The Maryland Port Administration (MPA) has an Environmental Strategy​ to enact and expand on high standards of environmental stewardship throughout its operations. The plan is a roadmap for meeting the agency’s environmental responsibilities, including voluntary goals for continuous improvement across all MPA activities, including dredging, terminal operations and administration.

Dredging in the main navigation channels is conducted by the US Army Corp of Engineers. Both the Corps and the MPA have Dredged Material Management Plans to ensure that maintenance dredging and new projects have minimal impact on the marine environment and that placement sites for dredged material are large enough to meet the needs of the dredging program for the next 20 years. The MPA is responsible for providing placement capacity. In some cases, dredged material has been used to rebuild islands and restore wildlife habitat. Material is also placed in contained facilities along the shore.

The MPA also offsets the environmental impact of a dredged material placement site by conducting beneficial projects in nearby locations, such the restoration of Masonville Cove, construction of an eel ladder on the Patapsco River, and supporting the Inner Harbor Water Wheel that removes litter from the mouth of the Jones Falls.​​