"Report: Maryland's Water Pollution Enforcement Is Lagging"

"Maryland is failing to ride herd on water pollution in the state because of serious funding shortfalls and its own flawed enforcement practices, according to a Washington-based think tank.

The Center for Progressive Reform contends in a new report that while Maryland has some of the nation's toughest environmental laws, its enforcement of water pollution is lagging. ...

The report, commissioned by the Abell Foundation, echoes complaints made last year by some activists that the state Department of the Environment is failing to do enough to deter water polluters. The Waterkeeper Alliance and its member river and harbor watchdogs petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in December to revoke the state's authority to enforce the federal Clean Water Act."

Timothy B. Wheeler reports for the Baltimore Sun April 7, 2010.