Maryland State Wire

Gov. Larry Hogan has been unanimously re-elected to a second term as chair of the Chesapeake Executive Council.

Hogan was re-elected during the 2018 annual meeting, which included representatives from six other watershed states; the mayor of Washington, D.C.; and several other state and federal officials. Hogan said in a news release that he was pleased with the progress the council was making and that he looked forward to continuing to work with everyone on the council.

"This council recognizes the power of innovation, collaboration and partnership when it comes to achieving a cleaner and healthier Chesapeake Bay, a national treasure we have the responsibility to preserve and protect for future generations to come," Hogan said in the news release.

Hogan said he wanted to thank the Chesapeake Bay program, as well as the planning team chairs and other organizers for putting the meeting together. He also thanked his colleagues for re-electing him as chair of the executive council.

"I believe very strongly that if we continue to embrace a spirit of bipartisan cooperation, together we can – and we will – find real, common sense solutions to protect the Chesapeake Bay," Hogan said in the news release.

Maryland has invested $4 billion in Chesapeake Bay restoration projects since Hogan took office in 2015. The investment is more than any previous governor in the state's history. The Chesapeake Bay was recently noted as having the highest score for water quality ever recorded, which was the best in the last three decades.

Hogan said at the meeting that the council needed to continue its restoration efforts to reduce sediment and nutrient pollution from the Susquehanna River, which flows into the Chesapeake Bay.

One of the council's goals is to develop a Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) for the Conowingo Dam, which the Susquehanna flows over en route to the Chesapeake Bay. The WIP is important for the council to meet its 2025 restoration goals.

The meeting was held at the Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park in Baltimore.Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and Delaware Gov. John Carney were in attendance at the meeting, as well as Acting Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler and Chesapeake Bay Commission Chairman Frank Wagner. Representatives for New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. were also there.

Hogan also recently was awarded the 2018 Maryland Environmental Service Environmental Business Leadership Award.