Important Litigation Victory for Choptank Riverkeeper and Waterkeepers Chesapeake! click here
In an unprecedented settlement, the Maryland Department of the Environment has agreed to significantly strengthen its five year construction stormwater runoff permit, and hire additional personnel to enforce it!
CREB Conservancy, along with other WATERKEEPER organizations on the Bay, brought this legal challenge against MDE because MDE’s proposed construction stormwater permit was too lax, (i.e., it failed in our view to even meet the minimum requirements of the federal Clean Water Act.) This permit (issued only once every five years) determines the pollution control measures required of every construction site in the state during its five year term. Drew Koslow, your Choptank RIVERKEEPER, was enlisted to be an expert witness in the litigation. He spent days preparing. Armed to the teeth with scientific studies from the literature, he was on the verge of testifying when MDE agreed to settle the matter and to substantially amend its permit.
Please see the attached press release for details. Your support of CREB Conservancy was vital to this critically important initiative, one that resulted in a significant positive step toward reducing the pollution of our waterways! We believe that this effort will enable us to work with MDE in the future on other similar issues and will encourage them to be more forceful in protecting the waters we cherish. By forcing our “enforcers” to use the law to its utmost to protect our rivers, CREB Conservancy is pursuing its mission and the promise we have made to you.
May 21, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARYLAND WATERKEEPERS SETTLE LAWSUIT AGAINST DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT ENSURING BETTER PROTECTION FOR THE BAY FROM CONSTRUCTION SITES
Contact:
Drew Koslow, Choptank Riverkeeper, 410.533.2753
Eliza Steinmeier, Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper, 410.736.8844
Michele Merkel, Waterkeeper Alliance, 202.257.0877
Jane F. Barrett, University of Maryland Environmental Law Clinic, 410.706.5999
(Baltimore MD) – Twelve Maryland Waterkeeper organizations and the Waterkeeper Alliance, represented by the University of Maryland Environmental Law Clinic, have reached an agreement with the Maryland Department of the Environment (“MDE”) resolving the Waterkeepers' legal challenge to MDE's general stormwater permit for construction sites. As a result of this agreement, MDE has committed to making significant changes to the way it requires developers to prevent polluted runoff caused when rain washes sediment and other pollutants from these exposed areas.
Construction activities and land development contribute an estimated 80 million tons of sediment to the Nation’s waterways each year. When construction contractors do not adequately control runoff, commonly called stormwater, rainfall carries heavy loads of sediment into local tributaries or storm sewers. The Chesapeake Bay is choking on sediment and other pollutants that come from construction sites. More than ninety of Maryland’s streams and rivers have been officially designated as impaired by excessive sediment according to the EPA. A Chesapeake Bay Program report estimates that close to half of the estimated sediment smothering the Bay comes from watersheds located upstream from the Bay itself. In fact, MDE has identified runoff from urban areas, including construction sites, as the largest source of nutrient pollution in the lower western shore of Maryland. Population trends will compound the problems created by stormwater runoff from construction sites as more than a million people are expected to move to the Bay watershed during this decade alone. This growth will result in additional stress to the watershed through increased development. Researchers expect that the amount of land converted from farms and forest to residential and commercial developments will increase more than 60% by 2030. In fact, Maryland had at least 2000 building permits per square mile from 1990-2004, significantly more than most other states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Choptank Riverkeeper, Drew Koslow, who served as an expert witness in the litigation, has seen these impacts first-hand: “Sediment-laden runoff from construction sites can drastically alter the ability of a stream to support life. This mud prevents sunlight from reaching diminishing submerged aquatic grasses, smothers oyster reefs and severely stresses fish.”
Today's settlement requires MDE to update the state's erosion and sediment control standards no later than May 2010. These standards specify measures that must be taken on construction sites to prevent water pollution. The standards, more than 15 years old, are outdated and provide inadequate protection for the Bay and its tributaries. MDE has committed to incorporate provisions that emphasize up-to-date measures to prevent erosion and sediment laden runoff from the exposed soils of construction sites. MDE has also committed to incorporating into its General Permit any specific effluent limits issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), applicable to construction stormwater. The agreement also requires MDE to set procedures that ensure expanded opportunities for the public to review and comment upon stormwater planning documents for construction sites. Finally, the agreement provides for improved protection of waterbodies already over-burdened by sediment by requiring large construction sites in these specific waterbodies to apply for individual permits. In describing the settlement, Jane F. Barrett, director of the University of Maryland Environmental Law Clinic stated, “Strong, clear and enforceable permits are critical to any effort to preserve the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries because permits are the building blocks of the Clean Water Act. This agreement is an important step in the right direction.”
Taken together, MDE's commitments to improve its construction stormwater permitting program will result in real, measureable improvements in water quality throughout the state. Better steps to control runoff from construction will help the State meet its commitments to reduce pollution to the Bay.
Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper Eliza Smith Steinmeier expects to see real benefits from this agreement: “Dirt is literally choking our waterways. In addition, dirt from construction sites carries with it other pollution such as nutrients and chemicals. This agreement ensures improvements in construction practices that will directly result in improved water quality in our streams and rivers.”
The Maryland Waterkeepers applaud MDE's commitment to protecting the Chesapeake Bay and all of the state's watersheds from construction site runoff. The department's focus on this significant water quality issue demonstrates the focused vision that is necessary if our waters and communities are to benefit from new, effective approaches to pollution control.