West and Rhode Riverkeeper

Today, 12 Waterkeeper organizations in Maryland (including West/Rhode Riverkeeper) along with the Waterkeeper Alliance submitted a petition to the Environmental Protection Agency. The petition calls for EPA to withdraw Maryland's delegated authority to administer the Clean Water Act's pollution permitting program for dischargers in the state unless the State takes the necessary corrective action and improves its performance. Maryland Department of the Environment and Governor O'Malley's office were notified of this action in advance.

The Chesapeake Bay watershed is in crisis, and drastic action is needed. We submitted this petition with the singular purpose of improving the health of the Chesapeake Bay. It is our sincere hope that this action will result in a positive change in the way that Maryland enforces the Clean Water Act, and will ultimately help speed up the Bay's recovery.

On Friday, Oct 23 the Center for Watershed Protection will present the findings from our West River Watershed Assessment. This is an important step for us as we will now have a "game plan" for improving the health of the West River. I hope you can join us at the meeting (6 pm at Discovery Village). One outcome of this Assessment is that we will now have a prioritized list of restoration and pollution prevention options. We can take this list and match them up with funding opportunities to really do some good. It's an exciting time for our organization, and I hope you will all continue to support the work we are doing. Thanks to everyone who helped make this possible.

Also, we will be working over this Fall and Winter to do a similar project on the Rhode River. Stay tuned for details!