Press Statement

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) is applauding Pennsylvania House passage of House Bill 1166 on Tuesday, which prohibits the supply, sale, and application of coal tar sealants containing high amounts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) on driveways or parking lots. The measure was sponsored by Rep. Mandy Steele (D-Allegheny).

Scientific research has found that high PAHs from sealants can pose significant risks to the health of humans, pets, and wildlife.

According to a study in the American Chemical Society’s Environmental Science and Technology, people living near pavement sealed with coal tar can be exposed to PAHs in soils and household dust at concentrations found to elevate the risk of lung, skin, bladder, respiratory, and urinary tract cancers.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reports that children younger than six years old are particularly at risk.

In fish populations, PAHs in runoff have been found to cause lesions, liver abnormalities, tumors, and decreased juvenile growth. A study in Washington State found that seven months post-application, runoff from coal tar sealed areas killed 55 percent of juvenile salmon within 96 hours.

PAHs also contaminate the air. Newly coal tar-sealed pavement rapidly volatilizes into the air, raising the risk of human, pet, and wildlife exposure. The USGS reports that three to eight years post-application, PAH releases to ground level atmosphere from sealed parking lots was an average of 60 times higher than unsealed pavement.

CBF Pennsylvania Executive Director Julia Krall issued this statement applauding passage of House Bill 1166. It now proceeds to the Senate for consideration.

“The health concerns of coal tar-based sealants are so great that communities across the United States have banned or restricted their use.

“Twelve states and Washington D.C. have enacted bans, and 17 others have restrictions on its use. CBF helped to champion a bill banning coal tar sealants that passed the Virginia General Assembly and will become effective in July.

“We thank legislators in the House for passing House Bill 1166 to protect the health, wellbeing, and quality of life for all Pennsylvanians. This decision is also good for our local waters. We urge members of the Senate to do the same.”

New EPA limits on greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from dirty power plants will help our region fight climate change and its effects, reduce excess nitrogen polluting the Bay and its tributaries, and protect people’s health from dangerous air pollution.  

The GHG standards were one of four new rules aimed at cleaning up the power sector that EPA Administrator Michael Regan announced this morning. The carbon emissions standards apply to existing coal-fired power plants and new power plants that burn natural gas.  

Power plants are the second largest source of domestic GHG emissions. Damage caused by climate change impact such as extreme weather, sea level rise, and “sunny day” flooding are already wreaking havoc on the Bay ecosystem and communities across our region. But environmental justice communities, which are more likely to be located in low-lying areas and lack tree cover than other neighborhoods, bear a disproportionately heavy burden.  

Lower carbon emissions limits will also improve air quality by reducing other pollutants power plants emit, such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide, and soot. Dirty power plants, like other sources of harmful pollution, are disproportionately sited near environmental justice communities where residents already experience high rates of heart and lung conditions. Reducing emissions of these other pollutants should better protect the health of vulnerable communities. 

Reducing NOx emissions can also help clean up the Bay and its waterways. Roughly one-third of excess nitrogen in our waters comes from the air. Power plants that burn fossil fuels produce half the nitrogen pollution responsible for creating algae blooms that spawn oxygen-deprived dead zones that suffocate underwater grasses, crabs, fish, and other marine life in the Bay and its tributaries.  

Chesapeake Bay Foundation Federal Director Keisha Sedlacek issued the following statement: 

“The Bay region is ground zero for the destructive effects of climate change. EPA’s new limits on carbon emissions from dirty power plants are a welcome tool in the fight to mitigate climate change and the damage it is already doing to our local communities and the Bay ecosystem. 

“Reducing carbon emissions will also ratchet down emissions of other dangerous pollutants like nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and soot. Cleaner air is especially important to safeguard the health of people living closest to these harmful polluters. Lower nitrogen emissions can also help restore water quality in the Bay and its tributaries. 

“The Chesapeake Bay Foundation commends EPA for taking this important step toward cleaning up the power sector. We urge the agency to move quickly to the next step of tackling air pollution from the country’s many existing gas-fired plants.” 

Maryland Takes Action for Environmental Education

In a win for Maryland students this Earth Day, Governor Wes Moore signed an executive order to establish the Maryland Outdoor Learning Partnership. The program will strengthen Maryland’s commitment to environmental literacy and expand access to nature for all students.

Led by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and Maryland State Department of Education, and in collaboration with nonprofits like Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), the Maryland Outdoor Learning Partnership will drive ambitious statewide initiatives focused on climate education and equity. Research shows that outdoor learning helps students improve resilience, problem solving, critical thinking, leadership, and teamwork, and leads to higher test scores and stronger engagement in school.

The executive order declares Maryland’s commitment to implementing the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future and the shared priorities of the Chesapeake Bay Program. That includes enhanced climate curriculum and allocated time for students to engage outdoors in their local environments.

Tom Ackerman, CBF Vice President for Environmental Education, said in a statement:

“Governor Moore and his administration’s continued commitment to environmental education will help us leave Maryland better than we found it. Humanity’s future, currently threatened by climate change, relies on how we educate the next generation of environmental problem solvers. This must include support for our teachers and school systems, both financially and through professional development.

“Through our education program, CBF has provided meaningful watershed experiences for over 50 years to more than 1.5 million students, teachers, and other participants. There’s nothing like getting a student learning outside on the water. It’s proven time and time again to not only teach key skills, but also spark a lasting love for the Bay. It’s something every student in Maryland deserves to experience. 

“CBF is proud to be a member of the Partnership, where we’ll work alongside other nonprofits and state agencies to keep Maryland at the forefront of environmental education.” 

Tree Canopy Expansion Cited as Critical to Meeting Climate Change Targets

An association representing hundreds of Washington, D.C.-area local and state leaders adopted a new regional tree canopy goal April 11, signaling tree cover as a natural asset to achieve sustainable, equitable, and healthier communities.  

Officials with the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) set a minimum target of maintaining 50 percent tree canopy coverage across the metropolitan Washington region. The COG is comprised of 300 elected officials from 24 local governments, the Maryland and Virginia state legislatures, and U.S. Congress. 

COG cited the objective as critical to their work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. While many localities have established tree canopy targets, this goal, COG officials said, can support progress toward regional targets. 

According to COG, in 2023, Chesapeake Bay Program data indicated that an estimated 49.6 percent of the region’s 2.2 million acres of land was covered by tree canopy, down from 51.3 percent coverage in 2014. COG experts noted that an average of 4,383 acres of tree canopy are lost each year in the region due to development and other factors. If this trend continues through 2050, COG noted that the region’s tree canopy coverage would drop to 44.4 percent. 

In Virginia alone, development, hotter wildfires, road widenings, invasive species, and increased energy infrastructure have all contributed to a net loss of 9,548 acres of urban and forest canopy between 2014 and 2018. 

Ann Jurczyk, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Virginia Manager for Urban Restoration, issued the following statement:

“Trees are indispensable, free, natural infrastructure. We applaud this much needed aspirational goal to not only reduce pollution and protect communities against climate change threats, but also support healthier neighborhoods, property values, and equity goals.” 

Julieta Rodrigo, CBF’s Urban & Community Resilience Manager in Maryland, issued the following statement: 

“Tree canopies are particularly important in urban landscapes like the DC area that have more impervious surface—keeping streets cooler and communities more resilient against the effects of climate change.” 

Talbot County Council agreed yesterday to review the Lakeside at Trappe development project at each phase of development.

The proposal for additional oversight (Resolution 338, Amendment No.1) passed at the Council’s April 9 meeting, enabling Talbot County to ensure the project’s progress is consistent with the county’s comprehensive plan and minimizes harm to the surrounding environment and community. 

For years, Eastern Shore residents have sought assurance from local leaders that the project will not negatively impact schools, roads, emergency services, and other investments paid for by taxpayers. The council’s action demonstrates that county leaders share those concerns. It also aligns local oversight with state wastewater permit requirements, which include a major permit modification for any future expansion at Lakeside. 

Last year in Talbot County Circuit Court, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) challenged Lakeside’s wastewater permit issued by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE). Ruling in favor of MDE, the court cited the agency’s broad discretion to set and administer wastewater permit terms, even though CBF provided evidence that those terms violate state and federal law.

CBF appealed the decision in September and legal briefs were filed with the Appellate Court of Maryland earlier this year. The briefs describe how MDE’s permit for Lakeside does not ensure compliance with state water quality standards and could further degrade Talbot County’s streams, rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay.

The current discharge permit enables Lakeside to spray about 100,000 gallons per day of treated wastewater onto farm fields, an amount generated by an estimated 400 homes. MDE originally proposed to permit discharges up to 540,000 gallons per day, but that volume was scaled back after MDE received immense pushback from the community, CBF, and other groups. 

More than 100 homes have already been constructed at Lakeside, which are being served by Trappe’s existing sewage treatment plant until the new spray irrigation system that is being constructed comes online. Concerns remain over that system, which is planned to treat the waste from more than 2,000 additional homes yet to be built. The review provisions adopted by the county council this week provide additional oversight of the impacts Lakeside may cause to the community and the environment. 

CBF’s Maryland Advocacy Director Alan Girard said in a statement: 

“Lakeside is no longer being left up to chance. Talbot County Council’s decision to conduct limited oversight of the project is a positive step to protect residents and the environment. 

“The authority to periodically review Lakeside will give county officials an essential opportunity to evaluate the project’s impacts to the environment and public investments like schools, roads, and emergency services. 

“Questions remain over whether plans to spray treated wastewater from the project on farm fields will result in zero discharge of nitrogen to local waterways, as the Maryland Department of the Environment claims. Citizens, businesses, and CBF members who have long sought greater oversight for Lakeside appreciate the Talbot County Council’s decision to provide it.”

 

EPA released tighter tailpipe limits on greenhouse gases today that require automakers to by 2032 make the largest gross reduction of greenhouse gas emissions ever required in the United States by a single rule. 

The new standards cover passenger cars, SUVs, pickup trucks, and some heavier commercial vehicles manufactured from model year 2027 to model year 2032. They also clamp down on tailpipe emissions of smog-forming ozone, soot, and nitrogen oxides (NOx). 

Roughly one-third of excess nitrogen in the Bay and its tributaries comes from the air, much it of in the form of NOx from vehicle exhaust and fossil fuel-fired power plants. When airborne NOx is deposited into waters, it fuels the growth of agal blooms that block sunlight and absorb oxygen that underwater grasses, crabs, oysters, fish and other marine species need to live.

Auto emissions can be especially damaging to local waterways and people living near busy roads because the pollution does not travel far from its source. Communities of color and low-income communities are more likely than affluent white neighborhoods to be located near busy roadways. Environmental justice communities also suffer disproportionately from heart and lung disease.

Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) Federal Director Keisha Sedlacek issued the following statement:

“Cutting carbon and nitrogen emissions from vehicles is essential to a cleaner Bay, more resilient local waterways, and healthier communities across our region. We can already see how the damaging effects of climate change and dirty air are taking their toll.

“Sea-level rise and more frequent, intense storms threaten low-lying cities such as Annapolis, Md., and Hampton Roads, Va. Rising temperatures mean unpredictable growing seasons for Pennsylvania farmers. And vehicle exhaust deposits excess nitrogen into the Bay and its tributaries as it chokes under-resourced communities near congested highways in Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

“The Chesapeake Bay Foundation welcomes EPA’s stronger tailpipe emission limits on greenhouse gases and other pollutants. They are an important tool in the fight against climate change impacts and unhealthy air that already plague too many of our region’s 19 million people.”

The Maryland Board of Public Works approved the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF)’s donation of Holly Beach Farm to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the agency announced yesterday.

Holly Beach Farm is an extremely unique, ecologically valuable, 293-acre waterfront property in Anne Arundel County. CBF had stewarded the property for over two decades for environmental education and habitat conservation. It will soon be transferred to DNR for future protection, restoration, and access.

In response to the Board of Public Works approval, Hilary Harp Falk, CBF’s President and CEO, stated:

“Over the last twenty years, with generous support from donors and like-minded organizations, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation has had the privilege of stewarding its part of Holly Beach Farm through significant investment in maintenance, restoration, and educational programming. We are so pleased that the State of Maryland has stepped forward with its tremendous resources to continue the conservation and management of this special natural area. We thank the Gately family for preserving this jewel of the Chesapeake and the Moore administration for their continued leadership in protecting, and making accessible, Maryland’s tremendous natural resources.”

Bipartisan legislation to extend programs essential to Bay restoration and other regional conservation efforts across the country cleared the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee today by unanimous voice vote. 

The America’s Conservation Enhancement (ACE) Reauthorization Act would extend and set funding levels through fiscal year 2030 for the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program, the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Chesapeake Watershed Investments for Landscape Defense (WILD) grant program, and the National Park Service’s Chesapeake Gateways program.

The bill, introduced by Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), would also extend the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s ability to administer the Chesapeake Bay Program’s three grant programs and the Chesapeake WILD grants. 

Chesapeake Bay Foundation Federal (CBF) Direct Keisha Sedlack issued the following statement: 

“CBF is encouraged by the vote to send the ACE Reauthorization Act to the Senate floor. We hope the committee’s broad backing for protecting precious natural resources like the Chesapeake Bay  ecosystem signals this legislation will enjoy similar support among all senators.   

“The bill would help ensure federal partners in the cleanup can continue to provide robust support for initiatives that improve water quality, reduce polluted runoff, restore essential wildlife habitat, and introduce more people to the wonders of the Bay ecosystem. 

“CBF is grateful to Chairman Carper and Ranking Member Capito for their bipartisan commitment to reauthorizing the ACE Act and thank committee members Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and John Fetterman (D-Pa.) for voting for the bill. We now call on House Bay champions to keep their companion legislation moving forward as well.” 

Explore examples of projects funded by these programs from the six Bay states and DC. 

Chesapeake Bay Watershed Task Force Co-Chairs Reps. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), Bobby Scott (D-Va.), and John Sarbanes (D-Md.) have introduced a trio of bills to reauthorize three federal programs essential to restoring the Bay and its tributaries, conserving wildlife habitat, and boosting public access to this national treasure. 

The bills are similar to the Bay-related provisions in the America’s Conservation Enhancement (ACE) Reauthorization Act introduced in the Senate last month. The bipartisan ACE Reauthorization Act would extend conservation programs nationwide.

The three-bill House package would extend the Chesapeake Bay Program, Chesapeake WILD grants, and the Chesapeake Gateways program from fiscal year 2025 through fiscal year 2030.

EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program would be reauthorized at $100 million annually. The Program, which coordinates the multi-agency federal-state cleanup partnership, is currently funded at $92 million.  

Roughly two-thirds of its annual budget goes to grant programs that leverage local matching dollars to fund projects to control polluted runoff from urban, suburban, agricultural lands; restore streams, wetlands, and riparian buffers, establish oyster reefs, protect forests, and reconnect local waterways for fish passage. 

The Chesapeake Watershed Investments for Landscape Defense (WILD) matching grant program would be renewed at $15 million annually. It was created in 2020 in the original ACE Act to support wildlife habitat conservation projects and provide technical and planning help to local partners. It is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and currently funded at $8 million. 

Finally, the legislation would extend the National Park Service’s Chesapeake Gateways and Water Trails Network and Chesapeake Gateways Grants and Assistance program at $6 million annually, double the level of $3 million annually. 

The Chesapeake Gateways Program helps preserve and enhance access to public lands, historic sites, trails, parks, wildlife refuges, and museums in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. 

Together the Chesapeake Bay Program, Chesapeake WILD grants, and the Chesapeake Gateways Program have funded numerous projects in the six Bay states and the District of Columbia. See list below for examples. 

Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) Federal Director Keisha Sedlacek issued the following statement: 

“CBF is excited to see bipartisan momentum building to extend federal programs that improve water quality, wildlife habitat, and public access to the Bay and its tributaries. 

“EPA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service are essential partners in the multi-state, multi-agency Bay restoration effort. They provide federal dollars to fund local conservation projects across the six Bay states and the District of Columbia. 

“We are entering a new phase in the Bay cleanup. These bills are an important step toward ensuring our federal partners have the tools they need to meet the coming challenges. CBF thanks Reps. Rob Wittman, Bobby Scott, and John Sarbanes for their leadership and urges the House to act quickly on this important Bay legislation.” 

See list of examples below:

Maryland

• $75,000 Chesapeake WILD grant to Baltimore Green Space, which will provide $30,600 in matching funds, to engage underserved communities to expand habitat for imperiled pollinators and gather data on bumble bees as an indicator species across 12 properties in Baltimore City.
• $445,400 Chesapeake Bay Program grant to the Chesapeake Conservancy, which will put up $392,700 in matching funds, to support community-led conservation crews in Baltimore City, Prince Georges County, and Howard County in planting trees, restoring native habitats, and other projects chosen by the communities.
• $150,000 Chesapeake Gateways grant to Baltimore County to support a Spanish-speaking Park Ranger and develop Spanish-language signage and informational materials at Marshy Point Nature Center and Loch Raven Fishing Center.

Pennsylvania

• $546,500 Chesapeake WILD grant to Ruffed Grouse Society, which will provide $611,700 in matching funds, to improve 1,600 acres of ruffed grouse habitat along the Kittatinny Ridge in central Pennsylvania.
• $75,000 Chesapeake Bay Program grant to the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, which would put up $75,000, to work with members of the Dairy Farmers of America to complete six agricultural conservation plans to help improve water quality in south-central Pennsylvania.
• $150,000 Chesapeake Gateways grant to the Susquehanna National Heritage Area to create an education center and heritage park focused on the area’s role in the Underground Railroad and the Civil War.

Virginia

• $750,000 Chesapeake WILD grant to the Rappahannock Tribe of Virginia, which will provide $2.85 million in matching funds, to acquire 700 acres of ancestral lands along the Rappahannock River and apply the tribe’s traditional stewardship practices to reforesting the land and improving biodiversity. 
• $252,500 Chesapeake Bay Program grant to Trout Unlimited, which will put up $90,000 in matching funds, to bolster eastern brook trout populations in the Upper North Fork of the Shenandoah River.
• $149,500 Chesapeake Gateways grant to the James River Association to develop curriculum and teacher resources to connect fifth-grade students in 21 Hampton City elementary schools to nature and the city’s Native American and African American culture. 

West Virginia

• $275,900 Chesapeake WILD grant to the Cacapon and Lost Rivers Land Trust, which will provide $1.38 million in matching funds, to work with hunt clubs to protect 1,000 acres of critical habitat for Eastern brook trout, freshwater mussels, several endangered species, and 60 other species of greatest conservation need.
• $500,000 Chesapeake Bay Program grant to Trout Unlimited, which will contribute $409,500 in matching funds, to reconnect one and half miles of brook trout habitat and another mile of streamside forest habitat in the Spruce Knob Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area. 
• $110,000 Chesapeake Gateways grant to the Jefferson County Parks and Recreation Commission to develop a master plan for Moulton Park and its 82-acre expansion that includes recreation and public access, native species protection, soil conservation, and forest regeneration.

Delaware

• $50,000 Chesapeake Bay Program grant to the Nanticoke Watershed Alliance to develop a stormwater management strategy to meet Delaware’s pollution-reduction goals in the Nanticoke River watershed.
• $177,600 Chesapeake Bay Program grant to Delaware Wild Lands, which will provide $130,600 in matching funds to restore 25 acres of native forest and meadow habitat and nearly half a mile of streamside habitat in the Great Cypress Swamp.

New York

• $73,700 Chesapeake WILD grant to the Research Foundation for the State University of New York (SUNY) on behalf of SUNY-Oneonta to develop a plan to evaluate potential habitats needed to rebuild brook floater mussel populations in the Susquehanna River.
• $140,600 Chesapeake Bay Program grant to Trout Unlimited, which will provide $70,000 in matching funds, to open 2.8 miles of high-quality brook trout habitat in the Wylie Brook watershed.

Washington, D.C. 

• $180,000 Chesapeake Bay Program grant to the D.C. Department of Energy and Environment, which would provide $16,300 in matching funds, to engage local environmental justice communities in planning, preparing, and financing sanitary sewage system corrections to reduce discharges sewer system overflows in the Anacostia River watershed.
• $147,600 Chesapeake Gateways grant to the Friends of the National Arboretum to involve diverse local communities in the Anacostia River watershed in volunteer opportunities at the Arboretum. 

Important programs that fund Bay restoration and recovery work were spared from budget cuts in the fiscal year 2024 appropriations deal the House of Representatives passed today by a vote of 339-85. 

The six-bill package would fund EPA, the Interior Department, the Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Army Corps Engineers, among other agencies, through the end of fiscal 2024. It still must pass the Senate and be signed into law by President Biden to take effect.

EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program, which coordinates the sprawling federal-state partnership to clean up the Bay and its waterways, would continue to be funded at $92 million through the end of fiscal 2024. About two-thirds of the Program’s annual budget funds grants for local cleanup projects in the six Bay states and the District of Columbia.

The Chesapeake Watershed Investments for Landscape Defense (WILD) grant program would have its current funded level of $8 million extended through the rest of fiscal 2024. Administered by the Fish and Wildlife Service, this competitive grant program supports community-led initiatives to restore and conserve fish and wildlife habitat across the Bay’s 64,000 square-mile watershed. 

The budget deal would also keep Army Corps of Engineers funding for large-scale oyster recovery efforts in Maryland and Virginia at $6.45 million. Both states are on track to finish projects restoring native oyster populations in 11 Bay tributaries (five in Maryland and six in Virginia) by the 2025 deadline set in the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement. 

In a win for Bay fisheries, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service would get $500,000 to control invasive blue catfish that are wreaking havoc on native species in the Bay. The department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service would get up to $1 million to inspect wild-caught invasive blue catfish.

USDA’s Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program is slated to receive $3 million for grants to wild-caught catfish processors, to make it easier to bring these fish to market. The deal also includes language encouraging the federal government to purchase wild-caught catfish. 

Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) Federal Director Keisha Sedlacek issued the following statement: 

“CBF is glad to see important programs that improve water quality, protect wildlife habitat, and support oyster restoration in the Bay and its tributaries spared from detrimental funding cuts. The Bay states are entering a new phase of the cleanup effort. Chesapeake Bay restoration programs need reliable funding from federal partners to tackle the challenges to come. 

“We are also pleased Congress recognized the urgent need to control invasive blue catfish before they overwhelm the native fisheries that anchor our region’s economy and culture. 

“CBF appreciates the hard work negotiating this legislation by lawmakers including House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Appropriations Chairwoman Kay Granger (R-Tex.), House Appropriations Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Senate Appropriations Ranking Member Susan Collins (R-Maine), and House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Andy Harris (R-Md.).”