Updated: 6/1/2024

When it rains, stormwater washes excess nutrients, chemicals, and dirt from impervious surfaces, such as buildings, roads, and parking lots into local waters and the Chesapeake Bay. Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s) permits are issued by the Maryland Department of Environment (“MDE”) to municipalities to ensure that stormwater pollution is regulated and to help reduce nutrient and sediment pollution pursuant to the Clean Water Act. CBF has worked with MDE for years on strengthening Phase I MS4 permits and have previously challenged prior Phase I MS4 permits in Maryland state courts. Phase I permits are issued to jurisdictions with populations over 100,000 under the Clean Water Act’s National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (“NPDES”).

In November 2021, MDE issued new MS4 permits to Baltimore City and Baltimore County. However, these permits fail to acknowledge greater precipitation volumes from climate change, continue to allow best management practices that do not result in improvements to local water quality, and will directly impact the ability of Maryland to meet its Blueprint goals.

As a result, in December 2021, we filed petitions in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City and the Circuit Court for Baltimore County seeking review of these MS4 permits on behalf of Blue Water Baltimore, CBF, and our members, along with specific members whose properties are directly impacted by flooding and overflows of polluted stormwater. Both the City and County filed Motions to Dismiss our cases claiming that CBF and our members lacked standing (or an injury in fact) to bring the claim.  After hearings were held in both cases, the City and County’s Motions to Dismiss were denied. Hearings on the merits were held in the respective Circuit Courts for Baltimore City and Baltimore County and both courts affirmed the MS4 permits issued by MDE and denied our request for the permits to be remanded back to MDE for further consideration.

CBF appealed these decisions to the Appellate Court of Maryland and the two cases were consolidated for briefing and arguments. Arguments were held on October 11, 2023, and on January 31, 2024, the Appellate Court issued a reported Opinion upholding the Judgments of the Circuit Courts for Baltimore County and Baltimore City.  CBF continues to evaluate how MS4 permits may be improved or enforced in a way that reduces flooding and stormwater pollution. 

CBF was represented in this matter by the Vice President of Litigation Paul Smail and Litigation’s Environmental Justice Staff Attorney Taylor Lilley.