EPA

A bill that passed the General Assembly earlier this month would give farmers a 10-year exemption from any new state and local pollution laws. . . if they've put sufficient mechanisms in place to reduce runoff. Bay Journal reporter Rona Kobell will tell us what needs to happen for the law to be effective.

John Hodgman will be in southern Maryland Saturday for the annual Mark Twain Lecture Series on American Humor and Culture at St. Mary's College. We'll talk to Hodgman, and to Ben Click, the St. Mary's English professor and Twain-o-phile who started the series.

New pollution limits for the Chesapeake Bay imposed by EPA in December 2010 promise to improve the estuary’s health.  But farm and development industry lobbying groups have sued in federal court to overturn the limits, arguing EPA exceeded its authority and is trampling on states’ rights.  A judge will now decide the landmark lawsuit.

The Sauer Dump in southeastern Baltimore County is now a Superfund. So who cleans it up?

On Tuesday, retired four-star general Stanley McChrystal, former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, will be featured at the Meyerhoff as part of Stevenson University’s Baltimore Speakers Series. Today, he tells us what he sees as success for the U.S. in Afghanistan.

Theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck reviews the latest production at Everyman Theater, a drama from young playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney.

Yay! Maryland Day! Let’s sing the state song! Oh, wait…

Although Pennsylvania farms contribute a significant amount of pollution to the Chesapeake Bay, half of the 40,000 farms in the state's part of the Bay watershed do not have pollution control plans required by law to reduce runoff of manure and soil into streams. One　farmer who is doing an exemplary job of following the state's clean streams requirements is Leroy Walker, above, who recently built new manure management pits, a shed, and barn to reduce runoff pollution.

A growing number of religious organizations have been launching environmental advocacy campaigns. A recent example is the Evangelical Environmental Network's radio ads that criticize "pro-life" members of the U.S. House of Representatives for trying to derail EPA mercury pollution control regulations, which are meant to protect the unborn from brain damage caused by the toxic metal.

EPA Bay Czar Jeff Corbin points to runoff pollution caused by rain storm.