NOAA – Environmentally literate people can be effective workers and problem solvers as well as thoughtful community leaders and participants. The Chesapeake Bay Watershed Education and Training program helps students in the Chesapeake Bay watershed become environmentally literate.

NOAA Fisheries has announced two funding opportunities that will support outstanding projects through Chesapeake B-WET this year. These projects provide hands-on environmental education about issues affecting the Bay watershed through meaningful watershed educational experiences for all students in a given school district or even state. These experiences also support professional development for K-12 educators. In addition, NOAA Fisheries also aims to support state-wide efforts.

FY24 Funding Opportunities

Funding K-12 Environmental Literacy Programs

Funding will support projects to help school districts deliver meaningful watershed educational experiences to students and/or to provide professional development to teachers and educators. Applicants may address a special interest area: climate change. We anticipate up to $900,000 in total funding; this will support roughly nine to 14 new projects.

Supporting State-wide Capacity Building

This funding will support state-wide efforts to build capacity to deliver environmental education. It will provide up to $500,000 for four to six projects.

Application Information

Applications are due by February 16, 2024. Join us for informational webinars for potential applicants about program priorities and the application process on December 12, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. and December 18, 2023, at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

The Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States, has long been renowned for its diverse and vibrant marine life. However, a concerning decline in the striped bass population has raised alarm bells among conservationists, fishermen, and scientists.

Striped bass are a keystone species in the Chesapeake Bay. These fish serve as both top-level predators and prey for other species, making them a linchpin in the food web. They are not only a favorite catch among recreational anglers but also a vital source of income for commercial fishermen. Additionally, striped bass are an indicator species, reflecting the health of the Bay’s ecosystem. Their population dynamics can reveal the state of water quality, prey availability, and habitat conditions.

Several factors have contributed to the decline in striped bass populations within the Chesapeake Bay.

Historically, overfishing and poaching has had a significant impact on striped bass populations. While regulations have been put in place to prevent overharvesting, they may not be stringent enough to allow populations to recover fully. Destruction of critical nursery habitats, such as underwater grass beds, has reduced the availability of suitable areas for striped bass to spawn and juvenile fish to grow. Pollution and development are primary culprits in this habitat loss.

While data is still being gathered, there is a possible lack of food for striped bass – like the oil-rich menhaden.

Increased susceptibility to diseases and parasites, like mycobacteriosis and gill parasites, has been observed in striped bass populations. These health issues can weaken and reduce the overall fitness of the fish.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is now considering other ways to save striped bass during the 2024 season and is requesting public comments on its proposals.

Ways to reverse the striped bass population decline are being studied. These include stricter fishing regulations, and habitat restoration initiatives. The implementation of catch limits, size restrictions, and seasonal closures is intended to reduce fishing pressure and protect spawning areas.

The striped bass population decline in the Chesapeake Bay is a pressing issue. The health of this species is intrinsically linked to the well-being of the entire ecosystem. Ongoing conservation efforts, supported by a combination of stricter regulations, and habitat restoration are crucial to ensure the survival of striped bass and the preservation of the Chesapeake Bay’s unique and fragile environment.

NOAA’s Southeast Fisheries Science Center is involved in two new projects funded through the NOAA RESTORE Science Program.

For the first project, a team of researchers will study red tide and reef fish modeling. The team will update and improve an ecosystem model of the West Florida Shelf to account for red tide mortality when assessing Gulf of Mexico reef fish. The project will develop new approaches to map red tides using satellites, and map oxygen concentrations in relation to red tides. These products will be incorporated into a fisheries ecosystem model to estimate red tide mortality on valuable commercial and recreational species. We will use these estimates in stock assessments and recommendations on the amount of reef fish that can be caught each year in 2024–2028. 

The second project will focus on building next-generation fishery forecasting capacity. The project team will address limitations and uncertainties in the stock assessment process by developing novel model diagnostics and interim assessment methods. We will incorporate these new methods into active stock assessments. This will provide more efficient and reliable stock projections used to derive overfishing limits and acceptable biological catch estimates.

These projects are part of $16.8 million in RESTORE funding to conduct collaborative ecosystem science research that will be used by natural resource managers in the Gulf of Mexico.

• Nuclear power capacity worldwide is increasing steadily, with about 60 reactors under construction.
• Most reactors on order or planned are in the Asian region, though there are major plans for new units in Russia.
• Significant further capacity is being created by plant upgrading.
• Plant lifetime extension programmes are maintaining capacity, particularly in the USA.

World Nuclear Association –  Today there are about 440 nuclear power reactors operating in 32 countries plus Taiwan, with a combined capacity of about 390 GWe. In 2021 these provided 2653 TWh, about 10% of the world’s electricity.

About 60 power reactors are currently being constructed in 15 countries, notably China, India and Russia. Units where construction is currently suspended, i.e. Ohma 1 and Shimane 3 (Japan), and Khmelnitski 3&4 (Ukraine), are not shown in the Table below.

Each year, the OECD’s International Energy Agency (IEA) sets out the present situation as well as reference and other – particularly carbon reduction – scenarios in its World Energy Outlook (WEO) report. In the 2022 edition (WEO 2022), the IEA’s ‘Stated Policies Scenario’ sees installed nuclear capacity growth of over 43% from 2020 to 2050 (reaching about 590 GWe). The scenario envisages a total generating capacity of 19,792 GWe by 2050, with the increase concentrated heavily in Asia, and in particular India and China. In this scenario, nuclear’s contribution to global power generation is about 8.5% in 2050.

The IEA’s Stated Policies Scenario (formerly named ‘New Policies Scenario’) is based on a review of policy announcements and plans, reflecting the way governments see their energy sectors evolving over the coming decades. The IEA estimates in WEO 2022 that the cumulative impact of the stated policies would result in global carbon dioxide emissions declining by about 13% to 2050.

The IEA has produced energy transition scenarios since 2009, beginning with the ‘450 Scenario’, which was consistent with the narrow aim of keeping carbon dioxide concentrations below 450 ppm (parts per million) – the level associated with a 50% likelihood of keeping the average global temperature rise below 2°C (compared with pre-industrial levels). In 2022, the IEA introduced the ‘Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario’ (NZE), which “maps out a way to achieve a 1.5°C stablisation in the rise in global average temperatures, alongside universal access to modern energy by 2030.” The NZE in WEO 2022 sees nuclear capacity increase to 871 GWe by 2050.

Nuclear plant construction

About 100 power reactors with a total gross capacity of about 100,000 MWe are on order or planned, and over 300 more are proposed. Most reactors currently planned are in Asia, with fast-growing economies and rapidly-rising electricity demand.

Many countries with existing nuclear power programmes either have plans to, or are building, new power reactors. Every country worldwide that has operating nuclear power plants, or plants under construction, has a dedicated country profile in the Information Library.

About 30 countries are considering, planning or starting nuclear power programmes (see information page on Emerging Nuclear Energy Countries).

Power reactors under construction

† Latest announced/estimated year of grid connection.
Note: units where construction is currently suspended are omitted from the above Table.

Increased capacity

Increased nuclear capacity in some countries is resulting from the uprating of existing plants. This is a highly cost-effective way of bringing on new capacity. Numerous power reactors in the USA, Switzerland, Spain, Finland, and Sweden, for example, have had their generating capacity increased.

In the USA, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved about 165 uprates totalling over 7500 MWe since 1977, a few of them ‘extended uprates’ of up to 20%.

In Switzerland, all operating reactors have had uprates, increasing capacity by 13.4%.

Spain has had a programme to add 810 MWe (11%) to its nuclear capacity through upgrading its nine reactors by up to 13%. Most of the increase is already in place. For instance, the Almarez nuclear plant was boosted by 7.4% at a cost of $50 million.

Finland boosted the capacity of the original Olkiluoto plant by 29% to 1700 MWe. This plant started with two 660 MWe Swedish BWRs commissioned in 1978 and 1980. The Loviisa plant, with two VVER-440 reactors, has been uprated by 90 MWe (18%).

Sweden’s utilities have uprated three plants. The Ringhals plant was uprated by about 305 MWe over 2006-14. Oskarshamn 3 was uprated by 21% to 1450 MWe at a cost of €313 million. Forsmark 2 had a 120 MWe uprate (12%) to 2013.

Plant lifetime extensions and retirements

Most nuclear power plants originally had a nominal design operating lifetime of 25 to 40 years, but engineering assessments have established that many can operate longer. By the end of 2016, the NRC had granted licence renewals to over 85 reactors, extending their operating lifetimes from 40 to 60 years. Such licence extensions at about the 30-year mark justify significant capital expenditure needed for the replacement of worn equipment and outdated control systems.

In France, there are rolling ten-year reviews of reactors. In 2009 the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) approved EDF’s safety case for 40-year operation of its 900 MWe units, based on generic assessment of the 34 reactors. There are plans to take reactor lifetimes out to 60 years, involving substantial expenditure.

The Russian government is extending the operating lifetimes of most of the country’s reactors from their original 30 years, for 15 years, or for 30 years in the case of the newer VVER-1000 units, with significant upgrades.

The technical and economic feasibility of replacing major reactor components, such as steam generators in PWRs, and pressure tubes in CANDU heavy water reactors, has been demonstrated. The possibility of component replacement and licence renewals extending the lifetimes of existing plants is very attractive to utilities, especially in view of the public acceptance difficulties involved in constructing replacement nuclear capacity.

On the other hand, economic, regulatory and political considerations have led to the premature closure of some power reactors, particularly in the USA, where reactor numbers have fallen from a high of 110 to 92, as well as in parts of Europe and likely in Japan.

It should not be assumed that a reactor will close when its existing licence is due to expire, since operating licence extension is now common. However, new units coming online have more or less been balanced by the retirement of old units in recent years. Over 2002-2021, 108 reactors were retired as 97 started operation. There are no firm projections for retirements over the next two decades, but the World Nuclear Association’s 2021 edition of The Nuclear Fuel Report has 123 reactors closing by 2040 in its reference scenario, using conservative assumptions about licence renewal, and 308 coming online.

Notes & references

General sources

International Energy Agency, World Energy Outlook 2022
World Nuclear Association, World Nuclear Performance Report 2022

“A lot of people don’t realize close to a third of the bay’s pollution comes from dirty air…Where that dirty air falls on a forest, a lot of it, maybe 90 percent, gets absorbed by the trees. It falls on a parking lot maybe zero percent gets absorbed. They filter out pollution, they provide habitat, they shade the water in smaller streams, which makes the habitat a lot better for fish.” — Salisbury University Professor Tom Horton, WBOC

In recent years we have been losing trees in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

The importance of trees and forests for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed can be understood from various ecological, environmental, and economic perspectives. Trees and forests act as natural filters for water runoff. They help trap sediments, pollutants, and excess nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus that would otherwise flow into the Chesapeake Bay. This filtering effect improves water quality, reduces pollution, and helps maintain a healthy aquatic ecosystem.

Forests provide critical habitat for a wide range of wildlife species, including birds, mammals, amphibians, and insects. The diversity of plant species in forests supports various food webs, making forests essential for the survival of many species native to the Chesapeake Bay region.

The root systems of trees and forests stabilize soil and prevent erosion. This is particularly important in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, where urbanization and agriculture can lead to increased soil erosion. By preventing sediment from entering water bodies, forests help maintain the integrity of waterways.

Forests sequester carbon dioxide through photosynthesis, helping to mitigate climate change. They act as carbon sinks, absorbing and storing carbon, which helps reduce the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Forests can help regulate water flow during periods of heavy rainfall, reducing the risk of flooding in downstream areas. This is especially important in the watershed, where urban and suburban development can exacerbate flooding issues.

Efforts to conserve and restore forests within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed are a key component of broader initiatives to improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. Various government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and community groups need to work together to promote reforestation, sustainable land management practices, and the protection of critical forested areas to achieve these environmental and ecological benefits.

WASHINGTON, DC: Today, Congresswoman Jen Kiggans (VA-02) introduced H.R. 5490, the Bolstering Ecosystems Against Coastal Harm (BEACH) Act. This bipartisan legislation aims to protect coastal Virginia by approving new, expanded maps under the Coastal Barrier Resources Act (CBRA). Signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1982, CBRA uses a free-market approach to coastal conservation: banning most federal tax dollars for development and rebuilding on storm prone, ecologically sensitive coastal areas, which helps conserve them as wildlife habitat and essential buffers against storms and flooding for coastal communities.

Importantly, CBRA does not prohibit or regulate development by state and local governments, but simply removes the federal taxpayer from funding coastal development in the CBRA system—a conservative, market-based approach to conservation. A 2019 economic study reported the CBRA has saved U.S. taxpayers $9.5 billion and is projected to save another $11-108 billion over the next 50 years.

In April of 2022, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service identified 96,435 additional acres in Virginia – including 1,422 of land and 95,013 acres of wetlands and estuarine areas – to include in the Coastal Barrier Resources System. Kiggans’ legislation would provide the Congressional approval required for these maps and related protections to go into effect.

“I’m proud to introduce this bill to save taxpayer dollars and support Virginia’s coastal communities, economy, and wildlife,” said Congresswoman Kiggans. “For 40 years, the Coastal Barrier Resources Act has not only protected millions of acres of beaches and wetlands, but also prevented millions of dollars in property damage from natural disasters. By expanding these maps, my bill will help make our coastal communities more resilient while maintaining fiscal responsibility and critical environmental protections.”

“Coastal barriers provide significant economic and ecosystem benefits,” said Dr. Derek Aday, VIMS Dean & Director. “There is clear scientific evidence that these benefits are enhanced through policies that allow coastal barriers and their associated estuaries, lagoons, tidal flats, and wetlands to remain in their most natural state. Based on the evidence, VIMS supports the BEACH Act.”

BACKGROUND

Today, 163,589 acres along Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Coast are included in the CBRA system. This includes 974 acres of land and 42,192 acres of wetlands in which nearly all federal expenditures are prohibited. There are also 7,696 acres of land and 112,727 acres of wetlands in “Otherwise Protected Areas,” in which only federal flood insurance is prohibited. In addition to the aforementioned taxpayer benefits, these protected coastal areas provide:

• Habitats for economically important fish and shellfish. Commercial fishing operations in Virginia’s marine waters net more than 321 million pounds of fish and shellfish annually, valued at $214 million, while sports fishermen catch another 25 million pounds of fish and shellfish.
• Recreational opportunities for hunters who benefit from habitat for ducks and other waterfowl that use the CBRA protected areas.
• Protection for nearby coastal communities. Areas in CBRA act as nature’s “speed bumps,” absorbing impacts from storms and hurricanes. It’s estimated that nationwide, coastal wetlands provide more than $23 billion per year in storm protection services. During Hurricane Sandy in 2012, coastal wetlands prevented $625 million in property damages from Maine to North Carolina.

You can view the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposed changes to the CBRA System in Virginia’s 2nd District here.

You can read the full text of the BEACH Act here.

The Climate Grift comes home to the 757.

VIRGINIA BEACH — Dominion Energy wants to pay Virginia Beach $19 million for roughly 4 miles of city easements to transmit energy from its offshore wind project. The power company has also agreed to provide $1.14 million to replace trees that will be razed to make room for the transmission lines and power poles.

Director of Public Works LJ Hansen briefed the City Council on the transmission easement proposal Tuesday.

The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind farm will be 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach and will include 176 wind turbines. It will generate energy to power up to 660,000 homes, according to Dominion.

Offshore construction is scheduled to begin next year.

The onshore transmission route was chosen after Dominion collected public feedback in 2021. It was approved by the State Corporation Commission in 2022.

Undersea cables will deliver the wind energy onshore at State Military Reservation in Virginia Beach. The cables will continue underground to Naval Air Station Oceana.

From there, above-ground concrete monopoles and power lines will continue toward Dam Neck Road, connecting with an existing transmission right-of-way near the Castleton neighborhood, according to the city.

The proposed route continues west, overlapping the former Southeastern Parkway and Greenbelt roadway project until just past Princess Anne Road. It then moves southwest, crossing Salem Road and the Intracoastal Waterway in Chesapeake. The route turns south toward Battlefield Golf Course before heading west to Dominion’s existing Fentress Substation in Chesapeake.

Approximately 38 acres of tree canopy in Virginia Beach would be razed to make way for the project.