EPA Releases Chesapeake Bay 'Pollution Diet'
New plan will affect many activities in region.
Compiled by staff
Published: Dec 31, 2010
The Environmental Protection Agency has established what's its calling an aggressive "pollution diet" for the Chesapeake Bay. The new program spells out steps that the states of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware and New York and the District must take by 2025 to put the troubled estuary on the path to recovery. The final plan strengthens the antipollution measures of some of the states.
The legally enforceable road map will affect a variety of activities in the region, including how pig and chicken farms dispose of waste and the way golf course operators fertilize their fairways. The agency identified three areas that need particular attention over the next decade: wastewater treatment in New York, West Virginia's agricultural sector and Pennsylvania's storm-water treatment.
Shawn Garvin, EPA's regional administrator for the mid-Atlantic region, says the plan is the largest water pollution strategy plan in the nation. Some state and local officials warn the plan could be costly and hard to execute, particularly at a time when state budgets are under immense pressure. The EPA is prepared to enforce the state plans with what Garvin called rigorous accountability methods.
The plan calls for a 25% reduction in nitrogen, 24% reduction in phosphorus and 20% reduction in sediment by 2025. That translates into 185.9 million pounds of nitrogen, 12.5 million pounds of phosphorus and 6.45 billion pounds of sediment per year. Sixty percent of the pollution cuts are to be made by 2017. William Baker, president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, praised the EPA for making its proposal final.
Virginia Governor Robert McDonnel says after much discussion with the EPA, the approved plan balances the important environmental protection concerns with the need to protect jobs in agriculture and farming. Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, who has pledged to explore steps such as requiring cover crops on farmland vulnerable to runoff and a potential statewide fee system to improve storm-water utilities, said it made economic sense to invest in the restoration effort.
Tom Farasy, past president of the Maryland State Builders Association, predicted battles over environmental goals will shift to individual states. Farasy believes Maryland is going to have to find the funding to meet its obligations, and this is going to be a challenge in this current economy.
Permalink: Click here
Tagged: EPA, Chesapeake Bay, Environmental Protection Agency, farming, cover crops
|