On July 9, 2012, at the annual meeting of the Chesapeake Executive Council, the U.S. EPA announced 14 technical-assistance awards for local governments in the Chesapeake watershed to help the localities implement policies and projects to meet goals of Phase II Watershed Implementation Plans (WIPs) under the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) pollution-reduction plan. The awards come from the Local Government Capacity Building Initiative of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The awards will go to one Delaware recipient, one West Virginia recipient, four Maryland recipients, four Pennsylvania recipients, and the following four the Virginia recipients: 1) the City of Hampton to adapt the Virginia highway beautification program to include bioretention and other innovative stormwater practices in medians and rights-of-way; 2) the City of Harrisonburg and the Town of Bridgewater (partnering with the Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission and James Madison University) to assess opportunities to implement stormwater retrofits and habitat restoration in the Blacks Run watershed; 3) the counties of Essex, King & Queen, King William, Gloucester, Mathews, and Middlesex (partnering with the Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission and three towns) in Virginia’s Middle Peninsula to develop a regional stormwater program; 4) and the City of Petersburg to prioritize the most cost-effective opportunities for stormwater retrofits and habitat restoration, and to develop a sustainable financing strategy to implement the highest priority projects.
Source: EPA Administrator Announces Local Governments Receiving Technical Assistance for Green Infrastructure Projects, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation News Release, 7/9/12
