Latest news with #MarylandDepartmentoftheEnvironment
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Governor Moore declares State of Emergency in Western Maryland due to historic flooding
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (DC News Now) — Maryland Governor Wes Moore declared a State of Emergency in Western Maryland Thursday in response to historic flooding. Moore travelled to assess the damage sustained from Tuesday's storm, where over five inches of rain resulted in major floods in Allegany and Garrett Counties. First responders brace for rising floodwaters along Potomac, Shenandoah rivers According to the governor's office, this marks the second-highest Georges Creek crest, causing , power and gas line outages, and road closures. Throughout his visit, Moore stopped by Westernport fire hall, library, local businesses, and Westernport Elementary School, where he assured residents that the State of Maryland will continue working towards the community's full recovery. Swiftwater rescue teams evacuated over 200 students and faculty from Westernport and George's Creek elementary schools Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday, first responders conducted welfare checks, and as of Thursday, crews have shifted their priorities from response to recovery efforts. No additional flooding is expected. 'After surveying the damage and receiving updates on the work still ahead in Western Maryland, I've declared a State of Emergency to accelerate our response,' said Moore. 'Today, our thoughts are with the Marylanders who have been directly impacted by this storm, and our gratitude is with all of the first responders, crisis managers, and public servants who raised their hands to support our people in a moment of need.' Congresswoman April McClain Delaney joined Moore in touring the affected areas and commented on the damage she witnessed. 'Being here in Western Maryland today with Governor Moore and seeing the aftermath of the flooding firsthand is overwhelming,' said Delaney. 'You don't fully grasp the scale of it until you're standing here, witnessing it for yourself. We've met families who had to evacuate their homes, and small business owners now facing tough choices. The damage is real, but so is the strength of the people here. We're listening, and we're committed to doing everything in our power to make sure help gets where it's needed.' Public officials also shared their perspective on the community's response to the flooding. 'This was a serious test for public safety and health, and we responded with urgency,' said Maryland Department of the Environment Secretary Serena McIlwain. 'Drinking water systems were damaged, homes were flooded, and families were impacted. We acted quickly to confirm that our dams were operating correctly, offer emergency help for contaminated home heating oil tanks, and support safe debris removal. Our focus now is on long-term recovery, guiding infrastructure repairs, fast-tracking permits, and staying close to communities as they rebuild.' For live updates on Maryland traffic conditions, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
15-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Maryland leaders announce $1.7 million in grant funding for environmental cleanup projects
The Maryland Department of the Environment, Chesapeake Bay Trust, along with Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott announced $1.7 million in grant funding for 21 environmental projects. The funding will support projects ranging from trash removal and stormwater management to increasing green spaces in communities affected by past pollution. "This is environmental justice in action," Maryland Environment Secretary Serena McIlwain said. "These actions are about fairness, and people, and prosperity." The grant funding comes from a settlement of a lawsuit filed by Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown on behalf of the Department of the Environment, requiring Baltimore City to address unauthorized pollution discharges. Among the largest grants is $655,363 for the Back River Restoration Committee to design and build a trash wheel on Back River. Other funded initiatives include community cleanups, permeable pavement projects, youth educational programs, and native plantings. "With these projects, we're creating good-paying jobs, cleaning up trash, improving drainage, planting trees, and establishing new green spaces," Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said. "We aren't just repairing damage; we're building more sustainable neighborhoods." Other awards include $7,729 for Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Baltimore County to start a water testing and pollution monitoring program on Back River, $154,263 to The 6th Branch, for a program offering interactive workshops to install pollinator gardens at three urban farms, and $222,539 to the Living Classrooms Foundation to install "greening practices" that will improve water in the Lancaster Street canal. The funding complements Gov. Wes Moore's FY26 budget, which includes over $400 million for wastewater plant upgrades and other Chesapeake Bay-related projects. Last October, Baltimore City's Department of Public Works said it was operating at "historic" levels when it comes to wastewater treatment. In Tuesday's announcement, officials reported significant improvements at Maryland's two largest wastewater treatment plants, with nitrogen pollution dropping over 60 percent at Back River and 78 percent at Patapsco since 2022.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Maryland's building emissions rules got ‘trimmed' this session
Two air source heat pumps installed on the exterior of a house. ( photo by Nimur.) Environmentalists who feared an extensive rollback of one of the state's signature climate programs, instead managed to escape this year's legislative session with what they say are just revisions to the Building Energy Performance Standards. The BEPS program, adopted as part of the Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022, requires large buildings in the state to electrify over time, and reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, or pay fees. This year, lawmakers exempted hospitals from the rules, amid other changes, but largely left the program intact to the relief of environmentalists. 'BEPS was trimmed, not cut down,' said Jamie DeMarco, a lobbyist for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. CCAN initially supported House Bill 49, which would have given buildings some more flexibility, including with a waiver program for specific cases. The Maryland Department of the Environment, which enforces building emissions rules, proposed the bill. But midway through the legislative session, lawmakers began discussing broader modifications to the rules, including exempting residential buildings and hospitals, said Brittany Baker, CCAN's Maryland director. 'Once we were having these BEPS conversations, legislators had all of this angst … about BEPS, that now they wanted to attach all of these weakening amendments to the bill,' Baker said. Moore issues executive order that could delay EV sales penalties That came about the same time that a bill rolling back Maryland's electric vehicles program was advancing in the legislature. Ultimately, that bill failed, but not before Gov. Wes Moore issued a similar executive order, allowing his administration to pause penalties for the first two years of the EV program, which requires manufacturers to sell an increasing percentage of electric cars in Maryland. 'This legislative session was a tough, tough few months,' read an online post from CCAN. 'However, our advocacy changed the trajectory of the session in a tangible way.' Residential buildings don't appear in the passed bill, which is on the governor's desk. But hospitals were exempted, and emissions associated with steam sterilization and back-up generators at medical facilities, nursing homes and laboratories are also exempt under the bill. 'We think it was unnecessary. No other BEPS in the country exempts hospitals,' DeMarco said. 'But that's what happened.' Prior to this year's bill, historic buildings, elementary and secondary schools, manufacturing buildings, agricultural buildings and federal buildings could all apply to be exempted from BEPS. In testimony on the original bill, the Maryland Hospital Association pushed for lawmakers to exclude hospitals, arguing that they are held to unique HVAC standards, and intensive care units, emergency rooms and operating rooms need 'continuous and guaranteed access to power.' 'While hospitals support efforts to combat climate change, the unique nature of hospitals — and the potentially deadly consequences of power failure on patient safety — requires special consideration for an exemption,' wrote Natasha Mehu, vice president of government affairs and policy at MHA. This year's bill also clarified the relationship between the state and a similar building emissions program established in Montgomery County, in a way DeMarco called 'fair and reasonable': It lets MDE certify county-level programs and waive the state rules for buildings in counties that have approved regulations. Tom Ballentine, vice president for policy and government relations for Maryland NAIOP, a commercial real estate association, said the change reconciles 'overlapping requirements at the state and local level' and lets building owners focus on Montgomery's rules, which include earlier deadlines. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Buildings — with fossil-fuel burning furnaces, water heaters and stoves — contributed 16% of Maryland's greenhouse gas emissions as of 2020. Under state law, Maryland's overall emissions must be net-zero by 2045. In addition to reducing emissions, Maryland's BEPS program requires large buildings (over 35,000 square feet) to reduce their 'energy use intensity,' which measures annual energy use per square foot. The exact reductions haven't been set yet, after the General Assembly required MDE last year to take in energy use data from buildings first. Ballentine said that the energy use regulations represent an 'expansion of the policy scope that needs some consideration,' because it goes beyond greenhouse gas emissions. 'The way that energy efficiency has been managed in the past is through building and energy codes that are developed through a process that puts a high value on technical feasibility and cost effectiveness,' Ballentine said. 'MDE doesn't have that same mandate.' The bill exempted buildings with permanent 'sensitive compartmented information facilities,' or SCIFs, owned by certain federal agencies, from the energy use requirements. These facilities are essentially secure rooms where classified information is discussed, protected by security technology. DeMarco said he would have preferred to see SCIFs themselves exempted from the rules, rather than any building that contains a SCIF. 'The fear is that any data center, if it wants to be exempted from energy-use intensity, could just find a SCIF to be contained in it. But most data centers right now do not have SCIFs,' DeMarco said. Lawmakers approve energy reform bills aimed at cutting rates, boosting in-state generation Meanwhile, BEPS waivers focused on economic feasibility were stricken from the bill. The energy use regulations are a 'co-equal pillar' of the BEPS rules, DeMarco said, because they help prevent building owners from purchasing cheaper yet more inefficient electric heating systems, forcing tenants to deal with high bills. As originally introduced, this year's bill, which came from MDE, would have set up alternative compliance payments for the energy use segments — instead of only the greenhouse gas emissions. But that language was scrapped from the bill. Ballentine said the fees were set far too high. Using data from Montgomery County, his association estimated that the worst performing condominium building might have paid up to $600,000 per year. 'I was very surprised, actually, that in a session where the BGE bill impacts of increased energy costs and power surcharges were such an item of discussion, the energy intensity fee didn't get more attention,' Ballentine said. 'Because it is big for some buildings. It's a substantial number. With MDE's backing, the fees may resurface in the legislature. Getting the balance right is critical, DeMarco said. The fees must be high enough to encourage building owners to make the building renovations, but low enough that they don't bankrupt building owners who cannot comply. 'It essentially caps how much any building will ever have to pay, and knowing that there's an upper bound of how much you would ever have to pay provides a lot of beneficial certainty,' DeMarco said.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Entire county experiencing severe drought; 'warning' issued for almost all of state
Nearly the entire state, including Frederick County, is in a severe drought with conditions expected to persist in Western Maryland and parts of Central Maryland over the next month, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. The Maryland Department of the Environment also issued a drought 'warning' — the third level of the department's drought status key — on Thursday for almost the whole state. The Drought Monitor has five drought and dryness categories: abnormally dry, moderate drought, severe drought, extreme drought and exceptional drought. Frederick County has been in drought since Nov. 12, according to emails from the Drought Monitor. Conditions in Frederick County worsened from moderate drought to severe drought at the end of March. The current stream flow for multiple streams in the county is also much below normal levels. The Department of the Environment's drought status key has four levels: 'normal,' 'watch,' 'warning' and 'emergency.' No mandatory water-use restrictions have been issued statewide, but local water systems can choose to implement their own restrictions, according to a Maryland Department of the Environment news release. The only parts of Maryland not under a drought warning are the area served by the city of Baltimore, which gets its water from reservoirs, and the area served by the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, which includes parts of Montgomery and Prince George's counties. The department said that since October, the state has received about a third less precipitation than normal. While heavy rain earlier this week and snow in the winter helped, the groundwater levels in the state — especially in parts of Frederick and Carroll counties — is below normal. Residents and businesses who use public water systems should consult their local water suppliers to learn about any restrictions. For example, Middletown has prohibited watering lawns since the start of this year. People with private wells are encouraged to voluntarily conserve their water to sustain their water supply. The Department of the Environment is urging customers to use their water wisely and conserve now to mitigate potential future challenges as summer comes around. Some ways to conserve water include watering lawns less frequently, using water-efficient appliances and fixing any leaks.
CBS News
03-04-2025
- Climate
- CBS News
Most of Maryland under drought warning as dry conditions continue
A drought warning has been issued for most of Maryland due to ongoing dry conditions and below-average rainfall, the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) said Thursday. Baltimore City is not under a drought watch as it is experiencing normal conditions due to its reservoirs. Areas served by WSSC Water are under a drought watch set by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, according to the MDE. There are no statewide mandatory water restrictions in place, however, local water systems can choose to implement measures based on individual conditions, MDE said. "All Marylanders — especially those in our central and western counties — should use water wisely and follow any guidance from their local water supplier," MDE Secretary Serena McIlwain said. "There is no immediate water shortage in Maryland, but we are stepping up our communications with local drought coordinators and closely monitoring conditions across the state." According to MDE , a drought watch is an early alert that urges the state to monitor conditions, while a warning means conditions are getting worse and more active coordination is needed between water suppliers and state officials. During a watch, state officials monitor conditions every other week and keep an eye on potential problems caused by water systems. Water suppliers implement a water conservation plan and other measures to reduce usage. Suppliers are also directed to work with homeowners to complete leak detection surveys and leak repairs. During a drought watch, suppliers are able to impose restrictions that are more severe than state guidelines. During a drought warning, state officials encourage businesses to use treated wastewater in some instances, in accordance with health guidelines. Government buildings are urged to complete maintenance and repairs that may be contributing to leaks. When a warning is in place, water suppliers are urged to stop flushing water lines, fire hydrants and other equipment, and are asked to contact industrial users to reduce their water usage. During a watch, the goal is to decrease usage by 5-10% while a warning aims to reduce usage by 10-15%, according to MDE. Since October, Maryland has received less precipitation than normal, and while snowfall and recent heavy rain helped, groundwater levels are still below normal, MDE reported. Areas of Carroll and Frederick counties are seeing a greater impact. MDE data shows groundwater levels are lower than normal in shallow areas on the Eastern Shore. In November 2024, CBS News reported that much of the Northeastern U.S. experienced drought conditions, which fueled an increase in fire danger. At the time, 53% of Maryland was under a severe drought and 4% was under an extreme drought. As of April 1, 58% of Maryland is under a severe drought, and 24% is under a moderate drought, according to th e U.S. Drought Monitor . So far, no part of the state is under an extreme drought. MDE recommends that farmers consult the U.S. Drought Monitor if they are concerned about soil moisture or irrigation or contact their local soil conservation district to monitor conditions and support water management. Homeowners are advised to take the following steps to conserve water: Find more water-saving tips HERE .
