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Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Maryland budget deficit, Trump cuts imperil Chesapeake bay cleanup funds
After decades of frustrating delay, silt-clogged Lake Marion in suburban Severn, Md., is finally getting a badly needed makeover. The 2-acre stormwater detention pond, filled with 50 years' worth of mud from surrounding homes and streets, has been dredged out so it can capture runoff again. 'For 20 years, we'd been trying to get funding for this project,' said Cynthia Williams, president of the Provinces Civic Association. With the help of the nonprofit Arundel Rivers Federation, the community finally rounded up enough support from state and local agencies and others to cover the nearly $4 million cost. When work is finished later this year, the new pond and its rock-lined 'step pools' are expected to prevent about 11 dump truck loads of water-fouling sediment from being flushed downstream every year into the Severn River. But environmental advocates fear it could be one of the last sizable runoff control projects done in Maryland for the next several years because state funding that helped make it possible is threatened. Vote in our St. Pat's bar poll: Vote for your favorite bar, pub or tavern in Ocean City and Salisbury, Md.: St. Pat's poll While the Trump administration has paused or canceled billions in environmental funding nationwide, Maryland faces a fiscal crisis of its own. Lawmakers in Annapolis are struggling to figure out how to fill a staggering $3 billion budget gap, and legislative analysts have recommended they drain funds reserved for preserving land, restoring wildlife habitat and reducing stormwater pollution. Advocates warn that could further cripple water quality, climate mitigation and environmental justice efforts in the state. 'We're struggling … right now with these budget cuts in Washington,' said Matt Johnston, Arundel Rivers' executive director. 'Now is not the time for Annapolis to abandon its leadership role in Chesapeake Bay restoration.' To balance the state's budget, Democratic Gov. Wes Moore initially proposed a combination of spending cuts and increased taxes and fees. Environmental programs and the four state agencies that administer them faced a 25% reduction totaling $255 million. Deep as those cuts seemed, environmental advocates for the most part accepted them. The spending reductions proposed by the Moore administration left something to work with, they said. But Moore's plan has drawn widespread pushback over his proposed tax changes and his other spending cuts. Lawmakers are looking for other ways to close the budget gap. The General Assembly's nonpartisan fiscal analysts responded by recommending a panoply of additional cuts, including taking another $180 million overall from environmental efforts — not just for one year, as Moore had proposed, but for the next four years. Now environmental advocates are alarmed. They're warning that efforts in Maryland to improve the Bay and to fight or adapt to climate change could stall out. Worcester gets new hiking trails: New hiking trails now open at former Bay Club in Berlin. What you can expect. Especially hard hit would be the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund, which in fiscal year 2024 distributed more than $60 million for projects like Lake Marion that aim to reduce polluted runoff from farms and communities. The fund, created in 2010, is underwritten by revenue from a tax on gasoline and car rentals. Moore originally proposed taking $10.5 million from the trust fund to offset some of the cuts he would make in the budgets of state environmental agencies. The fiscal analysts in the Department of Legislative Services suggested increasing the diversion to $65 million annually for the next four years. Also slashed would be Maryland's Program Open Space, which uses money raised by a .5% tax on real estate transfers to acquire land for parks, playgrounds and natural areas. Since the program's creation in 1969, more than 394,000 acres have been protected. A portion of the transfer tax revenue also goes toward preserving farmland. The transfer tax brings in more than $200 million a year, a revenue stream that previous administrations and legislatures have dipped into whenever budgets were tight. Despite politicians' pledges to put back what they took, advocates point out that more than $600 million diverted since 2012 has never been restored. In his budget, Moore had suggested shifting $16 million from Program Open Space to offset cuts he proposed in general funding for the Maryland Park Service. Legislative analysts upped the ante, though, recommending a complete diversion for the next four years of the state's share of the open space funds and a halving of a similar amount set aside for local governments to spend on parks and recreation facilities. Advocates say such a loss of funding could kill land preservation deals that have taken years to negotiate. Ann Jones, an officer with a Baltimore County land trust, said a young farmer she's trying to help purchase his first farm could not do so without state assistance. 'It would basically shut these programs down,' said Allison Colden, Maryland executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Berlin singer on 'American Idol': Singer, songwriter with Berlin, Maryland, roots to audition on 'American Idol' The cuts would have economic as well as environmental consequences, Colden said, affecting Maryland's seafood and tourist industries, among others, which depend on clean water and healthy fisheries, while also costing jobs in businesses that specialize in environmental restoration. 'These projects employ dozens if not hundreds of workers,' said Nick Dilks, a managing partner with Ecosystem Investment Partners, a Baltimore-based firm that has worked on trust-funded stream restorations in Cecil County. 'At any given time, we probably had at least 10 to 15 people out there working,' he added, doing everything from operating backhoes to planting trees and spraying weeds. 'This is part of the Chesapeake economy,' said Arundel Rivers' Johnston. 'If we lose a quarter-billion dollars (through the proposed Bay trust fund cut), it would be years before we could come up with enough money to do another Lake Marion project.' Advocates were cheered recently when legislative analysts retracted one of their recommendations to siphon $25 million from the state's waterways improvement fund. But then Moore declared he would trim proposed spending on climate-related efforts by $80 million — which would still be an increase, but a much smaller one. The state's economic forecaster warned that federal layoffs are putting thousands of Marylanders out of work, widening the state's budget gap. Lawmakers have until the General Assembly's close at midnight on April 7 to finalize the budget. 'It's not over till it's over,' said the Bay Foundation's Colden. Timothy B. Wheeler is a Bay Journal staff writer and associate editor. He can be reached at twheeler@ This article, distributed by the Bay Journal News Service, was originally published on March 7, 2025 on This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: Chesapeake Bay funds imperiled by Maryland budget deficit, Trump cuts
CBS News
27-02-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Chesapeake Bay restoration could take a hit if state removes millions from trust fund, advocates say
Maryland's budget shortfall could take a major toll on the Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts. The Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays trust fund has been a lifeline for projects that help clean the bay, restore habitats, and reduce pollution. However, state leaders are considering removing $2.59 million from the trust fund to cover state operating costs. The funds would be used for the general operations of the Department of Natural Resources. "The state of Maryland has long been a leader in restoration in large part because we have the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays trust fund," said Matt Johnston, the executive director of the Arundel Rivers Federation. "We will not be able to, in the next three to four years, do a project like this again if they zero out that fund." The shift is one of many recommendations by the Department of Legislative Services to help balance Maryland's $3 billion budget deficit. "Chesapeake Bay is a national treasure" Chesapeake Bay advocates are urging lawmakers to reconsider before the final budget vote in April. "The Chesapeake Bay is a national treasure, it's a gem," Johnston said. "We will never see clean water in the bay unless we do restoration projects, like Lake Marion behind me." A stormwater pond in Severn was dilapidated, full of sediment, and polluting the Severn River before the Arundel Rivers Federation helped restore it. Jesse Iliff, executive director of the Severn River Association, says a number of planned restoration projects are now in jeopardy. "They are critical to providing a healthy Chesapeake Bay and all of the economic benefits that come with that, like improved fisheries, improved tourism, improved property values." Iliff is concerned this decision to take from the trust fund could have long-term consequences. "Five or 10 years down the line, the best we could hope for is maintaining the status quo, and that would be heavily dependent on the weather," he said.
