The Baltimore County Council is currently considering legislation that would phase out the county’s stormwater utility fee. The Importance of the Fee This fee pays for projects and programs designed to improve water quality in the county’s streams and rivers, reduce neighborhood flooding, and increase tree planting in communities. The County Council says that the…
Heading in to this year’s general assembly session, the environmental community was concerned that our parks, wildlife, open space, and waters might take a backseat to other issues. We elected a governor and many new legislators that campaigned on less regulation-usually bad news for the environment-and on repealing the “rain tax.” But all things considered,…
As of last week, the Maryland General Assembly was considering amendments to (SB863) Watershed Protection and Restoration Program, a bill that would strengthen the state’s polluted runoff law while at the same time giving local governments greater flexibility to fund and manage their stormwater programs. Many of these changes would have weakened the law significantly, and…
About the Legislation The Watershed Protection and Restoration Program (HB987), passed in 2012, is the framework within the ten largest jurisdictions in Maryland that works to manage local polluted runoff which is contributed from impervious surfaces. Supporters of the law have been working to show the positive benefits to our local communities, waterways, and the Chesapeake…
Is there a connection between the plastic in our neighborhoods and the plastic thousands of miles across the sea? This is the question that Trash Free Maryland set out to answer when it partnered with 5 Gyres to examine plastic pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. For four days this month, they sailed around the bay,…
On Monday night, Baltimore City Council approved amendments to its bag bill, removing the proposed fee and adopting a ban on plastic shopping bags. While a ban on plastic bags is a step in the right direction for the environment, and brings much-needed attention to the serious litter problem we have here in Baltimore, Blue…
This fall, the Baltimore City Council will be considering a bill that will place a 5-cent fee on disposable plastic and paper bags. Anyone who lives in Baltimore knows that litter is a serious problem. One of the most prominent type of trash seen in our neighborhoods, trees, and floating in the Baltimore Harbor, is…
In late April, Baltimore was slammed by three consecutive days of torrential rain. Storms come and go in this city though, and after a few days of sunny skies, memories quickly fade. This particular bout of severe weather will be ingrained in the local memory for some time however, thanks to the collapse of a…