1. United States
2. Md.
3. Letter

MARYLAND LEADERS: THE PUBLIC DESERVES ANSWERS—AND A CONCRETE PLAN TO PROTECT THE CHESAPEAKE BAY. On September 16, the Trump administration rescinded Executive Order 13508, the federal framework that had guided coordinated Chesapeake Bay protection and restoration efforts since 2009. Executive Order 13508 established shared leadership among the EPA and the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Interior and Transportation. It required federal agencies to coordinate with Maryland and the other watershed jurisdictions on pollution reduction, scientific research, environmental monitoring, habitat restoration, climate resilience, public access, measurable goals, annual action plans and publicly available progress reports. The replacement order directs federal agencies to redirect Chesapeake Bay resources toward projects the administration considers capable of producing direct and measurable water-quality improvements. The administration says it will reduce administrative costs and focus more money on projects addressing nutrient and sediment pollution. It also says FY2026 grants to the watershed jurisdictions increased by $2.7 million over FY2025. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation and other conservation organizations warn that rescinding the established framework could weaken federal coordination, scientific oversight, accountability and support for restoration work that remains unfinished. At this point, the order does not itself identify every grant, project, staff position or monitoring program that may be affected. That is precisely why Marylanders need transparency now. This is bigger than partisan politics. It concerns the environment taxpayers are required to live in: our water, public health, fisheries, farms, wildlife, shorelines, communities and regional economy. Maryland residents have already invested billions of public dollars and decades of work in restoring the Bay. They deserve to know whether federal funding, scientific monitoring, enforcement, staffing or restoration projects will be reduced, delayed, consolidated or redirected—and what objective standards will govern those decisions. Governor Wes Moore, the Maryland General Assembly, Attorney General Anthony Brown, Senators Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks, Representative Steny Hoyer and Maryland’s entire congressional delegation should provide the public with clear answers about: • Which Maryland programs, grants and projects could be affected • How much federal funding, staffing or technical assistance may be redirected • Whether annual action plans, progress reports and independent evaluations will continue • Whether existing pollution-reduction goals and deadlines remain enforceable • How water-quality progress will be measured and publicly disclosed • What safeguards will prevent “administrative savings” from becoming reduced monitoring, oversight or enforcement • How taxpayers, farmers, local governments and waterfront communities will be protected from additional costs • What Maryland will do if federal coordination or resources are lost MARYLAND HAS TOOLS AVAILABLE TO RESPOND: • Conduct and publish a statewide impact assessment identifying every federal grant, program, staff position, monitoring activity and restoration project connected to Executive Order 13508. • Require the Maryland Department of the Environment and Department of Natural Resources to publish a public funding-and-performance dashboard showing federal and state Bay dollars, project locations, measurable outcomes and any delayed or redirected resources. • Preserve Maryland’s Bay Restoration Fund and other dedicated clean-water funding for wastewater-treatment upgrades, failing septic systems, stormwater infrastructure and pollution-reduction projects. • Continue state water-quality monitoring, environmental inspections and enforcement so Maryland does not lose the data or accountability necessary to identify pollution and measure progress. • Protect funding for oyster restoration, forest buffers, wetlands, underwater grasses, stream restoration, agricultural conservation practices and other projects that reduce nutrients and sediment while protecting habitat and shorelines. • Coordinate with Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, New York and Washington, D.C., because pollution crosses state lines and the Bay cannot be restored by Maryland acting alone. • Use the Chesapeake Executive Council, Chesapeake Bay Commission and current Watershed Agreement to preserve interstate coordination, shared scientific standards and public reporting. • Direct the Maryland Attorney General to review specific federal funding decisions and agency actions for compliance with congressional appropriations, environmental statutes and administrative-law requirements. • Hold public hearings in Annapolis and congressional oversight hearings in Washington, with testimony from EPA officials, scientists, watermen, farmers, local governments, public-health experts and affected taxpayers. • Require federal agencies to disclose where every redirected dollar is going, what measurable result is expected and how that result will be independently verified. • Preserve congressionally appropriated Chesapeake Bay funding and consider placing federal coordination, reporting and accountability requirements into law rather than leaving them dependent upon executive orders that can be rescinded by a future president. Congress approved record funding for the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program for FY2026, and federal law previously reauthorized the program at $92 million annually. Congress controls appropriations and can require agencies to report how those funds are spent. Maryland’s delegation therefore has both an oversight role and a responsibility to explain whether already-approved resources will reach the programs and communities for which Congress provided them. The Bay has made progress, but the pollution problem has not been solved. Marylanders deserve transparent accounting, uninterrupted scientific monitoring, measurable results and an enforceable plan ensuring that decades of work—and the public money already invested—are not wasted. Original Executive Order 13508: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-chesapeake-bay-protection-and-restoration The administration’s explanation of the replacement order: https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2026/09/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-provides-meaningful-water-quality-improvements-through-collaboration-and-oversight-of-federal-support/ Chesapeake Bay Foundation response: https://www.cbf.org/news/trump-executive-order-takes-aim-at-chesapeake-bay-restoration/ Maryland Bay Restoration Fund: https://mde.maryland.gov/programs/water/bayrestorationfund/pages/index.aspx Information on federal Chesapeake Bay Program authorization: https://www.cbf.org/news-media/newsroom/2025/president-signs-bipartisan-bill-to-extend-bay-restoration-programs.html