A Chesapeake Bay sunrise on a frigid morning in January 2025. (Photo by Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi)
Gov. Wes Moore (D) announced with some fanfare in the fall that he planned to introduce legislation during this year’s General Assembly session to expand and modernize Maryland’s efforts to protect the Chesapeake Bay, telling assembled leaders from every state in the Bay watershed, “It’s up to us to protect it.”
That bill got its first public airing Tuesday but several stakeholders, including some inclined to support it, seemed confounded by the complexity of the legislation.
“You’re looking to supposedly streamline [Bay protections], yet there is a lot of confusion,” Sen. Mary Beth Carozza (R-Lower Shore) told Moore administration officials during the Senate Committee on Education, Energy and the Environment hearing.
The Chesapeake Bay Legacy Act aims to accomplish several things.
Most notably, it would create a first-in-the-nation Leaders in Environmentally Engaged Farming (LEEF) program, similar to LEED designations that provide economic incentives to developers of environmentally-friendly buildings. The program would provide state incentives to farmers who adopt certain Bay- and climate-related conservation practices, with certificates based on the farmers’ level of commitment to these goals.
Kevin Atticks, Maryland’s secretary of Agriculture, called the incentive program “a transformational way in how we manage, how we encourage, how we access conservation.”
The legislation envisions setting aside $2 million a year over the next five years to pay farmers who get LEEF certification. That funding would come from a government program that has dedicated $2.5 million a year for tree plantings across the state. Atticks said state officials have found they can only spend about $500,000 a year on tree plantings — though he added that other state-funded programs are also going toward tree plantings.
The Bay Legacy Act also seeks to promote regenerative farming practices in the state, particularly on land owned by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which would offer long-term leases to farmers to encourage them to regenerate the soil — and would prioritize aspiring farmers who don’t ordinarily have access to farmland.
“It is hard,” Atticks said, “if you do not come from land to obtain agricultural land.”
The legislation would give priority to practitioners whose farming techniques draw “on traditions and innovations from African, Indigenous, and original land stewards … promotes culturally important food and climate justice programs and initiatives; and … enhances the land and ecosystem.”
“With this reform, Maryland can partner with farmers who use regenerative techniques and provide an example on our public lands for how farms can produce healthy food that helps us reach our clean water goals of swimmable and fishable waters throughout Maryland,” said DNR Secretary Josh Kurtz.
Beyond the agricultural provisions, the 28-page bill pivots to water quality, the seafood industry and aquaculture practices. It seeks to:
- Improve aquaculture permitting in the state;
- Strengthen water-quality monitoring programs within DNR, largely by establishing new protocols in state statute to make it easier for the agency to work with other entities and “citizen scientists” who can conduct homemade but reliable water quality tests of their own;
- Make fisheries management more streamlined while emphasizing sensitivity to climate change;
- Allow interested fish processors to use a Japanese fish processing technique known as ikejime that extends seafood preservation, thus increasing the market value of the catch;
- Encourage state agencies to expedite permits for watershed improvements
The bill has received strong support from environmental organizations and organic farmers.
“The Chesapeake Bay Legacy Act brings hope for a healthier and more resilient future,” said Allison Colden, Maryland executive director for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. “This legislation gives our farmers, watermen, oyster growers and restoration scientists the tools they need to succeed, and in turn, will reduce pollution in our rivers and streams.”
But the sheer scope of the legislation seems to be giving some lawmakers and the interest groups that depend on a healthy Bay pause. Administration officials just released a series of proposed amendments on Tuesday morning, to address some of the skeptics’ concerns.
“The bill is 28 pages long and already has many amendments, and more to come, before it goes over to the House,” said Robert T. Brown Sr., president of the Maryland Watermen’s Association. “We just got the amendments today. We’d like more time to look at them.”
The watermen’s association is one of several industry groups that has engaged Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio, who was DNR secretary under former Gov. Larry Hogan (R), to represent them.
Robert Newberry, chair of the Delmarva Fisheries Association and the Maryland Charter Boat Association, and the only person to fully testify against the bill at Tuesday’s hearing, was blunter, saying the legislation “absolutely hit us like a Scud missile.”
Administration officials and lawmakers signaled that they’re willing to give interest groups some time to digest the legislation and proposed changes. But Sen. Cheryl C. Kagan (D-Montgomery), the committee vice chair, suggested that they shouldn’t wait too long given the press of other legislative business this session.
“I am of the assumption that this administration is working in good faith,” she said.
Kagan asked Newberry what troubled him about the legislation.
“What I’m thinking — and I’m not being facetious — page 10 to 28 has to be thrown out of the bill,” he said, referring to the sections on water quality, seafood and aquaculture.
A couple of hours after the hearing ended, Moore released a statement urging the bill’s passage, saying it “uplifts every sector of our Bay economy — from agriculture to aquaculture. Because prioritizing conservation and environmental protection isn’t just the responsible thing to do — it will also help us create jobs and build new pathways to work, wages, and wealth for all Marylanders.”
– Editor’s note: DNR Secretary Josh Kurtz is not related to Maryland Matters’ Josh Kurtz.