Moore said he hoped other Bay states would adopt Maryland’s model as they develop newer guidelines and protections. “It’s about how we come together to solve big problems.” “The Chesapeake Bay coalition is about more than just protecting a body of water,” he said. Moore described the effort as a novel approach that places a greater emphasis on science and data, brings more stakeholders to the table and will pay as much attention to the environmental developments along shorelines and in shallower areas of the Bay and its tributaries as scientists currently do to the tributary’s deepest points. The new task force is being assembled as Maryland and the six other Chesapeake Bay watershed jurisdictions - Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia - scramble to meet federal pollution reduction goals for the Bay and look ahead to a new regional strategy on Bay cleanup that is expected to be finalized next year.

Aruna Miller (D) and Natural Resources Secretary Josh Kurtz planted an oak tree along the Wye River, and Moore later signed an executive order creating the Governor’s Council on the Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Bays Watershed. The daylong visit began at the state’s pristine Wye Island Natural Resources Management Area in Queenstown. The administration officials visited a seafood packing plant and a farm for good measure. Wes Moore (D) and several key members of his administration traveled to a steamy Eastern Shore to announce two policy initiatives that will be shaped, at least initially, by new task forces - one to strengthen protections to the Chesapeake Bay, the other to boost Maryland’s oyster industry.

And yet, these dull sounding instruments of government can often be major drivers of important policy. Say “task force” and most Marylanders’ eyes are sure to glaze over. Sign up for Maryland Matters’ free email subscription today.

This content was republished with permission from WTOP’s news partners at Maryland Matters. Wes Moore (D) and other state officials throw oyster larvae into a tank with shells at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Horn Point Laboratory in Cambridge, site of an oyster hatchery. Business & Finance Click to expand menu.

Find force at bottom of tank