The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will be establishing new pollution regulations by December 2010 in efforts to create a clean and sustainable Chesapeake Bay, according to Administrator of the EPA Lisa Jackson.
The new regulations will establish exactly how much pollution from agriculture, one of the three primary causes of strain on the Bay's ecosystem, will be legally allowable.
Doug Siglin, federal affairs director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, expects opposing interests to bring before a court the issue of whether or not the EPA has the authority to regulate agricultural runoff, he said.
Bill Snape, a faculty member at the Washington College of Law and environmental law expert, said he believes the EPA does have that authority.
“How it uses [it] and how much flexibility they give to farmers may [be challengeable], but yes, the EPA does have that authority," Snape said.
Jackson announced the EPA's new regulation standards at the first annual Choose Clean Water Conference in downtown D.C. Sunday through Tuesday last week.
Local, state, and federal policymakers gathered with approximately 200 regional environmental leaders and activists for the conference organized by the Choose Clean Water Coalition, which is comprised of 1 million members and over 100 non-profit organizations.
Senior Manager of the Choose Clean Water Coalition Hilary Falk said the conference "[created] a rallying call to talk about the Chesapeake Bay as a national priority."
Additionally, Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., and Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., spoke at the conference on the joint bills S. 1816 and H.R. 3852 that they have introduced to restore the Bay.
The legislation authorizes $1.5 billion to the six states in the Chesapeake watershed to help them meet the EPA’s new pollution regulations that Jackson announced at the conference, according to Siglin and Cardin.
Furthermore, it also limits storm water runoff and creates an interstate nutrient trading program similar to carbon cap and trade plans, according to Siglin and Cardin.
This legislation is very important to the efforts of the Choose Clean Water Coalition, according to Falk.
A number of fishing industries in the Bay, the nation’s largest estuary, have declined over the past quarter century, particularly the oyster industry, according to Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va.
A dying Bay, which represents $1 trillion of local economy, would hurt the regional economy in ways beyond the fisheries, Cardin said.
“The passage of Cardin’s bill will be the Coalition’s top priority,” Falk said.
The bill currently has a 55 percent likelihood to pass, according to Siglin. But his is an optimistic view, he said.
Attendees of the Choose Clean Water Conference should place pressure on local elected officials to support clean water efforts by talking with local officials, writing letters to editors and taking grassroots actions, Cardin said.
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