DNR and MDE to Integrate Nonpoint Source Program
Government to Focus Bay Restoration Efforts

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ANNAPOLIS — Reiterating their commitment to both improving government efficiency and continuing efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay, officials at Maryland’s cabinet agencies responsible for the environment today announce the transfer of a grant program and its associated employees from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) over to the Department of the Environment (MDE).

This administrative action calls for transferring a division of the Watershed Service Unit of DNR to the Technical and Regulatory Services Administration of MDE. The transfer affects 13 positions within Maryland’s Nonpoint Source Management Program, which seeks to reduce nonpoint source pollution impacts to waterways. Nonpoint source pollution originates from various sources including agricultural runoff, deforestation, construction and urban activities.

Effective Jan. 10, the transferred employees will report to MDE headquarters in Baltimore. Employees were notified in a staff meeting today.

“This transfer enables a more comprehensive and streamlined approach in working to reduce pollution and help restore the Chesapeake Bay, a goal Governor Ehrlich, Secretary Philbrick and I are passionate about,” DNR Secretary C. Ronald Franks said. “I believe this action will enable us to progress in team efforts to restoring the Bay in a more expedient manner.”

A report issued by the Governor’s Commission on the Structure and Efficiency of State Government in 2003 recommended that secretaries of agencies with Chesapeake Bay and water quality programs evaluate how best to assign programs and funding between their agencies.

“The Maryland Department of the Environment is going to ensure that a balance between regulatory and cooperative programs is continued in the state’s efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay,” MDE Secretary Kendl P. Philbrick said. “We are strongly committed to reducing nonpoint source pollution and this integration will enable us to more effectively manage both of these efforts.”

The transfer creates an opportunity for MDE to provide local governments with a more comprehensive approach using both regulatory and non-regulatory methods to reduce nonpoint source pollution. The new configuration will allow MDE to further assist local governments in establishing their nonpoint source management programs.

Maryland's Nonpoint Source Management Program stems from the Clean Water Act of 1987. The act contained a new section, Section 319, which established a nationwide requirement that each state evaluate the nature and extent of its water quality problems caused by nonpoint source pollution and prepare a management program for addressing its priority nonpoint source pollution problems.

The program provides not only financial assistance, but also policy, technical and educational resources related to nonpoint source pollution. Maryland provides reimbursable grants to state and local governments, non-profit organizations, and institutions of higher learning to implement nonpoint source pollution control projects. In fiscal year 2005, Maryland received over $2.5 million in federal funding for this program. Keys to the program's success rely on creating open partnerships with other nonpoint source entities and developing long and short- term goals that will advance the program in the nonpoint source pollution control arena.

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The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is the state agency responsible for providing natural and living resource-related services to Maryland citizens and visitors. DNR manages more than 435,000 acres of public lands and 17,000 miles of waterways, as well as Maryland's wildlife and fishery species for maximum environmental, economic and quality of life benefits. A national leader in land conservation, the department manages natural, historic and cultural resources that attract 11 million visitors annually. DNR is the lead agency in Maryland's effort to restore the Chesapeake Bay, the state's number one environmental priority. Learn more at www.dnr.maryland.gov