2-6-12: New Year, New [Pollution] Diet Plan

Photo by Blackburn Photo / Flickr Creative Commons

You’ve probably heard: Maryland is putting the Chesapeake Bay on a diet.  A pollution diet, that is.  The six states in the Bay watershed are being required by the federal government to reduce the flow of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment into the bay by 15 to 25 percent by 2025.

In December, Maryland submitted a second draft of its diet plan—or more formally, its watershed implementation plan–to the E-P-A.  The state is taking public comments on the plan through March 9th, and will hold informational meetings around the state over the coming weeks about it — a full list of the meetings is below.  The first takes place today, in Chestertown.

Sheilah discusses what this latest draft means for local governments with Richard Eskin, the director of Science Services Administration at the Maryland Department of the Environment. He’s been leading Maryland’s Bay Cabinet in activities related to the Watershed Implementation Plans.

You can also listen back to our interview in December with Anne Arundel County Councilman Chris Trumbauer, who proposed new stormwater reduction measures for that county.  He withdrew the measure because of a lack of support from other councilmen, but says he’ll propose it again.

Here’s a full list of the public meetings — more information at MDE’s website.

• Monday, February 6 – 1:00–3:30 PM – Washington College, Chestertown
• Tuesday, February 7 – 6:30–9:00 PM – Videoconferencing from the 4H Center in College Park to the following sites: College of Southern Maryland, Frostburg University, and Salisbury University (Weather date: Wednesday, February 22)
• Wednesday, February 29 – 1:00–3:30 PM – Hagerstown Community College
• Thursday, March 1  – 6:30-9:00 PM – Baltimore County Agricultural Center
• Monday, March 5 – 2:00–4:00 PM – MDE, Baltimore