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Adam Willis

Adam

Adam Willis reports on climate and the environment across Maryland for The Baltimore Banner. He previously covered Baltimore City Hall for The Banner. He has also worked as a historical researcher in Washington, D.C., as a freelance reporter for national magazines and reported on state government, energy and the environment for the Fargo Forum in North Dakota.

The latest from Adam Willis

Crews work to lay down absorbent sheets to clean up a diesel spill at an inlet at South Caroline Street and Lancaster Street.
Baltimore races to clean fuel spill that turned portion of harbor red
Efforts to clean up the spill could cause traffic problems in the Harbor East area on Thursday.
A boater heads out toward the Chesapeake Bay at the Susquehanna Flats.
Trump finally leaves Chesapeake Bay cleanup funds alone — cold comfort to advocates
Maryland environmentalists had braced for Trump to again take a sledgehammer to the Bay Program.
Big concrete pipes sit on on a grass-covered lot.
In rushed vote, DC suburb approves park expansion deal with $3.5M equity state grant
After years of legal battles over the property, Hyattsville convinced state leaders to earmark funding this session for the Prince George’s County city to purchase the land.
Officials said 21 million gallons of partially-treated wastewater from Baltimore’s Patapsco Wastewater Treatment Plant seeped into the headwaters of the Patapsco River to the mouth of Bodkin Creek.
21M gallons of partially treated sewage seep into Patapsco River from Baltimore water treatment plant
The Baltimore City Department of Public Works released a statement about the water overflow confirming it was not a health hazard
An empty field at David Driskell Community Park in Hyattsville last month. The city is considering purchasing an adjacent parking lot to expand the park.
Could a DC suburb bail out a developer to expand a park? Maryland would help
Owning this land would fulfill a dream for many Hyattsville leaders, who have watched the property become blighted.
Kellie Fiala, Maryland oyster restoration coordinator for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, prepares to dump a basket of young oysters into Fort Carroll sanctuary on Wednesday, May 21, 2025.
Sigh of relief at Fort Carroll sanctuary as the oyster population rebounds and planting resumes
When the Key Bridge wreckage was cleared, environmentalists expected to find the oysters dead. They were happy to be wrong.
The first group of Harbor Splash jumpers, including Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and Comptroller Brooke Lierman, leap into the Baltimore Harbor at Fells Point on 6/23/24 in Baltimore, MD.
Want to swim in the Baltimore Harbor? You’ll get another shot next month
Harbor Splash will return for a second year, this time welcoming 200 participants, the Waterfront Partnership announced Wednesday.
Gov. Wes Moore returns to his office as reporters continue to shout questions toward him following a news conference at the Maryland State House in Annapolis on Thursday, May 15, 2025.
How much has climate change cost Maryland? Gov. Moore vetoed a bill to find out
The RENEW Act was among 23 bills Moore vetoed Friday, many of which he said put an unnecessary burden on the state as it manages a strapped budget.
Aaron Fitzgerald wades through the flooded parking lot of Westernport Elementary School to retrieve belongings from his mother waterlogged car after a catastrophic storm hit the area on Tuesday.
Gov. Moore declares state of emergency in flood-ravaged Western Maryland
Heavy rains this week led to the worst flooding parts of Allegany County has seen in nearly 30 years. Gov. Wes Moore declared a state of emergency.
Baltimore Banner reporter Giacomo "Jack" Bologna jumps into the Baltimore Harbor alongside other participants as a part of the Waterfront Partnership's Harbor Splash 2024 event held last June.
As Baltimoreans start swimming in the harbor, water quality remains murky
A new report by Blue Water Baltimore found that water quality has declined somewhat in the harbor and its watershed since 2013.
The Roland Park Community Foundation has raised $9 million in recent years to purchase 20 acres of the Baltimore Country Club’s former golf course to turn into a public park.
Maryland wanted to make poor areas greener. It boosted a rich Baltimore neighborhood instead.
Maryland wanted to make poor areas greener but instead it boosted the already rich and green neighborhood of Roland Park in Baltimore.
An aerial view of the southernmost section of Liberty Reservoir.
Baltimore region asked to conserve water amid drought, low reservoir levels
Liberty Reservoir, one of the region’s key water resources, has dropped to its lowest point in nearly two decades.
A former plant manager at Curtis Bay Energy was found not guilty of violating environmental laws.
State case against manager of Baltimore medical waste incinerator falls short
Curtis Bay Energy and one top official pleaded guilty in 2023, but a judge cleared the former plant manager on all counts.
TAKOMA PARK, MD - APRIL 4:
Mike Tidwell sits on the stump of an oak tree, in a neighbor’s backyard on Willow Avenue in Takoma Park MD on April 4, 2025. Tidwell’s new book, The Lost Trees of Willow Avenue, talks about the diminishing oak trees and impacts of climate change on his neighborhood.
An original Maryland climate hawk recounts warming’s toll on his block
Not long ago, a lush canopy blanketed Takoma Park’s old homes, but today, hundreds of trees across the city are gone.
Firefighters spray water on the smoldering wood piles as fire continues to burn at the Camp Small city wood recycling facility in December.
Camp Small was warned of fire, environmental hazards ahead of massive blaze
The facility was faulted for blocked fire lanes and combustible mulch, but those don't appear to have contributed to the fire.
Synagro’s Back River facility can heat-dry 20,000 dry tons of biosolids annually. The pelletized fertilizer product is sold as a fertilizer or soil conditioner.
Can Baltimore escape its toxic attachment to sludge?
Synagro, a Baltimore County-based company that contracts with wastewater treatment plants, comes under fire for high levels of toxic forever chemicals.
A boater passes under the Amtrak bridge over the Susquehanna River, downriver from where AquaCon plans to build an indoor salmon farm in Cecil County.
Norwegian company’s second try at indoor salmon farm draws more environmental blowback
Environmentalists blocked AquaCon’s plans for an Eastern Shore salmon farm, but the company is trying again on the Susquehanna River.
Martin State Airport is seen with a coating of snow after a winter storm.
Groups drop suit over pollution worries at redevelopment of WWII bomber plant in Middle River
A dispute over pollution concerns from construction work at the site of a World War II-era manufacturing plant in Eastern Baltimore County has fizzled quickly.
CRISFIELD, MD - SEPTEMBER 24: A home health aide walks to her client's home along the flooded Cove Street following two days of heavy rain from Tropical Storm Ophelia on September 24, 2023 in Crisfield, Maryland. Ophelia made landfall early Saturday in North Carolina, producing high winds and heavy rain across the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey. The city of Crisfield will apply for Federal Emergency Management Agency and Maryland Department of Emergency Management grants to help pay for a $63 million flood control program to mitigate flooding by raising roads, and building new tide gates, berms, and other projects.
FEMA cancels tens of millions in Maryland sea-level rise, flooding grants
FEMA canceling a disaster mitigation program is a blow to the flood-prone town of Crisfield and a wetlands restoration effort in South Baltimore.
Transmission lines travel north from Calvert Cliffs Clean Energy Center, Constellation’s nuclear power plant in Lusby.
Grid reforms could save Marylanders over $500 a year on power bills, climate group claims
Officials from Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania joined press calls earlier this week alongside the group Evergreen Action, which commissioned the report, to blast PJM’s management.
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