{"id":3172,"date":"2020-04-22T10:26:55","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T14:26:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/?p=3172"},"modified":"2020-04-22T16:14:00","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T20:14:00","slug":"maryland-environment-transportation-departments-advance-innovative-solution-to-pollution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/2020\/04\/22\/maryland-environment-transportation-departments-advance-innovative-solution-to-pollution\/","title":{"rendered":"Maryland Environment, Transportation Departments Advance Innovative Solution to Pollution"},"content":{"rendered":"

MARYLAND ENVIRONMENT AND TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENTS ADVANCE INNOVATIVE SOLUTION TO POLLUTION<\/strong><\/p>\n

MDOT State Highway Administration, Living Classrooms partner on education to help restore Bay; MDE approves and requires rigorous testing to ensure science-based, measurable results<\/em><\/p>\n

BALTIMORE \u2013 The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) has approved an innovative approach to Chesapeake Bay restoration that encourages and rewards environmental education that helps reduce and prevent pollution.<\/p>\n

The Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration (MDOT SHA) and Living Classrooms Foundation are launching a pilot education program that will encourage activities to reduce pollution to Maryland waterways and the Chesapeake Bay. The program \u2013 whose successes will be measured under MDE oversight \u2013 is the first of its kind in Maryland and is believed to be the first such program in the bay region.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the best ways to celebrate Earth Day is to get cleaner and greener by boosting education and inspiration,\u201d said Maryland Environment Secretary Ben Grumbles. \u201cBy encouraging innovative partnerships with civic and education-based organizations, our state can deliver even greater results for healthy communities, climate-resilient watersheds, and a restored Chesapeake Bay.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking with Living Classrooms and other Bay partners, this program will help us empower one of our greatest resources in cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay \u2013 our young people,” said Transportation Secretary Gregory Slater. \u201cTogether we will educate future stewards of the environment with a program that\u2019s informative, innovative, and driven by data to achieve real progress in restoring the bay.\u201d<\/p>\n

MDOT SHA is investing in the program as part of the agency\u2019s commitment to pollution reduction goals under its municipal stormwater permit. MDE is committed to working with MDOT SHA and Living Classrooms to establish a scientific basis<\/a> for credits that MDOT SHA would receive toward its stormwater permit obligations for environmentally positive actions that result from the educational program. Those actions might include reducing the use of fertilizer, building rain gardens, using rain barrels to reduce polluted stormwater runoff or increasing the use of public transit to reduce emissions that can deposit nutrient pollution in the bay.<\/p>\n

The scientific basis for crediting an educational best management practice (BMP) supports the Chesapeake Bay Program\u2019s Citizen Stewardship Outcome Management Strategy<\/a>, which holds that the long-term success and sustainability of the Chesapeake Bay restoration effort will ultimately depend on the actions and support of the 17 million residents who call the watershed home. The MDOT SHA-Living Classrooms partnership is also committed to working with Maryland\u2019s Chesapeake Bay Trust and the Chesapeake Bay Program\u2019s Urban Stormwater Work Group for determining scientifically based pollutant load reductions for an education BMP.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiving Classrooms is very excited about this partnership with MDOT SHA,\u201d said James Piper Bond, President and CEO of Living Classrooms. \u201cWe are grateful to MDE for approval of this innovative pilot project that will help grow the next generation of environmental stewards while improving the health of our waterways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Established in 1985, Living Classrooms Foundation\u2019s mission is to strengthen communities and inspire people to achieve their potential through hands-on education and job training, using urban, natural, and maritime resources as \u201cliving classrooms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Secretary Slater, who previously served as MDOT SHA Administrator, said the partnership with Living Classrooms is part of an MDOT commitment to work with communities and organizations across Maryland. He said the idea for the educational program was sparked by ongoing concern with litter that effects the health of the bay \u2013 in 2018 MDOT spent a more than $9 million on litter abatement. The secretary said he believes education can help curb the litter problem. He\u2019s also excited the project will benefit schools in Baltimore City, home of MDOT SHA headquarters.<\/p>\n

“MDOT\u2019s environmental programs are a key part of our mission and we are continuously looking for innovative partnerships in yielding sustainable results,\u201d said Secretary Slater. \u201cThis partnership recognizes that education is just as important as our physical efforts to tackle pollution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Governor Larry Hogan renewed Maryland\u2019s commitment to environmental education to ensure that every child in Maryland has the opportunity to learn about their local environment, develop a connection with nature, and have a better sense of place in their natural surroundings. The governor signed an Executive Order<\/a> establishing Project Green Classrooms, an initiative to promote outdoor experiential activities and environmental education through Maryland\u2019s schools, communities and public lands.<\/p>\n

While environmental education has long been a fundamental component of the bay’s restoration effort, quantifying actual pollutant reductions has been difficult. This pilot project is designed to tie environmental education and pollutant reductions together through rigorous social and scientific monitoring. When students are moved to install rain gardens for capturing stormwater runoff or take mass transit for reducing harmful emissions, those actions can be tracked, pollutant reductions can be measured and stormwater discharges can be reduced. Jurisdictions looking for new and innovative approaches for meeting municipal stormwater permit discharge requirements will now have an incentive for investing in environmental education.<\/p>\n

In approving the MDOT SHA proposal, MDE set requirements for the transportation agency to meet to receive credits toward its permit requirements and outlined steps that must be taken by the one-, two- and three-year anniversaries of the pilot program. To read MDE\u2019s approval letter and its requirements and conditions, go to https:\/\/mde.maryland.gov\/Documents\/MDE-SHA-ED-BMP-3_30_2020.pdf<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This new partnership becomes part of MDOT\u2019s portfolio of environmental and educational programs. In addition to environmental efforts that are part of every project, initiatives include MDOT SHA\u2019s Adopt-A-Highway and anti-litter campaigns, MDOT Maryland Port Administration\u2019s sponsorship of Captain Trashwheel at Masonville Cove, and the Smart Ponds<\/a> pilot program, a public-private partnership that uses advanced stormwater control technology to reduce pollutants and curb local flooding.<\/p>\n

Other educational programs include MDOT SHA\u2019s sponsorship of TRAC<\/a> (Transportation and Civil Engineering), a program that engages middle- and high-school students in hands-on projects with the help of professional planners, engineers and environmental scientists; and another agreement with Living Classrooms in which MDOT SHA will donate 200 used computers to the nonprofit for use in its regional environmental programs.<\/p>\n

# # #<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MARYLAND ENVIRONMENT AND TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENTS ADVANCE INNOVATIVE SOLUTION TO POLLUTION MDOT State Highway Administration, Living Classrooms partner on education to help restore Bay; MDE approves and requires rigorous testing to ensure science-based, measurable results BALTIMORE \u2013 The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) has approved an innovative approach to Chesapeake Bay restoration that encourages and  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":296,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,4,63,14,81,20,1],"tags":[85,28,51],"class_list":["post-3172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chesapeake-bay","category-clean-water-2","category-earth-week","category-press-release","category-secretary-grumbles","category-stormwater-2","category-uncategorized","tag-chesapeake-bay","tag-clean-water","tag-stormwater"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3172"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3175,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3172\/revisions\/3175"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}