Jennifer Kunze - Maryland Program Manager

Maryland’s legislative session ended early for the first time since the Civil War this year, because of COVID-19. This meant that the only piece of legislation we were working on that passed was the ban on chlorpyrifos. Governor Hogan vetoed the chlorpyrifos ban, opting for regulations instead. Regulations can be undone with the stroke of a single pen, which is why Clean Water likes strong legislative language!

On December 1, the Montgomery County Council held a hearing on Zoning Text Amendment 20-04, a bill to increase the amount of organic waste that farms can bring in from off-site for composting or mulching. While this is a small piece of the zero waste puzzle, measures like this across Maryland will help keep organic waste out of landfills and incinerators, sequester carbon and build healthy soils, and even help support Maryland's agricultural economy.

Update: both Bill 32-20 and 33-20 have passed and been signed into law! For more about our work to move Maryland beyond incineration and toward zero waste, click here.

Here is our testimony in support of Montgomery County Council Bills 32-20 and 33-20, to ban unrecyclable plastics in Montgomery County:

Ballots are arriving in mailboxes across Baltimore City as we speak, and as a country we face enormous challenges and choices between now and the November elections. But whatever happens at the federal level, Baltimore will be more equipped to face it with leadership in City Hall that prioritizes protecting public health, dismantling inequitable city policy, working closely with constituents, and building community power. That's why Clean Water Action proudly endorses Franca Muller Paz for Baltimore City Council District 12.

This summer, Frederick County proved itself to be an environmental leader.

Great news!

This year, as our Baltimore office is closed and we're all working from home, our internship program looks a little different! We're working with 11 interns, including high school, college, and graduate students, to expand our research base and work on septic and sewer systems, drinking water protections, Superfund sites, trash incineration, and more. Get to know them here, and keep an eye out for more important work from them over the summer!

Mariana Silva, Environmental Engineering / Theology, University of Notre Dame

This weekend, almost 150 people joined us for a special screening of "The Story of Plastic." The Story of Plastic takes a sweeping look at the man-made crisis of plastic pollution and the worldwide effect it has on the health of our planet and the people who inhabit it, from people in Appalachia and the Gulf Coast facing enormous new petrochemical infrastructure being built to expand plastic production, to people in China and Bangladesh dealing wi

Click here to submit your comments on the Baltimore City budget.

All of this week, the City Council's Budget and Appropriations Committee has been holding hearings on each city department's budget (you can watch the recordings on the City's Youtube channel), and the Council will vote on the budget as a whole on Monday.

Maryland's primary election is one week from today - have you received your ballot in the mail? If so, don't forget to mark it in black ink, and sign and date the back before sending it in!