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Choose Clean Water Conference Agenda
1st Annual Choose Clean Water - Chesapeake Bay Restoration Conference
Renaissance M Street 1143 New Hampshire Avenue NW Washington, District of Columbia
January 10-12, 2010
Agenda
Sunday, January 10
10:00 AM- 6:00 PM Conference Check-in and On-Site Registration
3:30 PM - 4:00 PM Welcome
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Panel Discussion – Looking Towards 2010: Building on a Successful Year for Clean Water
Moderator: Ann Swanson, Chesapeake Bay Commission
Panelists:
Chuck Fox, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Mike Burke, Office of Senator Ben Cardin
Jeff Corbin, Assistant Secretary of Natural Resources, Virginia
Bill Street, James River Association
From the announcement of President Obama’s Executive Order to the Chesapeake Clean Water legislation and launch of the Choose Clean Water Coalition, 2009 was a banner year for restoration in the region. But what does all of this momentum mean? This panel will explore how announcements and opportunities in 2009 can be turned into real wins in 2010.
6:00 PM- 8:30 PM Reception & Opening Banquet
Opening Remarks: Keith Campbell, Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment
Evening Program:
Will Baker, Chesapeake Bay Foundation
George S. Hawkins, District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority
Congressman Frank Kratovil, 1st District of Maryland
Please join us to kick off a new year of work to restore the Chesapeake and all of its waters.
Monday, January 11
7:30 AM - 5:30 PM Conference Check-in and On-Site Registration
7:30 AM - 8:20 AM Breakfast
Keynote Speaker: Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, District of Columbia
8:30 AM - 9:15 AM Welcome and Morning Plenary Session – Making Connections: the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) process, Executive Order, and Chesapeake Clean Water legislation
Keynote Speaker: Congressman Elijah Cummings, 7th District of Maryland
Speaker: Doug Siglin, Chesapeake Bay Foundation
How do all of these separate processes and initiatives connect to each other? What is the
practical impact of the Chesapeake Clean Water legislation on the TMDL and how does the Administration’s work fit in? Doug Siglin, Director of Federal Affairs for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation will discuss the intersection of three important initiatives and explain why each one deserves our attention.
9:30 AM - 11:30 AM Morning Breakout Sessions
A Clean-up Plan for the Bay - What to Expect from the Bay TMDLs
Facilitators: Rick Parrish, Southern Environmental Law Center and Beth McGee, Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Panelists:
Bob Koroncai, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Jack Frye, Department of Recreation and Conservation, Virginia
Greg Bowen, Calvert County, Maryland
Matt Kofroth, Lancaster County Conservation District, Pennsylvania
This session will review the status of the water quality restoration plan for the Bay. Session leaders will explain the fundamentals of the TMDL process, the calculation of the "Total Maximum Daily Load," of various nutrients and sediments that the Bay can accommodate and still meet clean and healthy water goals. The session will also explore how the Bay TMDLs, 276 in all, are going to set a new standard for this cleanup program and bring pollution load allocations down to the local level. Panelists will address the critical role of implementation at the regional, state and local levels, the need for state and federal funding to supplement private funds, the importance of having 2-year milestones, and what happens if monitoring demonstrates that those milestones are not being met.
Choosing Clean Stormwater Runoff - Organizing to Shift to a New Stormwater Paradigm in the Bay Watershed
Facilitator: Tom Schueler, Chesapeake Stormwater Network
Panelists:
Jenny Molloy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Lee Epstein, Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Bill Street, James River Association
Diane Cameron, Audubon Naturalist Society
Harry Campbell, Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Nancy Stoner, Natural Resources Defense Council
Polluted stormwater runoff from urban and suburban areas is a significant, fast-growing and largely an unsolved source of nutrients, sediment and toxics entering your local stream and eventually the Chesapeake Bay. Stormwater runoff is also responsible for major declines in stream health in the region. This session will focus on the challenges involved in getting governments to implement and enforce effective practices to treat runoff from new development, redevelopment and existing development in the watershed. The goal of the session is to look for the most effective opportunities for environmental advocacy community to collaborate together to bring about on the ground change in how stormwater is managed in communities throughout our region.
Conowingo Sediment and Marcellus Shale, a Headwaters Prospective
Facilitator: Jan Jarrett, PennFuture
Speakers:
Jan Jarrett, PennFuture
Michael Helfrich, Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper
Protecting the headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, beginning in Cooperstown, New York to streams in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, is critical to eventually restoring clean water to the Chesapeake Bay. This session will highlight some of the biggest issues in the headwaters region, including the sediment filling up behind Conowingo Dam and natural gas exploration also known as Marcellus shale. Presentations will detail how upstream communities are dealing with these critical issues and what it means for everyone downstream.
Preparing Communities and Ecosystems for a More Volatile Climate - Climate Adaptation Policy and Practice
Facilitator: Will Hewes, American Rivers
Panelists:
Professor Vic Kennedy, University of Maryland
Andrew Fahlund, American Rivers
John Kostyack, National Wildlife Federation
Zoe Johnson, Department of Natural Resources, Maryland
This panel will explore how a changing climate will impact water resources in the Chesapeake Bay region, from more intense storms and increased runoff to more frequent droughts and rising water temperatures. The panelists will discuss the need for coordinated planning across the region and the key role that restoration and protection of our natural resources can play in helping communities become more resilient to these threats. The panel will include discussion of adaptation provisions in recent climate legislation and changes that are needed moving forward.
11:45 PM - 1:15 PM Lunch and Afternoon Plenary Session – Great Waters and the Great Waters Coalition
Speaker: Theresa Pierno, National Parks Conservation Association
A new coalition protecting Great Waters around the country also formed in 2009. Theresa Pierno, executive vice president for the National Parks Conservation Association and co-chair of the new Coalition, will talk about the great opportunity to work with partners across the country to protect clean water in the places we value most.
1:30 PM - 3:30 PM Afternoon Breakout Sessions
Challenges and Opportunities for Agriculture - TMDLs, Nutrient Trading, and New Water Quality Policies for the Bay
Facilitators: Michelle Perez, World Resources Institute
Speakers:
Suzy Friedman, Environmental Defense Fund
Kelly Shenk, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Cy Jones, World Resources Institute
This session will provide a look back at the successes and shortcomings of the voluntary approach to achieve conservation goals and scan the presence and limits of existing state and federal regulations addressing farm sources of pollution. Session leaders will review the Executive Order proposals to expand and strengthen the federal CAFO program, a new EPA-USDA initiative to cooperate, and a commitment to target federal USDA conservation programs to high priority areas. Additionally, panelists will explore the emerging field of nutrient trading by answering questions such as, how can an interstate nutrient trading program help achieve a mandatory cap on nutrient loads to the Bay, and how can the opportunity of trading and fears about the unintended consequences be put into perspective?
Communicating Conservation - Mobilizing Political Support for Clean and Healthy Waters
Facilitator: Eric Eckl, Water Words that Work
Panelists:
Dick Brooks, Action Media
Travis Loop, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Danielle Bridiga, National Wildlife Federation
We cannot restore the hundreds of rivers and streams that flow into the Bay without the support of the 17 million people who live in the watershed. Join an all-star panel of communications experts to learn what it takes to motivate citizens to demand action to restore our neighborhood waterways and the Chesapeake Bay. In this session, we'll critique recent clean water communications efforts from around the country -- and then break into teams to try to come up with something better!
Conserving the Chesapeake’s Treasured Landscapes
Facilitator: David O’Neil, Friends of the John Smith Chesapeake Water Trail
Panelists:
John Maounis, National Park Service Chesapeake Bay
Marvin Moriarty, NE Regional Director, US Fish and Wildlife Service
Mark Bryer, The Nature Conservancy
Rob Etgen, Eastern Shore Land Conservancy
Deanna Beacham, Virginia Council on Indians
Brenda Barrett, Department of Conservation and Recreation, Pennsylvania
Conserving America’s Treasured Landscapes is a priority of the U.S. Department of the Interior. On several occasions the Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, has highlighted the Chesapeake as a candidate for this priority initiative and a Treasured Landscape program has emerged as an important recommendation in the draft Chesapeake Bay Restoration and Protection Strategy in response to the President’s Executive Order. During this session, experts will share a vision for Treasured Landscapes in the Chesapeake, the relationship between land use and water quality, highlight examples of programs that reflect the attributes of a Treasured Landscape program, and showcase opportunities for you to support this emerging program. Join us for a lively discussion about a vision for Treasured Landscapes in the Chesapeake and opportunities to expand land conservation and public access in the Bay region.
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM Panel Discussion - Executive Order Implementation – What is next from the
Obama Administration?
Keynote Speaker: Lisa P. Jackson, Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Moderator: Chuck Fox, EPA Senior Advisor on the Chesapeake Bay and Anacostia River
Panelists:
John D. Porcari, Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation
Will Shafroth, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, U.S. Department of the
Interior
Leonard Jordan, Regional Conservationist, United States Department of Agriculture, Natural
Resources Conservation Service
Panelists representing several federal agencies and the Obama administration will talk about the
Executive Order process and what it means for Chesapeake Bay restoration in the future.
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM Chesapeake Bay Funders Network Event
Keynote Speaker: Congressman John Sarbanes, 3rd District of Maryland
Join members of the philanthropic community in celebration of all of the great work being done to restore clean water to the region. Drinks and light refreshments will be served.
7:00 PM Dinner on your own
Tuesday, January 12
7:30 AM - 9:00 AM Congressional Breakfast
Congressman Chris Van Hollen, 8th District of Maryland,
Congresswoman Donna Edwards, 4th District of Maryland
Congressman Rob Wittman, 1st District of Virginia
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Panel Discussion –The Importance of Local Governments Restoring Local Waters
Keynote Speaker: Congressman Gerry Connolly, 11th District of Virginia
Moderator: Tommy Wells, Councilmember Ward 6, District of Columbia
Panelists:
Mary Ann Lisanti, Council Member, Harford County Maryland
Gerald W. Hyland, Supervisor, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Virginia (invited)
Local governments play an increasingly important role in carrying out regional and federal initiatives. How are local officials meeting the challenges of new regulations and compliance? What are the needs of local governments and how can the advocacy and philanthropic communities help? Panelists will include local elected officials from across the region.
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM Announcement of the Choose Clean Water Coalition’s Federal Policy Priorities for 2010
Keynote Speaker: Senator Ben Cardin, Maryland
Speaker: Hilary Harp Falk, Choose Clean Water Coalition
11:00 AM Conference Adjourns
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM Anacostia “Talking Trash” Field Trip (pre-registration required)