The long-running effort to restore the Chesapeake Bay to health has reached a critical juncture. The current restoration effort known as the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for the Bay established 2017 as the first of two key deadlines. By then, the state and federal partners were to have in place 60 percent of all projects, practices, and policies needed to reach final pollution reduction targets by 2025.

Trading Away Clean Water Progress in Maryland, a joint publication from CPR and the Environmental Integrity Project, by CPR's Evan Isaacson and EIP's Abel Russ, with contributions from CPR's Rena Steinzor and Victor Flatt, December 2017.

December 18, 2017, Maryland's Pollution Trading Rules Risk Backsliding on Progress to Clean Up the Chesapeake Bay, New Report Finds

In recognition of the role that Maryland is playing as a case study for the rest of the nation on stormwater pollution abatement, CPR analyzed stormwater pollution control plans for Maryland’s 11 MS4 permit holders.

Missing the Mark in the Chesapeake Bay: A Report Card for the Phase I Watershed Implementation Plans, CPR White Paper 1102

Why are polluters getting discounts?, op-ed by Rena Steinzor

Joint letter to Benjamin Grumbles, Secretary, Maryland Department of the Environment, from CPR Member Scholar Rena Steinzor and others, urging prompt release of 2015 "Frosh Report," assessing the Department's enforcement activities.

Coalition letter to Maryland Department of the Environment Secretary Grumbles and Attorney General Frosh re downward trends in enforcement proceedings in Maryland.

Joint letter from Clean Water Coalition to Ben Grumbles, chair, Chesapeake Executive Council, re accounting for climate change, November 28, 2017.

Writing in the Bay Journal, David Flores focuses on Maryland's pollution permitting and its impact on the Chesapeake Bay

A short summary of key points from Trading Away Clean Water Progress in Maryland.

Darya Minovi's testimony before the Maryland House of Delegates Committee on Environment and Transportation in support of HB1312, a bill addressing Water Pollution Control, Discharge Permits, and Industrial Poultry Operations, March 4, 2020.

On the Center for American Progress website, Rena Steinzor writes that Maryland's Department is moving "ever so glacially toward developing enforceable standards for a key provision of the Clean Water Act."

CPR joined with other members of the Choose Clean Water Coalition in a letter urging the Maryland Department of the Environment to reconsider its proposal to award nutrient credits to the State Highway Administration that it can use toward its pollution reduction requirements under its Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4) permit.

CPR joined with other members of the Chespeake Accountability Project, urging the Maryland Department of the Environment to gather and share information about polluters' alleged inability to comply with permit requirements because of the coronavirus pandemic, and to ensure strong whistleblower protections.

In May 2020, CPR joined with other organizations from the Chesapeake Accountability Project in a letter to Maryland Secretary of the Environment Ben Grumbles urging increased transparency during the pandemic. Having received no response, the group wrote again to urge that all compliance waivers granted/denied & claims of force majeure related to COVID-19 be made public. The letter also reiterates the importance of MDE providing strong and clear notice to permit holders of its expectations during the pandemic.

CPR joined with the Members of the Choose Clean Water Coalition in comments on the draft Phase I MS4 permits for several Maryland jurisdictions, highlighting strengths and weaknesses.

CPR's close look at nitrate pollution in drinking water on Maryland's Eastern Shore raises serious safety concerns. According to county data in the region, tens of thousands of residents are drinking water with elevated nitrate levels, almost certainly due to animal waste from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) nearby. Moreover, the state's lax requirements for well water testing makes it impossible to know just how widespread the problem is.

Drawing on Tainted Tap: Nitrate Pollution, Factory Farms, and Drinking Water in Maryland and Beyond, the authors offer an action agenda for states to bolster their safe drinking water protections for residents who rely on well water.

Dangerous nitrate pollution has contaminated private drinking water wells and public water utilities in several regions across the United States, posing a significant threat to people's health. A recent Center for Progressive Reform (CPR) report indicates that this problem has reached Maryland's Lower Eastern Shore, an agricultural area that's home to hundreds of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) that house millions of chickens. In our January 25 webinar, participants heard from state legislators and an environmental health expert who are supporting legislative measures to provide greater protections for Maryland families who drink well water.

The Center for Progressive Reform joined other public interest organizations in testimony in support of Maryland House Bill 250 — the Private Well Safety Act of 2022.