Shapiro named chair of Chesapeake group that protects bay, watershed

BALTIMORE — Members of the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Executive Council, a quasi-governmental group that directs efforts to clean and protect the Bay and its watershed, unanimously elected Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as its new chairman.

Shapiro will be the first chair to oversee the continued restoration of the Chesapeake under the terms of a revised voluntary agreement that directs environmental efforts in the watershed through 2040. The agreement, like Shapiro’s chairmanship, was approved Tuesday during a meeting at the National Aquarium in Baltimore.