Maryland
Chesapeake Bay is ‘getting cleaner,’ but EPA official says there’s still work to do – WTOP News
A new environmental report says “incremental progress” has been made across the entire Chesapeake Bay watershed.
The clock is ticking on a 2025 deadline for a cleaner Chesapeake Bay, and while some regional spots have not fully met their goals, an EPA official said “overall, things are moving in the right direction.”
Every two years, the Chesapeake Bay Program — a partnership between Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York and West Virginia — issues a “milestone report” to document progress on its bay cleanup goals.
According to the latest report, there’s “incremental progress” across the entire Chesapeake Bay watershed.
But Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz told WTOP there are some standout signs of progress: “The University of Maryland put out a report a month ago, and our report confirms that Pennsylvania farmers have been stepping up. And the water has been getting cleaner in that upstream area.”
Ortiz was referring to the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and Watershed Report Card released in July. That report card gave the bay a C+, the highest grade since 2002.
Progress by Pennsylvania is important, said Ortiz, because, “that means that the downstream area’s cleaner.”
“We’re seeing improvements in the Chesapeake Bay,” he said, adding that the impact oysters, mussels and the bay grasses have been critical to the health of the bay.
Ortiz said in the past, there was a “blame game” among jurisdictions, and that Pennsylvania had been singled out.
Pennsylvania has invested more than $200 million toward reducing pollution into the bay, he said. The state has also passed a bill that sets standards on the use of fertilizer, which contributes to creating algal blooms that can generate “dead zones” in the bay.
Virginia and Maryland have made progress, said Ortiz, adding that, “In Virginia, they have fully funded their farm conservation programs, Maryland has had a very robust program for a long time.”
“I also don’t want to be Pollyannaish about it. We still have some work to do,” he said. “The toughest area is the area where most of us live. So, these are the urban and suburban areas.”
“Everybody can do something. Native plants help on our lawns, reducing or eliminating our use of fertilizers, and trying to control stormwater coming from our gutters or our driveways can also help in these more suburban areas here in the DMV,” Ortiz added.
When asked about favorite areas and where he’s personally noted progress, Ortiz mentioned Terrapin Run Nature Park on Kent Island and the Anacostia River: “I’m a big fan of all the improvements on the Anacostia River. Kingman Island is a real success story.”
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Maryland schools made nation-leading strides in their recovery from students’ learning loss in the pandemic, data show.
Maryland schools made nation-leading strides in their recovery from students’ learning loss in the pandemic, according to new data.
They ranked third in the nation in their students’ reading recovery rates, and were fifth in math recovery, according to the 2025 Education Scorecard from Harvard and Stanford Universities and Dartmouth College.
D.C. led the U.S. in math and reading recovery.
The data was presented at the Maryland State Board of Education meeting Thursday.
Trish Brennan-Gac, executive director of literacy nonprofit Maryland READS, said the state board is correct to celebrate gains in reading, but proficiency is “nowhere near where we need to be.”
“It is not that we are No. 3-ranked in reading proficiency,” she told WTOP. “It’s a rate of change, and we are making a faster rate of change,” than most school districts nationally.
Brennan-Gac was at the meeting to ask that the state board consider ways to reduce the use of technology in classroom instruction and support a return to print and textbooks in schools.
“This is no longer a fringe concern. It is a growing movement, and it’s not about social media and phones,” she told the board.
Brennan-Gac said the board and Maryland schools superintendent Carey Wright can take a “visible meaningful leadership role.”
“You can develop transition guidance and funding pathways for districts that are ready to move now, and send a clear signal to the field that Maryland prioritizes developmentally appropriate instruction aligned to brain research that shows how books, not tech-based platforms, are effective in wiring kids’ brains for reading,” she said.
The Maryland State Department of Education has issued guidance to school districts on the use of cellphones in schools, and this year issued guidance on the use of artificial intelligence. In both instances, the state has made clear that it leaves implementation of policies to individual school districts.
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© 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
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