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.
Video: Are Farmers the Bad Guys?
When it comes to who’s responsible for polluting the Chesapeake Bay, farmers can feel singled out. Gerald Winegrad sets the record straight.
Agriculture: No. 1 Bay Polluter
(Posted by Gerald Winegrad.)
After 27 years of formal recovery efforts under the Bay Program, the Chesapeake Bay remains severely degraded and bay recovery is failing. About 90 percent of Bay waters remain impaired in clear violation of the Clean Water Act with collapsed fisheries, including oysters and shad. We have so poisoned our waters that reports abound of serious infections in humans who come in contact with Bay waters. Catfish in the South River have cancerous lesions and male bass from the Potomac are turning up with female egg sacs.
Agriculture and the Bay: What the Science Shows
(Posted by Ed Hatcher.)
Dear Bay Action Plan Readers,
Welcome to Day 1 of the Bay Action Plan’s month-long focus on Agriculture and the Bay: What the Science Shows.
Former Maryland state Senator Gerald Winegrad discusses how agriculture contributes to bay pollution:
See all our videos here.
Click to view a one-hour webinar on “Reaching Our Nutrient Reduction Allocations,” conducted by Dr. Russell B Brinsfield, and Dr. Ken Staver, both of the University of Maryland Wye Research and Education Center. (Webinar will open in a new window.)
Regulating Agriculture: Taking the Profit Out of Pollution
(Posted by Howard Ernst.)
Agricultural practices in the Bay region today remain grossly under-regulated, giving a tremendous economic advantage to those who pollute our waterways with environmentally irresponsible farming practices. Industrial agricultural production is the single biggest source of pollution to the Bay because the current rules (or lack of them) make this form of food production the most profitable. Sensible agricultural regulations level the playing field, take the profit out of pollution, and are absolutely essential to restore the Chesapeake Bay.
Who’s Watching the Watchers?
Posted by Fred Tutman.
Last week I had the edgy and unwelcome task of informing an elderly resident in Gambrills that our testing of her well water revealed huge amounts of Thallium, Barium and Aluminum. This was most likely caused by a nearby former coal waste disposal site. This gentle soul whom I suspect has lived in the same home and consumed the water there for her entire life, has lately been living with cases of bottled water sitting on her porch provided courtesy of some energy company.
But she still does not have justice.
Comparing Two Icons: Chesapeake Bay and the Great Barrier Reef
Posted by Bill Dennison.
The Integration and Application Network has been working with various groups in Queensland, Australia to produce an environmental report card for the Great Barrier Reef, modeled in some ways after the Chesapeake Bay report card. Comparisons between the two large ecosystems can be made and these comparisons can provide insight into both Chesapeake Bay and the Great Barrier Reef.
Septic Solution for a Cleaner Chesapeake Bay
Posted by Sen. Brian Frosh.
Some of the best minds—including the diverse group of scientists and policymakers who are signatories of the Chesapeake Bay Action Plan—have devoted decades of study to determine the causes of the Bay’s decline and remedies for its revival. (If you haven’t already, check out the no-nonsense 25-Step Action Plan tab at the top of this page.)
Part of the Plan is to rein in nitrogen that now seeps from septic systems into the Bay and our groundwater.
We’ll take a significant step toward limiting nitrogen if the General Assembly approves a proposal by Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley to ban future installations of septic systems in most new housing developments throughout the state.
“Smart Growth” in Maryland–Not So Smart
(Posted by Gerald Winegrad) No matter how one scores it, the Chesapeake Bay is still in trouble. We’ve done the easy things. Now, if we want to restore the bay and save our natural heritage, we must do the most difficult tasks. Among these critical elements are the necessity to limit population growth and related…
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.
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