By Steve Crane | Editor-in-chief
“Plastic pollution is pervasive, and it's a danger that's not just out there in some patch across the ocean. It's right here. It's knocking at our front door.” - Alice Volpitta, Baltimore Harbor waterkeeper, on the release of a study that showed the presence of microplastics in every one of the 15 sites tested in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
If there’s a theme to today’s grab bag of news, it may be health. Better to just get to it and get your Wednesday started.
Microplastics are exactly what they sound like — minuscule bits of plastic that don’t break down it the environment, but just get ever smaller. And a recent survey of 15 sites in and around the Chesapeake Bay found microplastics in every one of the sites sampled, as Christine Condon reports.
A state panel that was formed in the first Trump administration to track threats to health funding is back, and they have some ideas on how state lawmakers can keep Maryland programs secure. Danielle J. Brown has that story. And the Montgomery County Council, by the narrowest of margins, voted Tuesday to keep the county’s waste-to-energy incinerator running despite needing hundreds of millions in upgrades, as WTOP’s Kate Ryan reports.
Those stories, plus information on funeral services for former Baltimore City delegate Dennis McCoy, are below to help you get over this hump day. Enjoy!
Nina Harbison, right, an associate with Maryland PIRG, speaks in Baltimore on Tuesday about a report showing microplastic contamination is present in Chesapeake Bay waterways, beside Baltimore Harbor waterkeeper Alice Volpitta. (Photo by Christine Condon/Maryland Matters)
By Christine Condon
A small-scale study from the advocacy group Environment America found evidence of microplastics throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed, the group announced Tuesday.
Using citizen scientists, the group collected several water samples at 15 different places throughout the watershed, including five sites in Maryland waterways. They found microplastics at every site, whether in the form of plastic fiber, film, beads or fragments.
The results, according to several local environmental groups, are strong evidence that Maryland lawmakers should move forward with legislation this year to curb plastic pollution, including a bottle return program that would reimburse Marylanders who drop off plastic drink containers for recycling.
Microplastics are particularly insidious because their small size — less than 5 millimeters, or about the size of a sesame seed — means they aren’t easily collected. Once they enter the ecosystem, these microplastics are often consumed by fish and other wildlife, causing a host of health issues.
Maryland Health Insurance Coverage Protection Commission co-chairs Sen. Cory McCray (D-Baltimore City) and Del. Bonnie Cullison (D-Montgomery) lead the first meeting of the revived commission in June. (File photo by Danielle J. Brown/Maryland Matters)
By Danielle J. Brown
A healthcare coverage watchdog group is urging lawmakers to free up funding that can be used to meet a "desperate need" for revenue to help keep people insured.
The Maryland Health Insurance Coverage Protection Commission recommended Tuesday that legislators extend a 1% tax on insurance carriers and that they back legislation making it easier for state officials to lower certain prescription drug costs.
The panel could not agree on other proposals, including a proposed increase in alcohol taxes, but some commission members said they hoped lawmakers would take up the proposals on their own in the coming General Assembly session. The recommendations come as soaring health costs make it harder for people to keep their healthcare coverage, but another multibillion-dollar budget shortfall -- driven in part by higher health costs to the state -- makes it harder for the state to help.
Montgomery County's resource recovery facility in Dickerson burns the county's trash to generate electricity. (Photo courtesy Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection)
By Kate Ryan
A divided Montgomery County Council voted 6-5 Tuesday in favor of a plan that would keep the county's trash incinerator open beyond 2031, when the current contract expires.
The incinerator, or Resource Recovery Facility (RRF), burns waste to generate electricity, but opponents say it will take hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade the plant to current environmental standards. They had been pushing for a plan to shutter the incinerator and hauled the county's trash to landfills out of state.
The incinerator was cited by the state of Maryland for exceeding emissions limits in 2025. The latest estimates from the county’s own analysis state that modernizing the incinerator would cost $356 million, though county council staff also said in previous hearings that there were many “uncertainties” regarding future costs.
IN OTHER NEWS
Feds weigh next step in Montgomery gun feud: The Justice Department will decide how to proceed, after a federal judge dismissed its challenge of a Montgomery County restriction on firearms in public places like schools and churches.
Penman removed from Harford Council: Aaron Penman was removed from the Harford County Council Tuesday, after the Supreme Court of Maryland ruled that he cannot be on the council at the same time he's employed as a sheriff's deputy.
Schumer confident, Van Hollen listening: Sen. Chuck Schumer is “confident” he will be reelected as Democratic leader for the next Congress. Sen. Chris Van Hollen is reportedly weighing a run, but has only said so far that there needs to be an open debate.
Services for Dennis McCoy: Dennis C. McCoy, who served in the House of Delegates for a dozen years and was later a lobbyist known for his ability to bring groups together, died of blood cancer and other illnesses on Oct. 31. He was 84.
MATTERS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED
Child Victims Act on trial: Maryland's highest court is considering whether the state still enjoys immunity against about 1,300 institutional sex abuse claims from before 1982, despite a 2023 law that eliminated time barriers for someone to file an abuse claim.
Funding for rural health: Federal officials announced another $10 billion in awards to states, including $168.4 million for Maryland, in the second year of the Rural Health Transformation Fund created to bolster rural health in the face of cuts to Medicaid.
Political notes: Gov. Wes Moore goes on another network show and is asked another question on his political future, the League of Conservation Voters taps Jason Donofrio as its next director, and Progressive Maryland talks artificial intelligence, in political notes.
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