To demonstrate the long-ranging impacts of successful implementation, let\u2019s travel all the way back to 2021, when our coalition of Waterkeepers and partners in Maryland worked to pass the <\/span>Citizens Intervention Bill<\/b> (SB 334\/HB 76). Waterkeepers Chesapeake had championed this reform since 2009, first through a legal process with the EPA and finally through this legislation. Before this bill was passed, people and communities harmed by water pollution couldn\u2019t legally intervene in a Clean Water Act lawsuit brought by the state, due to a prior decision by the Maryland Court of Special Appeals that made it virtually impossible for the public to utilize its legal rights in state court. However, Waterkeepers believe that as budgets decrease and government oversight is reduced, the public\u2019s enforcement of environmental laws is more necessary than ever. Under this bill, individuals, cities and counties could intervene in state court, which means they have a seat at the table when a case is being settled or heard in court. Their participation leads to cleaner water through stronger enforcement, penalties, and funds going to the impacted communities.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cCommunity members are usually the first to notice when something is wrong \u2013 and they should have the right to demand change when it is needed,\u201d said Sen. Jill Carter (District 41), at the time the bill was passed. She introduced the bill in 2021 along with longstanding environmental advocate Del. Sara Love (District 16) (now Senator Love).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The initial impacts of the bill were not immediately felt, and the topic was hard to explain to the general public and funders – it was a bit \u201cwonky.\u201d Advancing enduring policy changes through regulatory actions or legislation often takes years, doesn\u2019t lend itself to engaging stories or images, and can involve messy \u201csausage making\u201d processes. But what needs to be understood is how critical policy advancement is to making the systemic change we’re all after. In this case, over the next several years, at least three landmark cases were made possible due to the Citizen\u2019s Intervention Bill, with widespread pollution reduction in the Chesapeake region. Each of these cases involved many local partners and legal services, such as those provided by Chesapeake Legal Alliance, working together with Waterkeepers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In the Patapsco watershed, the <\/span>Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper<\/b> was able to intervene<\/span><\/a> when two sewage treatment plants were releasing <\/span>millions of gallons a day<\/span><\/a> of partially treated sewage into the Patapsco and Back Rivers, in an ongoing violation of the federal Clean Water Act. The nitrogen pollution from the Patapsco facility jumped by an astonishing 10 times the levels experienced when the facility was operating in good condition. Baltimore City ultimately <\/span>agreed <\/span><\/a>to pay a $4.75 million fine that will go in part towards restoration of the rivers, and to enter an agreement (known as a consent decree) that actions will take place in a certain time frame regarding operations of the plant. Years later, the State and EPA attribute bringing these large facilities back into compliance led to the dramatic turnaround of Bay restoration progress statewide.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis is a huge victory for clean water and for Baltimore residents,\u201d said Alice Volpitta, Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper at Blue Water Baltimore, in their press release in 2023. \u201cNot only does this decree provide oversight and transparency to ensure the plants will stay compliant, but it provides needed funds for restoration in the watersheds directly affected by mismanagement at these plants. We look forward to working with MDE to make sure the plan is followed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In the Potomac, the<\/span> Potomac Riverkeeper<\/b> was able to <\/span>intervene against St. Mary\u2019s County\u2019s Metropolitan Commission (MetCom<\/span><\/a>) sewage treatment plant for persistent and illegal discharges of raw sewage into the oyster beds. From 2017 through 2022, MetCom discharged nearly 2.2 million gallons of sewage on 58 occasions, and 27 Virginians were sickened<\/a> after eating oysters. The state found that MetCom had exceeded its permit by 7,823 pounds of Nitrogen and 647 pounds of Phosphorus in 2022 alone. The ultimate <\/span>settlement <\/span><\/a>and <\/span>consent decree<\/span><\/a> required correction of deficiencies and a $250,500 fine to be partially directed towards oyster bed restoration.<\/span><\/p>\n In their press release of 2024, Dean Naujoks, Potomac Riverkeeper, said, \u201cThe steps to halt raw sewage discharges into the Potomac are among the most significant in the history of the Potomac watershed and certainly the broadest in my 20 years of fighting for clean water. I am so proud to have been a part of it. Everyone will have a safer river \u2013 and safer oysters \u2013 because of it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n And on Maryland\u2019s Eastern Shore, ShoreRivers and the <\/span>Choptank Riverkeeper<\/b> were able to intervene on a case involving Valley Proteins Inc., a poultry rendering plant that processes 4 million pounds daily of chicken entrails and feathers for pet food. The facility\u2019s permit allows the release of 150,000 gallons per day of wastewater and is believed to be responsible <\/span>for one-third of the nitrogen pollution of the Tranksquaking River<\/span><\/a>, which is designated as <\/span>impaired by the state<\/span><\/a> for excessive nutrients. In February 2021, <\/span>Choptank Riverkeeper<\/span><\/a> captured drone footage of discolored discharge from an outfall that leads directly to the Transquaking River. Inspections by MDE found illegal discharge, sludge and inadequately treated wastewater being released, and leaking tanks. Following a year of litigation, ShoreRivers and their partners reached a <\/span>settlement<\/span><\/a> that requires $540,000 in civil penalties and $160,000 for water quality monitoring and restoration, as well as numerous corrective actions on site. At one point, the state had been considering giving the company $13 million in public funds to fix their outdated system, as well as a four-fold discharge permit increase to the facility. ShoreRivers and the coalition <\/span>fought back<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt took a team of nonprofits, including the Chesapeake Legal Alliance [representing the environmental groups], to finally force MDE into taking a strong position to protect water quality from one of the state\u2019s worst permit violators,\u201d said Matt Pluta, Choptank Riverkeeper and Director of Riverkeeper programs at ShoreRivers, in an article by <\/span>Maryland Matters<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Looking back at just this handful of actions made possible by one piece of legislation spearheaded by Waterkeepers Chesapeake it is fair to say that this advocacy generated millions of pounds of pollution reduction.<\/strong> So, yes, while the legislative process is \u201cmessy\u201d and some bills are wonky and hard to explain, it must be acknowledged how critically important our legislative and legal advocates are to keeping our local rivers, streams and communities healthy, and the Chesapeake Bay restoration process headed in the right direction. Few people understand the environmental rights they possess under the Clean Water Act – but we do. And we never stop fighting for those rights and the ecological and public health benefits that come through their vindication.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It takes many hours of work, a massive coalition, and passionate legislators, to make progress. This is an important story to tell. Waterkeepers are making a difference with this type of work, with the Citizen\u2019s Intervention Bill being only one example. Over the years, our coalition has had incredible success improving the protections for clean water in Maryland in <\/span>many <\/span><\/i>bills, such as legislation that requires the department to improve staffing and enforcement actions (Discharge Permits \u2013 Inspections and Administrative Continuations Bill, SB492\/HB649), or that requires the use of an Environmental Justice screening on new permits (Permit Applications \u2013 Environmental Justice Screening Bill SB818\/HB1200). In fact, Maryland was the first state in the nation to pass a response to the Supreme Court decision <\/span>Sackett v EPA<\/span><\/i> when our coalition successfully passed the <\/span>Clean Water Justice Act<\/span><\/a> (SB653 \/ HB1101) in 2024 to restore Marylanders\u2019 right to sue polluters lost under that decision.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n With your support<\/a>, we hope to share many more success stories in the years to come.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Hoy, impulsar las leyes estatales de agua limpia es m\u00e1s importante que nunca. En Waterkeepers Chesapeake, creemos que impulsar las pol\u00edticas locales es clave para impulsar un cambio a gran escala. A menudo nos preguntan si las leyes que aprobamos est\u00e1n marcando una diferencia significativa. Responder a esa pregunta puede ser un desaf\u00edo, especialmente al traducirla en algo tangible y\u2026 Lee mas<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":44617,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577,10,587],"tags":[82,73,84,841],"class_list":["post-44602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-actions","category-legislation","category-member-support","tag-clean-water-act","tag-legislation","tag-maryland","tag-pollution-reductions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/waterkeeperschesapeake.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/waterkeeperschesapeake.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/waterkeeperschesapeake.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waterkeeperschesapeake.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waterkeeperschesapeake.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/waterkeeperschesapeake.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waterkeeperschesapeake.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/waterkeeperschesapeake.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waterkeeperschesapeake.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waterkeeperschesapeake.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44602"}],"curies":[{"name":"gracias","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/waterkeeperschesapeake.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Back-River-WWTP-6-2-22-2.jpg\")
<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"