One Month Left: Clean Water Commerce Applications

By Harry Huntley

When:
One month from today, on September 9th, 2022, the first round of request for proposals for the Clean Water Commerce Program will close. 

What:
This first-of-its-kind program pays $20 million a year directly for reductions of nitrogen pollution flowing into the Chesapeake Bay, rather than mandating specific practices. 

Who:
Nonprofits, private companies, and individual farmers and landowners are all eligible to apply.

Where:

  • 35% of funds must go to pay for outcomes from agricultural practices

  • 20% of funds must go to communities disproportionately burdened by environmental harms or risks

  • 10% of funds must go to nonagricultural landscape restoration projects 

Why:
Farmers know their land and operations better than anyone. And experts have spent decades finding and developing the best ways to improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay. This program represents a nationally-unique approach by a state to pay producers for environmental outcomes. As EPIC has written before, paying for outcomes has the potential to drive down costs through competition and innovation and to be scalable enough to meet the scope of our water quality challenges.

How:
The below buttons include the program solicitation and application, which must be emailed to mde.wqfa_announcement@maryland.gov by September 9, 2022.

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