Maryland

Maryland lawmakers urge Congress to spend more on Chesapeake Bay restoration – Maryland Daily Record

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2 years ago

March 7, 2024

Maryland lawmakers urge Congress to spend more on Chesapeake Bay restoration – Maryland Daily Record

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WASHINGTON – Citing encouraging signs of improvement, five Maryland lawmakers expressed their support Wednesday for increased funding of the federally backed Chesapeake Bay restoration program.

“We’ve made progress,” Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Maryland, said at a luncheon hosted by the Choose Clean Water Coalition. “We have the least amount of dead zones that we’ve seen since the 1980s on the bay. We have underwater grasses that are coming back in the Chesapeake Bay. We have oyster crops that we never thought we’d be able to see starting to bloom in the Chesapeake Bay. We’re not at our historic levels, not even close. I understand that. But we’ve made progress.”

The coalition, which was started in 2009, hosted its 13th annual Chesapeake Bay Day on Wednesday with nearly 100 of its members and nine members of Congress in attendance. Made up of over 290 nonprofit organizations from the Chesapeake Bay region, the non-profit advocates maintaining or increasing spending on clean water programs.

“I think the Chesapeake delegation in Congress is just so passionate about this work, and they understand the benefits to their districts and the people that live there,” Kristin Reilly, director of the coalition, told Capital News Service.

“I think that’s also why there’s such wide bipartisan support for these programs because they can actually see the benefits in their communities,” Reilly added.

The Chesapeake Bay Program, which receives funding from the Environmental Protection Agency, was started in 1983, with its main efforts directed towards reducing pollution and restoring the bay’s ecosystem.

The program encompasses six states that surround the bay as well as the District of Columbia, and its funding needs were at the forefront of the coalition’s lobbying day. Over 70% of the program’s funds are spent on projects in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, including planting trees, reducing runoff from farmland and boosting the crab and oyster populations.

The coalition highlighted the recent introduction of the America’s Conservation Enhancement (ACE) Reauthorization Act of 2024, which authorizes funding for various programs, including $93 million in funding for the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program for the 2025 fiscal year and $100 million for 2026 and beyond.

“This bill (the ACE Act) is going to get the bay on track,” Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Maryland, said. “Some of the things that these grants do, like sediment reduction, really make a difference in helping the Chesapeake Bay.”

The coalition also is backing $15 million for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Watershed Investments for Landscape Defense (WILD) program, which provides grants to local organizations in the Chesapeake region that focus on restoring or protecting wildlife habitats.

The coalition recognized Ruppersberger, Cardin and Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Maryland, as “Chesapeake Champions” for their contributions to the restoration efforts throughout their careers.

Rep. David Trone, D-Maryland, who is running for the U.S. Senate, said he plans to continue working to protect the bay if he wins the seat.

Pollutants need to be kept out of the bay and the efforts towards no-till farming have not been as successful in Pennsylvania and Virginia as in Maryland, Trone said. No-till farming is a technique used to grow crops without disturbing the soil.

“The environment is top of the list,” Trone told CNS. “So the environment and the bay, that’s the very very top of the list. If you don’t get that right, nothing else matters.”

After the luncheon, coalition members had scheduled 44 meetings with members of Congress, presenting letters from 169 organizations that endorsed the coalition’s appropriations requests.

“We have to both maintain the momentum, but we also need to accelerate our efforts even further,” Sen. Van Hollen, D-Maryland, told CNS. “That means making sure that we protect and expand the resources that go to protect the bay from all the federal agencies.”

Yesenia Montenegro and Brennan Stewart report for Capital News Service.

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Maryland

Attempted traffic stop leads to arrest of Maryland man wanted for kidnapping

Published

2 hours ago

December 13, 2025

Press Room

Attempted traffic stop leads to arrest of Maryland man wanted for kidnapping

Frederick County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) announced the arrest of a man wanted for kidnapping on Thursday afternoon.

Suba Washington Jr., 27, of Williamsport, Maryland, was apprehended in Frederick after an attempted traffic stop early Thursday morning, according to deputies.

The pursuit

When officers tried to pull over a Hyundai Elantra in the 7300 block of Crestwood Blvd., the driver, later identified as Washington, refused to stop.

Deputies were later notified that Washington was wanted on charges of kidnapping, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, and reckless endangerment in Washington County, Maryland.

As Washington fled northbound on Route 85, he struck a car near Crestwood Blvd. and Buckeystown Pike; however, the driver of the vehicle was unharmed as the suspect continued onto northbound I-270 and then westbound I-70.

Washington’s tires were eventually flattened after deputies deployed stop sticks near the Middletown exit.

Though the pursuit still wasn’t over, as the vehicle managed to cross over into Washington County, where the Washington County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) and Maryland State Police (MSP) aided in apprehension.

Washington was taken into custody after his vehicle approached the Route 40 exit, coming to a full stop on the highway.

The charges

A 17-year-old in the passenger seat was found with Washington during the pursuit. The teenager was released to WSCO.

According to FCSO, Washington Jr. was taken to the Frederick County Adult Detention Center and charged with numerous traffic citations, including reckless driving, negligent driving, and two counts of attempting to elude law enforcement.

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Maryland

Maryland to launch study on economic impacts of climate change

Published

14 hours ago

December 12, 2025

Press Room

Maryland to launch study on economic impacts of climate change

Maryland will launch a study to analyze the economic impacts of climate change to determine the costs associated with storm damage and health outcomes.

The move is part of the Moore-Miller administration’s strategic approach to investing in a clean energy economy and modernizing the state’s energy infrastructure.

“While the federal government has spent the past year rolling back climate protections and driving up energy costs, Maryland is taking a responsible step toward understanding the true price tag of climate change,” Gov. Wes Moore said in a statement. “This study will give us a clear, data-driven look at the real burden taxpayers are shouldering as climate change drives more extreme and costly weather events.”

The RENEW Act Study will be funded by investments and state sources, including $30,000 from philanthropic funding and $470,000 from the Strategic Energy Investment Fund, to assess the burden that Marylanders are paying due to intense weather events and environmental shifts.

Marylanders on climate change

The announcement comes months after Maryland lawmakers opposed a proposal by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to recind its 2009 endangerment finding, which determined that greenhouse gases were a danger to public health.

Lawmakers raised concerns that the move would mean engine and vehicle manufacturers would not be required to measure, control or report greenhouse gas emissions. They also raised concerns that the decision could impact climate change and harm local communities.

The EPA said it intended to retain regulations for pollutant and toxic air measurement and standards. In September, the agency initiated the formal process to reconsider the finding.

In March, a Johns Hopkins University poll found that nearly 73% of surveyed Baltimore City and County residents were concerned that climate change would affect them.

According to the study, city residents were more concerned about personal harm from climate change than county residents. However, county residents expected to see higher costs in the next five years due to climate change.

About 70% of Baltimore area residents believe climate change will increase costs for homeowners and businesses in the next five years, the study found.

An April report ranked the Washington/Baltimore/Arlington region as the 36th worst in the country and second worst in the mid-Atlantic region for ozone smog. The report graded Baltimore County an “F” for ozone smog.

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