Chesapeake Bay Pollution Diet Announcement

Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a revised pollution diet for the Chesapeake Bay. The pollution diet is a collaborative effort between the EPA, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and every state in the Chesapeake Bay region. The goal is to put in place by 2025 all the cleanup practices that will be necessary to restore the bay and all the waterways that feed it. Each state was tasked with submitting plans to meet the diet’s pollution reduction goals; Maryland submitted its final plan in early December 2010. After an initial review of the revised pollution diet, Environment Maryland Policy Advocate Tommy Landers issued this statement:

“The EPA deserves praise for leading the charge on this historic effort. Years from now, when we look back on this moment, I hope we will be able to say that this was when we buckled down and got serious about clean water for our children and for future generations.

“It’s hard to imagine a better New Year’s resolution than providing clean water to our families and communities. People throughout the bay region should be excited about this opportunity not only for a vibrant Chesapeake Bay but also for healthy streams and rivers for our children to drink from and swim in.

“While this pollution diet is a tremendous opportunity, the real test will be whether the EPA and states follow through on their commitments in the coming years. Even though the EPA used few so-called ‘backstops’ in this revised pollution diet—the backstops are meant to correct inadequacies in state plans—the EPA nevertheless describes continuing shortcomings in some of the states’ blueprints. The states should make whatever improvements are necessary, and the EPA should confidently hold states accountable. It is this model of regional leadership and accountability that has been sorely lacking for the past 27 years of cleanup efforts.

“The EPA has committed to ‘ongoing oversight’ of Maryland’s and other states’ plans. We were encouraged to see that among the options for this oversight are enforcement actions if states fall short, like ‘expanding coverage of [point source] permits to sources that are currently unregulated,’ ‘prohibiting new or expanded pollution discharges,’ and ‘conditioning or redirecting EPA grants.’ These are among the strongest tools at the EPA’s disposal for pushing states to meet the goals necessary for clean water and a healthy Bay, so we hope to see the EPA actually use these tools if necessary.

“Maryland’s cleanup plan remains promising, though the devil will be in the details. For instance, in the plan Gov. O’Malley rightly proposes to revise the so-called ‘P-Index,’ a flawed test that too often advises farmers to apply manure to their land. After years of over-application of manure, some of Maryland’s soils have become oversaturated with phosphorus, one of the nutrients responsible for the bay’s annual dead zones. The bay would benefit the most from using a simpler test based on achieving and maintaining in soils the science-based nutrient levels that will improve water quality in the long run. Gov. O’Malley’s proposal moves us in the right direction.

“We look forward to working with the EPA and with Gov. O’Malley to ensure successful implementation and enforcement of the pollution diet and Maryland’s cleanup plan.”