Chesapeake Bay Action Plan
After decades of effort, the voluntary, collaborative approach to restoring the health and vitality of the Chesapeake Bay— the largest estuary in the United States—has not worked and, in fact, is failing.
A diverse group of 57 senior scientists and policymakers have joined forces to save the Bay. This is our plan.
Scientists, Lawmakers To Take the Plunge for Clean Water
(Posted by Jeanne McCann.)
A small group of the scientists, lawmakers, and other concerned citizens behind this blog are planning to jump into the Anacostia River this coming Thursday, June 30, 10 a.m., to mark the passing of yet another year that we as a nation have failed to meet the deadline set by the Clean Water Act to have all rivers fishable and swimmable by July 1, 1983.
The Anacostia River Plunge
(Posted by Howard Ernst.)
For the last decade I have written, talked, and sometimes even done things to promote clean water in the Chesapeake Bay region and beyond. But one thing I have always refused to do was to participate in that unique Chesapeake Bay tradition known as “the wade-in.”
The practice was made popular by my good friend and trusted ally, former Maryland State Sen. Bernie Fowler, who has conducted his wade-in for more than two decades. As regular as the fish that return to the Bay each spring, on the second Sunday in June, Sen. Fowler and his followers return to the banks of the Patuxent to see how far they can walk in the water before their shoes become obscured by the thick flow of agricultural pollution, mud, and sewage that plague that troubled river. Politicians make speeches, friends are acknowledged for their hard work, and Bernie loses sight of his feet at about 30 inches (never much different than the year before).
Pollution and the Chesapeake Bay
Howard Ernst, political science professor, scholar and author of Chesapeake Bay Blues: Science, Politics, and the Struggle to Save the Bay, recently sat down with local photographer David Joyner to discuss chicken farms as major polluters, why Pennsylvania is such a political nightmare and what is really killing the Chesapeake Bay.
A Riverkeeper Reflects
(Posted by Jeanne McCann.)
Local photographer David Joyner interviews Riverkeeper Fred Tutman about his rural roots, growing up on a farm, how he came to be the Patuxent Riverkeeper and the specific pollution issues facing the Patuxent River and the Chesapeake Bay, and his life as an environmental activist.
Fred Tutman, Riverkeeper from david joyner on Vimeo.
“Death by a Thousand Cuts”: Chesapeake Bay’s Disappearing Shoreline
(This is the first in a series of reviews of notable films that we feel should be part of any card-carrying environmental activist’s toolkit. We’ve chosen films that we think have made an important contribution to understanding the challenges facing restoration of the Chesapeake Bay. We kick off with a look back at Michael English’s 2008 gem, “Weary Shoreline.” -Eds.)
(Posted by John D. Wickham.)
Coastal Maryland, encompassing the state’s capital, Annapolis, the counties of Anne Arundel, Talbot, and Dorchester, and still other areas, is one of the most beautiful natural landscapes in the United States, whose rivers and tributaries feed into the nation’s largest estuary, the Chesapeake Bay. Though picturesque, this border area where land and sea meet has been under relentless pressure from human population growth and real estate development in the last three decades. Estimates put Southern Maryland’s loss of forest cover at more than 160,000 acres in the last fifteen years.
Return of the Chesapeake Bay Pop Quiz
(Posted by Gerald Winegrad.)
Question: What are just some of the consequences of unchecked agricultural runoff in the Chesapeake Bay?
Answer: Skin-devouring diseases, destroyed oyster bars, and severely degraded water quality.
Some Inconvenient Truths About the Chesapeake Bay
(Posted by Jeanne McCann.)
Settle in, grab some popcorn, put your feet up and prepare to be outraged when you hear what former Maryland State Sen. Gerald Winegrad, architect of the 25-step Chesapeake Bay Action Plan, has to say in this excellent public presentation at Quiet Waters Park, Annapolis, Maryland, on May 19, 2011.
The Pollution Diet and Environmental Arbitrage
(Posted by Bob Gallagher.)
After decades of dissembling and broken promises, the President’s Executive Order 13508 and the implementing “pollution diet” proposed by the EPA represent the best chance we have had in a generation to actually start cleaning up the bay. It shouldn’t come as a surprise then that corporate polluters have ramped up their opposition to the pollution diet to unprecedented levels to include massive spending on media advertising, lobbying, campaign contributions, litigation and scientific dirty tricks.
We are senior Chesapeake Bay scientists and policymakers from Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania who have concluded that after decades of effort, the voluntary, collaborative approach to restoring the health and vitality of the largest estuary in the United States has not worked and, in fact, is failing. Our group unanimously recommends that all states draining into the Chesapeake Bay adopt our 25 action items in their Watershed Implementation Plans (WIP) and implement them to improve the Bay’s water quality and to meet the requirements of the Clean Water Act.
Sign up for news & updates from Patuxent Riverkeeper