BALTIMORE, MD. (December 2, 2009) -- Public meetings to discuss the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) are scheduled for next week in Baltimore and on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The meetings are being held to provide information on the process, approach, and implications for Maryland of the TMDL — a strict “pollution diet” to restore the Chesapeake Bay and its tributary rivers and streams.

The meetings will include information on how plans will be developed to achieve the necessary pollution reductions required by the TMDL and meet Maryland’s two-year milestones for Bay restoration.

A meeting is scheduled for December 8, 2009, at the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) headquarters in Baltimore. Another meeting is scheduled for December 11, 2009, at Chesapeake College in Wye Mills.

The December 8 meeting will be broadcast on-line via webinar. Access to the audio presentations and slide shows will be provided, as well as on-line participation in the question-and-answer session. Go to
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/568237411 to reserve a webinar seat. Space is limited.

The meetings are among 14 being held by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) throughout the watershed’s six states (Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, and New York) and the District of Columbia from early November through mid-December 2009.

The EPA is establishing a TMDL for nutrients and sediment for the Chesapeake Bay watershed that will establish and assign the pollution reductions necessary for meeting Bay water quality standards. EPA officials will outline the Bay TMDL and receive public input during the sessions. Representatives of state agencies, including MDE, will discuss the Bay TMDL’s potential impact on Maryland and how plans will be developed and implemented to meet its requirements.

A draft TMDL will be issued in August 2010, followed by a public comment period. A second series of meetings will be held during the public comment period. A final TMDL will be established by EPA in December 2010.

• Maryland meetings

  December 8, 2009
  2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
  Maryland Department of the Environment, Aeris/Aqua/Terra conference rooms
  1800 Washington Boulevard, Baltimore MD 21230

• December 11, 2009

  1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
  Chesapeake College, Todd Performing Arts Center
  1000 College Circle, Wye Mills, MD 21679

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