Governor O'Malley on Maryland's BayStat

 

Hello, I’m Governor Martin O’Malley. 

Welcome to BayStat, where we target and track Maryland’s efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay. I am pleased to report that we have made significant progress since launching this website in 2007.

In the past two and a half years, working together as One Maryland we have preserved nearly 24,000 acres of land through Program Open Space – a fivefold increase over the comparable period in the previous Administration. 

Together, for the first time in a quarter century, we have strengthened our Critical Areas Laws.  And together, we’ve passed landmark legislation to promote cleaner cars and reduce our carbon footprint. 

What’s more, our blue crab population has begun to rebound, Maryland’s bay grasses have increased 20 percent from 2008, and many water quality stations are showing reduced nitrogen pollution.  And, we’re seeing the health of some rivers finally start to come back.

The progress we’ve made so far has been a result not of chance, but of the difficult choices we’ve made together as One Maryland to invest in a more sustainable future.

Thanks to President Obama’s leadership and partnership, we are now receiving more federal resources to help us restore the Bay. 

And here at home we continue to choose a more sustainable future, having set attainable, clearly articulated short term goals that will help us dramatically accelerate progress on the ground to meet our current nutrient reduction goals by 2020.

We have committed to doubling cover crops on farm land; expanding forest buffers and wetlands; retrofitting stormwater on 90,000 acres; upgrading 3,000 septic systems and several sewage treatments plants; and reducing nitrogen pollution from power plants – all over the next two years.
 
While these new milestones will allow us to hold ourselves accountable, we know that state and federal actions alone will not clean up the Bay.   True progress will require the full commitment and involvement of our local governments, non-governmental organizations, businesses, and of course, all of our fellow citizens as well.  

All Maryland families — even those who do not live within the watershed — benefit from what the Chesapeake brings to our State.  And everything we do, from planting trees and conserving energy, to recycling and picking up after pets, is part of the solution to improving the health of the Bay.

With a government that works for Maryland’s families, we can achieve our goals for restoring our Bay and waterways, growing smarter, and advancing new green technologies, if we continue to work together and choose the more sustainable future for our State that all of us prefer.