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Restoring Maryland's Patuxent River

Efforts are underway to restore habitat damaged by an oil spill on Maryland’s Patuxent River. Restoration experts recently completed the first in a series of multi-year projects by creating an oyster reef sanctuary seeded with 10 million oysters. Future restoration projects will create a five-acre intertidal wetland, enhance beach habitat for the diamondback terrapin, and restore nesting habitat of ruddy ducks. The spill released more than one hundred-forty thousand gallons of oil in April 2000 at a power plant owned by the Potomac Electric Power Company, also known as PEPCO, and operated by ST Services. PEPCO and natural resource trustees, including NOAA, cooperated to assess damage and agree on restoration projects to benefit the river and surrounding community.