Maryland is requiring three coal power plants to limit the amount of mercury, arsenic and other toxic metals they release into the Potomac and Patuxent rivers starting in 2020, amid uncertainty over whether the federal government will address the discharges.
State environmental regulators issued the new water discharge permits to the Chalk Point, Dickerson and Morgantown power plants last month, replacing water pollution standards that dated to the 1980s.
Dozens of Democratic state lawmakers and environmental advocates weighed in during the permitting process last year, urging Republican Gov.
Larry Hogan’s administration to require the pollution controls immediately, rather than wait for President Donald Trump’s administration to put new federal rules in place.
A rule was set to be put in place under former President Barack Obama by this year, but the Trump administration at first put it on hold and then delayed it by two years.
That delay is in the midst of a review in federal appeals court.
Regardless of the outcome of that fight, the Maryland plants will have to scrub their water emissions of the toxic metals starting Nov. 1, 2020.
More: Maryland requires three coal power plants to limit arsenic, mercury water pollution starting in 2020

Protesters rallied outside City Hall Monday to decry Baltimore’s third water rate increase in two years.
A typical home paying $84 a month will now pay $92.
Mark James said he nearly lost his Northeast Baltimore church over a water bill.
The $6,000 bill sent his congregation into a protracted legal battle.
City officials say they have no choice but to raise the rates.
Rates increased an average of 13.9 percent, up from an 8.4 percent increase last year.
The county has raised water and sewer rates for the past three years.
Raymond said the city’s public works department does not have any proposals in place for future rate adjustments for Baltimore customers.
“And yet with all of this chaos and confusion we are, again, raising the rates,” Cohen said.
The city sent the church to the tax sale in 2015.

FRUITLAND, Md.- The city of Fruitland, Maryland on Wednesday experienced a water main break on Camden Avenue and School Street that impacted hundreds of homes.
The water has since been turned back on, but boil water advisory is in effect.
The Fruitland Police Department says the water main break occurred around 9 a.m. Police say there was a time when the entire city was without water.
"I woke up this morning, I didn’t have any water, I tried to take a shower and I obviously couldn’t take one," says Brent Michaels.
Students at Fruitland Intermediate School were transferred to Fruitland Primary School since there was no water available for students.
All day long, water crews worked to fix the issue as they turned off various pipes so they could repair the holes in the water main.
As of Thursday morning, the water was back on, although water pressure may still be a little on the low side.
It is still not safe to drink on its own.
The city issued a precautionary boil water advisory Wednesday night.
Fruitland police said testing could take four to five days.

Possible tornado strikes Maryland’s Kent Island during night of severe storms.
FOX 5’s Melanie Alnwick was in Bay City on Maryland’s Kent Island Monday where residents were being asked to shelter in place following the storm.
231 Ruthsburg Rd Centreville MD pic.twitter.com/7zD2almqVh — Queen Anne’s Co. DES (@QueenAnneEM) July 24, 2017 Officials said approximately 8000 residents were without power at 6:30 a.m. Downed power lines were a major safety concern and were the reason residents were being asked to stay inside.
DES is asking residents in Bay City to shelter in place.
pic.twitter.com/0ilxPCrPs9 — Queen Anne’s Co. DES (@QueenAnneEM) July 24, 2017 Authorities warned residents to treat all downed power lines as live power lines as the cleanup continued and advised residents who did not need to leave home not to.
Lots of property damage in Bay City neighborhood that took brunt of the storm that hit Kent Island around 1am.
pic.twitter.com/Gb6JaPWXMs — Bob Barnard (@barnardfox5dc) July 24, 2017 The Bay Bridge was temporarily closed overnight due to the severe weather.
Under the plan: * The Ramp from 50 Eastbound to Rt 8 will be closed.
* The Ramp from 50 Westbound to Rt 8 will only allow Northbound Traffic.
Motorists who live South on Rt 8: * Coming East you will need to take Thompson Creek exit and use the access road to Rt.

2 Council Members Plan To Introduce Resolution Urging Emissions Cut At Incinerator.
Two Baltimore City Council members say they will introduce a resolution at Monday’s council meeting asking state officials to lower emissions limits for the city’s (and state’s) largest trash incinerator.
Ed Reisinger and Mary Pat Clarke’s resolution would call on regulators to set a limit of no more than 150 ppm of those gases every 24 hours, on par with Connecticut and New Jersey.
The current limit is 205 ppm.
“Setting these lower pollution limits would be a first step in addressing the negative health effects of the city’s major incinerator,” said Reisinger, who with colleagues has been promoting “zero waste” initiatives to clean up Baltimore’s environment.
“Asthma is a major problem in the city, and Maryland should take every opportunity to reduce pollution that triggers asthma attacks," Clarke said.
"Lower pollution limits set by MDE would help everyone, while also reducing nitrogen pollution in the Chesapeake Bay.” The EPA, the council members say, has found the Baltimore area isn’t meeting federal air quality standards for smog, so the state is obligated to set lower emissions levels, and activists say that the BRESCO incinerator is a good place to start.
“The BRESCO incinerator is a real problem — it released more nitrogen oxides air pollution per unit of energy in 2015 than any other large power plant in Maryland," Leah Kelley, an attorney for the Environmental Integrity Project, said in a statement.
Ironically, given the air pollution concerns, the incinerator is the destination for would-be water pollution: the trash and debris collected by the trash wheel at the mouth of the Jones Falls.
The incinerator also burns trash from Baltimore City, Baltimore County and other localities.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass.
— The Maryland men’s lacrosse team’s 42-year national championship drought ended at approximately 3:16 p.m. on Monday afternoon, with the Terrapins celebrating their 9-6 title game win over Ohio State with a mosh pit in the south end zone of Gillette Stadium.
The Terrapins’ win marked a sweep for the school – the Maryland women’s lacrosse team won a national championship on Sunday, clinching their third title in four seasons.
Junior midfielder Tim Rotanz scored three goals and senior attack Dylan Maltz added two for the Terrapins, who used suffocating defense to cause two Ohio State scoring droughts that lasted more than a quarter.
Dylan Maltz also scored against an Ohio State short stick early in the second quarter, and DiMillo followed up with his second goal off an assist from Rambo that pushed the lead to 5-2 with 9:43 remaining in the first half.
The Terrapins then killed an extra-man opportunity for Ohio State on the ensuing possession, and although they didn’t score on their own extra-man chance later in the quarter, they did enough defensively to go into the locker room with a three-goal lead at halftime.
Rotanz scored his second goal of the day off a backdoor cut, finishing off a feed from Maltz to make it 6-3 with 5:30 left in the third quarter.
Maltz scored his second goal of the game at a crucial point, giving Maryland a 7-3 lead with 13:04 remaining, which came after yet another patient, deliberate possession.
Ohio State pulled within 8-5 after freshman Trey LeClaire beat Maryland goalie Dan Morris low with five minutes remaining.
But after Ohio State retained possession on the ensuing faceoff and had a chance to pull within one goal, Morris came up with a crucial save on a laser of a shot by LeClaire.

Drought disaster loans available in Maryland.
ATLANTA — The U.S. Small Business Administration recently announced that federal Economic Injury Disaster Loans are available in Allegany, Carroll, Frederick and Washington counties in Maryland as a result of the drought between May 1 and Dec. 10, 2016.
The loans are available to small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture and private nonprofit organizations.
The SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program is available to eligible farm-related and nonfarm-related entities that suffered financial losses as a direct result of the drought.
With the exception of aquaculture enterprises, SBA can’t provide disaster loans to agricultural producers, farmers or ranchers.
Nurseries are eligible to apply for economic injury disaster loans for losses caused by drought conditions.
The loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills that could have been paid had the disaster not occurred.
Applicants may apply online using the Electronic Loan Application (ELA) via SBA’s secure website at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela.
Information and application forms can also be obtained by calling the SBA’s Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955 (800-877-8339 for the deaf and hard-of-hearing) or by sending an email to disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.
Completed applications should be mailed to U.S. Small Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155.

Maryland Assembly session gives environmentalists ‘reason to celebrate’.
Lawmakers ban fracking, freeze changes to oyster sanctuaries, pass more green-backed bills From “fracking” to oysters to clean energy, environmentalists had multiple reasons to smile when Maryland’s lawmakers wrapped up their work in Annapolis earlier this week.
Larry Hogan, the General Assembly made Maryland the first state with known natural gas reserves to pass legislation prohibiting hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to extract it.
Lawmakers bucked opposition from the Hogan administration, meanwhile, to impose a moratorium on opening any of the state’s 51 oyster sanctuaries to commercial harvesting.
That vote in late March came in response to a plan drafted by the Department of Natural Resources to open some areas put off-limits to harvest seven years ago.
Watermen said they wanted to try a new “rotational harvest” plan in some sanctuaries where oysters didn’t appear to be thriving.
They managed to craft a $43.5 billion state budget without slashing Bay restoration and other environmental programs.
Ann Swanson, executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Commission, said those bills marked a significant milestone: “It celebrated the fact that Maryland had used its dedicated funds to retrofit its largest sewage treatment plants, and now could begin redirecting the money to the next tier of important work.” The legislature’s Democratic majority also pushed through a resolution opposing the Trump administration’s proposal to eliminate federal funding for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Chesapeake Bay Program and slash the Bay-related efforts of other agencies.
Other measures of note that passed: – Energy: Lawmakers overrode a Hogan veto of a renewable energy bill that passed last year.
Some Bay-related bills pushed by environmentalists failed to pass, leaving advocates to hope they may fare better next year after further study.

Anne Arundel school officials put bottled water in 3 well-water schools.
Anne Arundel County school officials will pay for bottled water at three public schools after efforts to flush iron and mineral buildup from the water supply did not work.
About a month ago, parents began organizing the community to demand school officials make the water clear at Bodkin Elementary School, Chesapeake Bay Middle School and Chesapeake High School in Pasadena.
School officials reported improvements in a March 24 letter to parents.
School staff are figuring out long-term solutions such as replacing pipes or using additives to treat the water and pipes.
Bodkin Elementary, Chesapeake Bay Middle, and Chesapeake High are three of 20 county school buildings on well water.
Water test results from November to February in the three schools show iron levels as high as 3.32 milligram per liter, the results from a test conducted on Dec. 5 at Chesapeake Bay Middle, state data shows.
In March, the iron levels were above the EPA suggested level at Chesapeake Bay Middle School in six of the 12 tested days.
At Chesapeake High and Bodkin Elementary, only one of the 12 tested days showed levels higher than the EPA standard.
Parents who have insisted on bottled water for the three schools welcomed Arlotto’s letter.

Drought warning issued for central Maryland; Eastern region under drought watch.
BALTIMORE (WBFF) – A drought warning was issued for central Maryland on Thursday, by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE).
After a drought warning is issued, the MDE increases oversight of water supply conditions and encourages citizens and businesses to use less water.
Baltimore, Carroll, Cecil, Frederick, Harford, Howard and Montgomery counties are covered by the warning, except for areas served by the Baltimore City or Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission public water systems.
Brush fires broke out in several counties under the drought warning Thursday, amid dry and windy conditions.
"Water conservation and efficiency are always smart especially during extended periods of reduced rainfall," said Maryland Secretary of the Environment Ben Grumbles.
According to the MDE, central region rainfall since Sept. 30, 2016, is on average 6.5 inches below normal, or about 61% of normal.
Rainfall in the Eastern region since Sept. 30, 2016, is on average 4.7 inches below normal, or about 71% of normal, MDE said.
While under the drought warning, conditions in the affected jurisdictions will be evaluated weekly.
In assessing and issuing warnings on drought conditions, the state uses the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ definition of drought: "periods of time when natural or managed water systems do not provide enough water to meet established human and environmental uses because of natural shortfalls in precipitation or stream flow."