On Tuesday the Senate’s march to pass Gov. Martin O’Malley’s $32 billion budget hit a roadblock when an item was raised that attempted to withhold $250,000 from the University of Maryland law school until it disclose its legal clinic’s clients.

The UMD environmental law clinic is investigating whether a pile of waste on an Eastern Shore farm came from the massive chicken farms in the area. The chicken farmers, including corporate giant Perdue, claims the waste came from the people of Ocean City. The Maryland Reporter has the story.

It is clear that this blatant attempt by Maryland’s factory farms (and general assembly members that are friendly to these interests) to gut the University of Maryland’s Environmental Law Clinic funding is a political maneuver used to intimidate and squash efforts to address real environmental violations that are destroying the Chesapeake Bay.