skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Speaker Johnson cites constitutional limits to a third presidential term. Groups plan nationwide protests against executive overreach. Students raise concerns over academic freedom following a visa-related arrest in Boston. And U.S. Senate resolution aims to block new tariffs on Canada.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Air and water pollution is a greater risk for rural folks due to EPA cutbacks, Montana's media landscape gets a deep dive, and policymakers are putting wheels on the road to expand rural health.

Report Shows Improving Health for Chesapeake Bay

play audio
Play

Friday, January 6, 2017   

HARRISBURG, Pa. - The Chesapeake Bay is getting healthier, but a new report says Pennsylvania needs to step up its efforts to cut pollution flowing into the bay.

The latest State of the Bay report showed that the bay's health index has gone up two points since 2014, from a grade of D-plus to C-minus.

Chesapeake Bay Foundation President William Baker cited gains across all three rating categories - fisheries, habitat and pollution - and for nine of 13 specific indicators.

"This is thanks to all of the states in the watershed and many federal agencies," he said, "working together in partnership to put world-class science to work on a comprehensive plan to reduce pollution."

The report said all six watershed states showed progress, but Pennsylvania, the source of half the water flowing into the bay, still is behind in meeting its pollution-reduction goals.

Last year, the state launched a reboot of its clean-water program and received additional state and federal funding for the effort. Harry Campbell, who heads the foundation's Pennsylvania office, said the state's Clean Water Blueprint provides the road map to success.

"We know what needs to be done," he said. "With leadership, commitment and investment, and the precision of the right practices at the right places, and engaging the right people, we can get this job done."

Pennsylvania has some 19,000 miles of impaired waterways.

Campbell noted that under the Chesapeake Bay watershed agreement, the Commonwealth is required to have 60 percent of its pollution-reduction efforts in place by the end of this year, or face consequences from the Environmental Protection Agency.

"We've already faced some of those consequences and have addressed those through the reboot," he said, "but if we lose momentum and lose our way from the recent successes that we've had, we may be facing them again in the future."

Baker added that, while the improvements listed in the State of the Bay report are good news, the ultimate goal is still years away.

"The bay is getting better," he said, "but the recovery is fragile, there's a long way left to go to achieve real success, and any slippage could rapidly reverse progress."

The report is online at cbf.org.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Thousands of datasets from federal agency websites have been scrubbed since the new administration took office. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

As U.S. government website purges continue, one nonprofit is racing to track and save as much data as possible. The Open Environmental Data Project …


Environment

play sound

President Donald Trump is set to impose sweeping global tariffs this week, a move expected to spark retaliation against a range of American products …

Health and Wellness

play sound

About 1.3 million Missourians are currently enrolled in Medicaid and nonprofits around the state have warned proposed federal cuts would be devastatin…


In 2024, according to American Clean Power, the renewable-energy industry in South Dakota had a workforce of 2,700 people. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota's new governor is making an active pitch regarding economic opportunities for the state. The renewable-energy sector said it continues …

Social Issues

play sound

The Jackson-based group Native American Jump Start has been providing grants to Native students, interns and young workers for decades and this year…

Social Issues

play sound

More jobs could be coming to Arkansas as companies interested in bringing manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. consider the Natural State, according …

play sound

Minnesota officials have launched a new portal, asking parents, students and others to share how they are affected by the Trump administration's …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021