Founded | 1967 |
---|---|
Founder | Arthur Sherwood et al. |
Type | Nonprofit |
52-6065757 | |
Legal status | 501(c)(3) |
Purpose | Environmental protection and preservation |
Headquarters | Annapolis, Maryland |
Location |
|
Board Chair | Otis S. Jones |
President | Hilary Harp Falk |
Staff | 185 |
Website | www |
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) is a non-profit organization devoted to the restoration and protection of the Chesapeake Bay in the United States. It was founded in 1967 and has headquarters offices in Annapolis, Maryland. The foundation has field offices in Salisbury, Maryland; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Richmond, Virginia; Norfolk, Virginia and Washington, D.C. [1]
The foundation was established by Arthur Sherwood, a businessman and lawyer, with friends in 1967. As of 1996 CBF had about 80,000 dues-paying members. [2] [3]
CBF offers an outdoor education program that has introduced several generations of school children to the Chesapeake Bay through several idyllic outposts along the Bay's shores, such as Fox Island, Smith Island, Bishops Head, and others. Children learn the fragile nature of the Bay's ecosystem, and the extent of its watershed, much of which includes their own homes in suburbia. CBF also lobbies state and local governments on regulations intended to protect the health of the Bay.
Along with education and advocacy, the CBF also moves to make the Bay cleaner through restoration and litigation. Their mission is to restore the Bay to balance in environmental programs such as planting trees and other greenery, along with restoring oyster populations. In litigation, the CBF makes it their mission to hold environmentally negligent companies and organizations accountable for their actions.
The foundation has litigated multiple cases regarding protection of bay water quality, both at the federal and state level.
In 2009, CBF filed suit against the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its failure to finalize a total maximum daily load (TMDL) ruling pursuant to the Clean Water Act that would restrict water pollution from farms, land development, power plants and sewage treatment plants. [4] EPA agreed to settle the lawsuit and issued its TMDL for nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment pollution on December 29, 2010. This was the largest, most complex TMDL document that EPA had issued to date. [5] In early 2011 the American Farm Bureau Federation and other agricultural trade associations, along with the National Association of Home Builders filed suit challenging EPA's authority to issue the TMDL. [6] CBF and other organizations (both environmental groups and local governments) filed a motion to intervene in the case. In 2013 the Pennsylvania district court judge upheld EPA's authority, and following appeal by the trade associations, the judge's decision was affirmed by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. [7] In 2016 the US Supreme Court declined to hear the case, thereby upholding EPA's authority. [8]
In 2020 CBF filed a lawsuit against EPA for its failure to require the states of New York and Pennsylvania to reduce pollution in the bay. [9]
In 2001, CBF moved from a walkable downtown location in Annapolis to a new headquarters building, the Philip Merrill Environmental Center, about 5 miles (8 km) outside of town. The new building, at the former site of the Bay Ridge Inn on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay, is a green building that demonstrates a number of energy-saving and other sustainable features. It was the first building to receive the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) "Platinum" rating from the United States Green Building Council. [10]
The new headquarters is not accessible by public transportation. The foundation's choice for a new headquarters site symbolizes a dilemma of the modern environmental movement: how to be connected to the environment without despoiling it. In this case, the enlarged footprint of employees and visitors forced to drive to the building was offset by its reduced imperviousness compared to the former inn, use of recycled materials, re-use of wastewater on-site, and use of composting toilets. The building was an early adopter of green building principles, but apart from automobiles and bicycles, remains inaccessible by other modes of transportation.
In January 2021 CBF president Will Baker announced that he intended to retire by the end of 2021. Baker became president and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the organization in 1981. [11] In November 2021 the foundation announced that the new president and CEO will be Hilary Harp Falk. [12]
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on December 2, 1970, after Nixon signed an executive order. The order establishing the EPA was ratified by committee hearings in the House and Senate.
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and the state of Delaware. The mouth of the Bay at its southern point is located between Cape Henry and Cape Charles. With its northern portion in Maryland and the southern part in Virginia, the Chesapeake Bay is a very important feature for the ecology and economy of those two states, as well as others surrounding within its watershed. More than 150 major rivers and streams flow into the Bay's 64,299-square-mile (166,534 km2) drainage basin, which covers parts of six states and all of Washington, D.C.
The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Its objective is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters; recognizing the responsibilities of the states in addressing pollution and providing assistance to states to do so, including funding for publicly owned treatment works for the improvement of wastewater treatment; and maintaining the integrity of wetlands.
The Monocacy River is a free-flowing left tributary to the Potomac River, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean via the Chesapeake Bay. The river is 58.5 miles (94.1 km) long, with a drainage area of about 970 square miles (2,500 km2). It is the largest Maryland tributary to the Potomac.
Chesapeake Energy Corporation is an American exploration and production company, headquartered in Oklahoma City.
Philip Merrill was an American diplomat, publisher, banker, and philanthropist.
A total maximum daily load (TMDL) is a regulatory term in the U.S. Clean Water Act, describing a plan for restoring impaired waters that identifies the maximum amount of a pollutant that a body of water can receive while still meeting water quality standards.
The Chesapeake Bay Program is the regional partnership that directs and conducts the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay in the United States. As a partnership, the Chesapeake Bay Program brings together members of various state, federal, academic and local watershed organizations to build and adopt policies that support Chesapeake Bay restoration. By combining the resources and unique strengths of each individual organization, the Chesapeake Bay Program is able to follow a unified plan for restoration. The program office is located in Annapolis, Maryland.
Perdue Farms is the parent company of Perdue Foods and Perdue AgriBusiness, based in Salisbury, Maryland. Perdue Foods is a major chicken, turkey, and pork processing company in the United States. Perdue AgriBusiness ranks among the top United States grain companies. Perdue Farms has 2021 annual sales of $8 billion.
Brian E. Frosh is an American lawyer and politician who served as the Attorney General of Maryland from 2015 to 2023. He also served five terms in the Maryland State Senate, representing Maryland's District 16 in Montgomery County. Prior to serving in the Senate, Frosh represented District 16 in the Maryland House of Delegates, serving two four-year terms.
The Philip Merrill Environmental Center is a Green building owned and operated by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Built in 2001, the Merrill Center is located in Annapolis, Maryland on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. The building serves as the headquarters office building for the CBF, but is also available to rent for business and social occasions.
A New Source Review (NSR) is a permitting process created by the US Congress in 1977 as part of a series of amendments to the Clean Air Act. The NSR process requires industry to undergo an Environmental Protection Agency pre-construction review for environmental controls if they propose either building new facilities or any modifications to existing facilities that would create a "significant increase" of a regulated pollutant. The legislation allowed "routine scheduled maintenance" to not be covered in the NSR process. Since the terms "significant increase" and "routine scheduled maintenance" were never precisely defined in legislation, they have become a source of contention in many lawsuits filed by the EPA, public interest groups, and utilities.
Watts Branch is a tributary stream of the Anacostia River in Prince George's County, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.
Nutrient pollution, a form of water pollution, refers to contamination by excessive inputs of nutrients. It is a primary cause of eutrophication of surface waters, in which excess nutrients, usually nitrogen or phosphorus, stimulate algal growth. Sources of nutrient pollution include surface runoff from farm fields and pastures, discharges from septic tanks and feedlots, and emissions from combustion. Raw sewage is a large contributor to cultural eutrophication since sewage is high in nutrients. Releasing raw sewage into a large water body is referred to as sewage dumping, and still occurs all over the world. Excess reactive nitrogen compounds in the environment are associated with many large-scale environmental concerns. These include eutrophication of surface waters, harmful algal blooms, hypoxia, acid rain, nitrogen saturation in forests, and climate change.
Water pollution in the United States is a growing problem that became critical in the 19th century with the development of mechanized agriculture, mining, and industry, although laws and regulations introduced in the late 20th century have improved water quality in many water bodies. Extensive industrialization and rapid urban growth exacerbated water pollution as a lack of regulation allowed for discharges of sewage, toxic chemicals, nutrients and other pollutants into surface water.
A stormwater fee is a charge imposed on real estate owners for pollution in stormwater drainage from impervious surface runoff.
Wheelabrator Baltimore is a waste-to-energy incinerator located in the Westport neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland and is operated by Wheelabrator Technologies, a subsidiary of Energy Capital Partners. It has an electric generation capacity of 64.5 megawatts. On October 2, 2018, ECP announced the agreement to sell Wheelabrator Technologies to Macquarie Infrastructure Partners, a subsidiary of Macquarie Group.
Patrick James Morrisey is an American politician and attorney serving as the 34th Attorney General of West Virginia since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected to the position in 2012, becoming the first Republican to serve in the role since 1933. Running for the United States Senate in 2018, Morrisey won the Republican Party nomination, but was narrowly defeated by incumbent Democratic Senator Joe Manchin in the November general election. He is his party's nominee in the 2024 West Virginia gubernatorial election.
The Clean Water Rule is a 2015 regulation published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to clarify water resource management in the United States under a provision of the Clean Water Act of 1972. The regulation defined the scope of federal water protection in a more consistent manner, particularly over streams and wetlands which have a significant hydrological and ecological connection to traditional navigable waters, interstate waters, and territorial seas. It is also referred to as the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, which defines all bodies of water that fall under U.S. federal jurisdiction. The rule was published in response to concerns about lack of clarity over the act's scope from legislators at multiple levels, industry members, researchers and other science professionals, activists, and citizens.
The Chesapeake Bay Commission is an advisory body that consults with the legislatures of Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania about environmental, economic and social issues related to the Chesapeake Bay. The commission is a signatory to all agreements on matters regarding the bay, and advises Congress on bay-related issues. The commission was established under state law in 1980 by the states of Maryland and Virginia. Pennsylvania joined the commission in 1985. Since its inception, the Commission has led the adoption of hundreds of federal, multi-state, and state policies and laws in order to improve the environment of the bay.