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Champions of Chespeake Bay

At Chesapeake Legal Alliance (CLA), we apply the power of the law to protect and restore clean water and promote healthy, resilient ecosystems for communities across the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

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Read Our 2025 Winter Bay Brief

Dive into CLA’s recent victories, policy updates, and key issues impacting the Bay and our communities—featuring major case milestones, emerging threats, and what’s ahead.

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Now Hiring — Staff Attorney

Join CLA's litigation team: we’re seeking a motivated attorney to support impactful environmental litigation and advocacy protecting clean water and communities across the Chesapeake Bay region. Apply today!

Champions for the Bay

100

CLA attorneys, alongside our network of volunteer attorneys, manage nearly 100 legal projects annually.

1000s

We protect thousands of rivers and streams, and acres of green spaces needed for clean air and clean water.

64,000

We work in urban, suburban, and rural communities throughout the Bay’s 64,000-square-mile watershed.

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Making News

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CLA and Waterkeepers Secure Historic Settlement for the Chesapeake Bay at Conowingo Dam

Motion to Intervene at Ridgely’s Reserve

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Blue Water Baltimore and CLA Settle 1.3M Lawsuit Against Jones Falls Stream Polluter

Featured Cases

Conowingo Dam

In 2022, the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association and Waterkeepers Chesapeake, represented by Earthjustice, won a major legal victory when a federal appeals court ordered a full review of Maryland’s Clean Water Act certification for the Conowingo Dam. Chesapeake Legal Alliance then supported supplemental briefs and now leads multi-party mediation to secure protective terms for the Dam’s next license. As the Bay’s largest pollution source, its long-term operation makes this work vital for the Bay’s future.

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Menhaden

In spring 2023, Chesapeake Legal Alliance sued the Virginia Marine Resources Commission on behalf of the Southern Maryland Recreational Fishing Organization. The lawsuit aims to compel the Commission to protect the Atlantic menhaden fishery—a vital food source for striped bass, osprey, and other wildlife—and safeguard Virginia’s marine resources and the Chesapeake Bay. The case is pending in Virginia courts with major implications for the Bay’s ecosystem.

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Baltimore Backwater and Patapsco Wastewater Treatment Plants

In December 2021, Chesapeake Legal Alliance filed a Clean Water Act complaint for Blue Water Baltimore over repeated pollution from the Back River and Patapsco wastewater treatment plants. As Maryland’s largest plants, they’ve discharged bacteria and nutrients above legal limits—including partially untreated sewage—threatening public health and the environment. CLA’s action seeks to hold them accountable and protect Baltimore’s waterways.

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Lothian Community

Lothian, a rural community in southern Anne Arundel County, faces heavy pollution, with 22 industrial sites within five miles. Along Sands Road alone, CLA identified at least ten sources—including wastewater plants, landfills, and mining operations—affecting a largely low-income, minority population. In 2020, after residents and the Patuxent Riverkeeper sought help, CLA uncovered widespread permit violations and launched a strategy to hold polluters accountable and strengthen weak zoning and state permits.

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Explore Cases by Category

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Agricultural pollution

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Bay Cleanup and Government Transparency

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Fisheries

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Land Use and Habitat protection

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Municipal and Industrial Waste Water

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Nonprofit Assistance

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"Assateague Coastal Trust, a small non-profit environmental advocacy organization located on the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland, has limited resources and capacity, so being able to take advantage of the legal resources afforded by Chesapeake Legal Alliance has been a great benefit to us."

Kathy Phillips

Assateague Coastal Trust

"CLA is a great partner and I encourage more lawyers to take on pro-bono matters through the organization to help protect the Chesapeake Bay."

Abigail Benjamin

"The network of excellent attorneys CLA has established routinely provides outstanding representation to organizations dedicated to saving the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries."

Kate Fritz

South River Federation

"We turned to Chesapeake Legal Alliance (CLA) who connected us with lawyers who researched our legal issues and represented us in our legal battles. With their help, we not only were able to save local forests but also revealed deficiencies in the City’s FCA implementing an ordinance that was amended to provide much greater protections for forests."

Anastasia Hopkinson

Save Your Annapolis Neck

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