Approaching the Chesapeake Bay Midpoint Assessment -- Part II

Mariah Davis

Mariah Davis

Amro Ali worked as an environmental engineer at the state and local government levels in North Carolina to enforce the laws and regulations that govern air and water quality. He holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in chemical engineering. He is currently pursuing his master’s degree in sustainability at Wake Forest University.
Melanie Benesh is a legislative attorney at the Environmental Working Group. She provides legislative and regulatory analysis of federal food, farm and chemical law. Full bio.
Michelle Bryan is a professor of Law at the University of Montana, and teaches in the school's Natural Resources & Environmental Law Program. Full bio.
Chanté Coleman is the Director for the Choose Clean Water Coalition, where she leads the Coalition’s work to protect the Chesapeake Bay by bringing together 200+ organizations in the watershed, which includes Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, New York, and the District of Columbia. She focuses on planning and development of grassroots/grasstops outreach, political strategy, federal policy and analysis, lobbying, media outreach, organizing conferences and workshops, research, writing and fundraising. Full bio.
Thomas Cluderay is general counsel at the Environmental Working Group. He leads EWG’s legal team and oversees all of the organization’s legal matters. He also works with the government affairs team to develop strategies for advancing EWG policy initiatives, represents EWG before lawmakers and other government bodies and provides regulatory and legislative analyses with an emphasis on public health, consumer protection and environmental policy. Full bio.
Mariah Davis is Field Manager of the Choose Clean Water Coalition. A Virginia native, she has led and executed clean water and climate action strategies to engage elected officials on the importance of protecting and sustaining programs most viable to the Chesapeake Bay. She strives to promote environmental justice to ensure overburdened communities share equitably in the benefits of clean water.
Kerry Darragh is a senior associate at The Hatcher Group, where she works with environmental and health care clients such as the Maryland Clean Agriculture Coalition, Behavioral Health Coalition of Maryland, American Rivers and Maryland Pesticide Education Network to help them achieve their policy and communications goals.
Elise Desiderio is a law student at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law.
Elizabeth Grossman is the author of Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry, High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health, and other books. Her work has appeared in a variety of publications including Scientific American, Salon, The Washington Post, The Nation, Mother Jones, Grist, and the Huffington Post. Chasing Molecules was chosen by Booklist as one of the Top 10 Science & Technology Books of 2009 and won a 2010 Gold Nautilus Award for investigative journalism.
Melissa Kelly is the staff director and attorney at the Center for Land, Environment, and Natural Resources (CLEANR).
Robert Meltz is Special Counsel at Defenders of Wildlife.
Monte Mills is an assistant professor of law and co-director, Margery Hunter Brown Indian Law Clinic at the University of Montana. Full bio.
Celeste Monforton joined the Milken Institute School of Public Health in 2006. She is a regular contributor to the "Pump Handle," a blog known as "a water cooler for the public health crowd." She continues her work in occupational health and maintains her ties to The George Washington University by serving as a professorial lecturer. Full bio.
Kevin Morris is a J.D. candidate at the University of Hawaii at Manoa William S. Richardson School of Law. He serves as a research assistant for CPR Member Scholar Maxine Burkett.
Alexi Nathan is a rising third-year law student studying environmental law and human rights at American University Washington College of Law.
Hari M. Osofsky is dean of Penn State Law and the Penn State School of International Affairs and Distinguished Professor of Law, professor of international affairs, and professor of geography. Dean Osofsky’s more than 50 publications focus on improving governance and addressing injustice in energy and climate change regulation.
Jarryd Page is an intern at the Center for Progressive Reform. Before interning at CPR, he earned a B.S. from the University of Maryland's Environmental Science & Policy Program in 2017. He has previously worked at National Geographic and served as Adjunct Lecturer at Marymount University. He also holds a B.A. in Art History from University of Wisconsin-Madison and an M.A. in Art History from the University of Kansas.
Eric Panicco is a candidate for Master of Arts in Sustainability at Wake Forest University. Full bio.
Shannon Roesler is a Professor of Law at the University of Oklahoma City School of Law. Before joining the law school faculty, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Deanell Reece Tacha on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. She was also a staff attorney and teaching fellow in the International Women’s Human Rights Clinic at Georgetown University Law Center and a visiting faculty member at the University of Kansas School of Law. University bio.
Michael Robinson-Dorn is the founding Director of the Environmental Law Clinic, Interim Director of the Center of Land, Environment, and Natural Resources (Winter 2018), and Clinical Professor of Law, at UC Irvine School of Law. He and his Clinic students represent clients on a wide range of environmental and natural resources matters, and have appeared on behalf of those clients in trial and appellate courts across the country. Full bio.
Vanessa Zboreak is a Professor of Practice at Wake Forest University School of Law. Her research centers around land use law as a public policy instrument, particularly state and local government land use policies influencing food systems, environmental justice, environmental health, sustainable communities, and demographic shifts. She received a B.A. from Grinnell College and a J.D. from Wake Forest. Full bio.

June 21, 2018

Yesterday in this space, I took a look at the progress that three Chesapeake Bay watershed states – New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia – have made in implementing their Watershed Implementation Plans (WIPs), on their way – perhaps – to meeting the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) pollution reduction targets for 2025. In this post, I'll take a look at Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC.

Delaware

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) is leading the WIP implementation effort in the state. The department has convened a Chesapeake Bay Interagency Workgroup made up of representatives from each DNREC Division, the Department of Agriculture, Department of Transportation, Office of State Planning Coordination, County Conservation Districts, and other stakeholders. The workgroup will focus on two selected sectors: agriculture and developed. They are responsible for recommending and reviewing sub-allocating methodologies to the various nonpoint sources within the basins, assessing current data tracking and reporting systems, and determining maximum implementation goals and methods to fill program funding gaps.

Prior to the Phase III WIP development, progress had been made to increase the acreage of forest and grass buffer best management practices, which have played a role in reducing nitrogen and phosphorus from the agriculture sector. While this process has been extremely slow, Delaware has made or exceeded BMP goals for tillage, wetlands, and bioretention.

One of the flaws of the Phase II WIP was lack of public engagement. All in all, citizens had little to no understanding of what the plans actually meant. Going into the next Phase of the WIP development, Delaware is planning to host public workshops in an effort to increase awareness around what watershed implementation plans mean. Once a plan for the Phase III WIP has been established, local government engagement initiatives may include working with municipalities on the stormwater infrastructure improvements, innovative landscape design, and living shoreline developments.

Moving forward, targeted local partners and contractors will need to be involved with public forums and discussions. DNREC has expressed a need for additional resources from the EPA to achieve expectations for milestones. Delaware is on track for Phase III WIP planning targets for phosphorus but is lagging on its nitrogen targets. Future stressors, such as population growth and climate change, must be analyzed to ensure permissible nutrient loads are not exceeded. During the development of the Phase III WIP, Delaware needs to ensure strong state best management practice verification plans and local government engagement in the WIP development to create clear numeric goals for localities.

Maryland

The state of Maryland has been actively engaged in the WIP development process. Every county in Maryland submitted a Phase II WIP addressing nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment reductions with a focus on the agriculture, forests, atmospheric deposition, septic, stormwater, and wastewater sectors. Past WIP processes have provided invaluable information about local conditions and capacity to reduce pollution. The plans submitted by the counties have identified specific opportunities to increase the rate of progress toward cleanup goals.

Advocates in Maryland would like to see a gap analysis from the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) clarifying where the state stands on meeting its goals for 2025. In order to meet Bay TMDL goals, MDE and local jurisdictions need to accelerate the pace of projects, as well as provide proper verification of well-maintained best management practices. In addition, Maryland needs to improve enforcement, adaptive management, and funding for execution of long-term improvements to water quality.

In an effort to increase awareness and engage the public during the next Phase of the WIP, the state has been hosting a series of regional workshops. These meetings are intended to inform participants about the Phase III WIP process, provide opportunities for questions and feedback, and promote interaction between local partners and state agencies. Presentations will be made by staff of the Maryland Departments of Agriculture, Environment, Natural Resources, and Planning on topics such as the Conowingo Dam, wastewater, agriculture, funding, and more.

During the Phase III WIP development, advocates would like to see MDE request that counties undertake a program assessment that builds on their local Phase II WIP as the first step in local Phase III WIP planning. Planning should include county planning targets to close the gap. Additional tools and technical assistance could also provide more guidance and assistance to counties during the development of the Phase III WIP. In addition, there is a need to fill vacancies within the MDE and other agencies involved in pollution reduction efforts. Funding constraints continue to be a barrier within the state and at the county level to achieve water quality goals.

Virginia

Localities in Virginia have lacked direction on how to best implement the WIPs and have expressed concerns to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The appointment of Ann Jennings, a long-time advocate for the Chesapeake and the former Chesapeake Bay Commission Virginia Director, to be Deputy Secretary of Natural Resources for DEQ has given advocates in Virginia reason to be optimistic about the future of WIP development in the state. Nonprofits in Virginia remain optimistic that the future of WIP development in the state will be successful with the new state leadership. Stakeholder groups have now convened under the new administration to prepare for local area planning goals.

This summer, the Local Government Advisory Committee to the Chesapeake Bay Executive Council is hosting a series of roundtables to hear from local elected officials. Each roundtable will include a facilitated discussion about the challenges, successes, and opportunities communities across the Commonwealth face in protecting and restoring waterways. The information provided will be shared with Virginia's leaders in order to foster a better understanding of the connection between local issues and priorities and the state's commitments to protecting downstream waters.

During the development of the Phase III WIP, Virginians are looking for more incentives and support from the state to guide and bolster implementation. A key goal for Phase III is to create local strategies rather than focusing on statewide goals. The conservation community will push to enforce non-regulatory goals that will ultimately be effective in guiding efforts to achieve water quality standards. Local area efforts could ultimately be seen as a tool to improve accountability and help guide financial investment for cost-share programs. Overall, connecting the WIP to local water quality is critically important.

Washington, DC

Unlike the other Chesapeake Bay jurisdictions, the District has limited space for farmland and green space. Much of the District is comprised of impervious surfaces from parking lots, large buildings, and sidewalks. Due to this, stormwater runoff continues to be the largest contributor to poor water quality entering DC's combined sewer system. Luckily, stormwater runoff is being mitigated through a variety of efforts to include new municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) permits, multi-sector general permits, federal facility stormwater compliance, wastewater treatment plant upgrades, and the stormwater reduction credit trading program. The District also has several outreach programs for residents designed to reduce stormwater contamination such as Canopy 3,000. This program was designed to expand the number of trees planted on private property and public spaces with a goal to cover 40 percent of the District with tree canopy by 2032. Each year, the District and its partners have continued to exceed annual planting goals of Canopy 3,000.

The nation's capital has a stringent MS4 permit issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which contains requirements for conversion of impervious surfaces to pervious surfaces through green infrastructure. This program is critical since federal facilities make up a large portion of impervious surface in the area. Federal facility compliance with stormwater requirements is a huge challenge in DC, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV), and their combined efforts will be essential to enable DC to meet its pollution goals by 2025. The lack of DC authority to compel the development of effective stormwater control plans by the agencies or enforce them presents an important opportunity to help hold those agencies accountable. Keeping track of contaminated stormwater runoff from new commercial facilities and dwelling units will be a focus of the upcoming WIP development.

Looking forward: Phase III WIP

The Chesapeake Bay TMDL midpoint assessment is expected to be released at any moment and will be a reflection of how far the Bay community has come in meeting our cleanup requirements. Continued support from local elected officials, members of Congress, businesses, nonprofits, and local communities is vital to achieving cleanup goals and to restoring the watershed to health. The region's economy and its people depend on these efforts to clean up its thousands of rivers and streams.

Approaching the Chesapeake Bay Midpoint Assessment -- Part II

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