’s Guild and Fellowship House.

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