Plastic Pollution Action Team
Upcoming Meetings
No upcoming meetings.
Scope and Purpose
The Plastic Pollution Action Team (PPAT) seeks to reduce the presence and impacts of plastic pollution on the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. The PPAT will begin to address this issue by overseeing research to determine the effects that microplastics have on the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. This will be accomplished by the following actions:
- Providing oversight to the development of preliminary ecological risk assessments (ERAs) of microplastics for one or more subwatersheds to the Chesapeake Bay;
- Using the results of the preliminary ERAs to develop a strategy that identifies and prioritizes gaps in information concerning the effects of microplastics pollution on the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem, highlighting future research questions that need to be answered;
- Present results from ERAs to the Management Board in order to guide future action on addressing plastic pollution; and
- Monitoring policy advances at the state and federal level that could potentially impact, advance or complement this work to inform the science strategy and to identify potential policy or management options that could be utilized for source reduction strategies.
Publications
Updated (2022) Ecological Risk Assessment
Published on November 30, 2022Microplastic Monitoring & Science Strategy for the Chesapeake Bay
The Plastic Pollution Action Team (PPAT) was formed at the directive of the CBP Management Board and was charged to develop a preliminary ecological risk assessment model (Appendix C), in addition to a size classification document (Appendix B), and this science strategy. Many of the topics from those first two documents are found in this document to formulate a strategy to address microplastics bay-wide.
View detailsMembers
Matt Gallagher (Chair), District of Columbia Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE)
1200 First Street NE
5th Floor
Washington, District of Columbia 20002
Email: matthew.gallagher@dc.gov
Phone: (202) 597-1040
Kelly Somers (Vice Chair), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Region 3
Doug Austin, Program Assistant, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Region 3
1750 Forest Drive Suite 130
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
Email: austin.douglas@epa.gov
Phone: (410) 267-5772
Claire Buchanan, Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin (ICPRB)
30 West Gude Dr. Suite 450
Rockville, Maryland 20850
Email: cbuchan@icprb.org
Phone: (301) 984-1908 x112
Jonathan Cohen, University of Delaware
Shawn Fisher, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
Martin Gary, Potomac River Fisheries Commission
222 Taylor Street
Colonial Beach, Virginia 22443
Email: martingary.prfc@gmail.com
Phone: (804) 224-7148
Michael Gonsior, UMCES Chesapeake Biological Laboratory (CBL)
Robert Hale, Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS)
Linsey Haram, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC)
Kirk Havens, Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS)
Bill Jenkins, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Region 3
Brooke Landry, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
580 Taylor Avenue
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
Email: Brooke.Landry@maryland.gov
Phone: (410) 260-8629
Julie Lawson, Stakeholders' Advisory Committee
6548 Eastern Avenue NE
District of Columbia, District of Columbia 20012
Email: lawson.julie@gmail.com
Phone: (202) 347-0412
Alex Lopez, Pennsylvania State University (Penn State)
Donna Morrow, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Bob Murphy, Tetra Tech
Tish Robertson, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
Matt Robinson, Life Scientist, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1750 Forest Drive
Suite 130
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
Email: robinson.matthew@epa.gov
Phone: 410-267-5756
Kristin Saunders, Cross Program Coordinator, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
1750 Forest Drive Suite 130
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
Email: ksaunders@umces.edu
Phone: (410) 267-5711
Peter Tango, Monitoring Coordinator, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
1750 Forest Drive Suite 130
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
Email: ptango@chesapeakebay.net
Phone: (410) 267-9875
Mark Trice, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Phong Trieu, Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments
777 North Capitol Street NE, Suite 300
Washington, District of Columbia 20002
Email: ptrieu@mwcog.org