Nancy Stoner's Blog: U.S. Law and Policy tag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2009:/blogs/nstoner//179 2009-10-29T11:07:50Z Movable Type Enterprise 1.52 Chesapeake Bay water – and users – to benefit from Senate bill tag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2009:/blogs/nstoner//179.4445 2009-10-19T14:54:50Z 2009-10-29T11:07:50Z Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., has introduced a bill to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay. Standing at Sandy Point State Park, a popular beach destination that has been plagued in the past with periodic episodes of bacteria pollution, I could... Nancy Stoner Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., has introduced a bill to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay. Standing at Sandy Point State Park, a popular beach destination that has been plagued in the past with periodic episodes of bacteria pollution, I could imagine the shorebirds, crabs, oysters and the next crop of sunbathers, cheering him on.

Sen. Cardin's bill, the Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act, contains important new provisions to hold the Environmental Protection Agency and the states accountable for setting and enforcing strict limits on pollution. It calls for a clear, enforceable limit on nutrient pollution and assigns specific federal, state and local responsibilities and funding mechanisms to meet pollution reduction goals. The bill also calls for an interstate program to help achieve timely, cost-effective pollution reductions and offer new market opportunities for farmers and others innovating pollution reduction controls.

The bill delivers what the Bay and the public deserve most: accountability and results from the billions in federal dollars that go to agricultural conservation and water quality assistance programs within the Bay watershed. The Act will help states and localities focus tax dollars on the most cost-effective ways to reduce pollution to our rivers and streams. If pollution reductions aren't being met, EPA will step in to make sure the job gets done. This is good for the Bay, good for the water and good for the country.

For more than 25 years, the region has struggled - and failed - in a largely voluntary effort to protect the Chesapeake Bay. Thousands of miles of streams still do not meet basic water quality standards due to pollution from leaking septic systems, sewer outflows, factories, animal waste and runoff from roads, crops, lawns, and construction sites.

Thankfully, President Obama and his administration have shown historic federal leadership to clean up the nation's largest estuary, including issuing an Executive Order in May. Earlier this month, NRDC released the report Seizing a Watershed Opportunity: NRDC's Plan to Clean Up the Chesapeake Bay and its Beaches, outlining numerous threats facing the Chesapeake Bay and providing a Congressional playbook to solve them with the one-two federal punch we need to finally make progress in restoring the Bay. Sen. Cardin's legislation was a top priority in our report.

Many local rivers in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, West Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. - all areas with waters that drain into the Bay - remain unsafe for swimming, fishing, and drinking. We have the tools to clean up this mess. The Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act will end the excuses and inaction and put those tools to work.

While this is an important first step, the real work still lies ahead.  Support from other congressional leaders is critical to the bill's success. Anyone living in the watershed benefits from this bill. Your drinking water, favorite swimming beaches, best fishing spots - and even your crab cake and rockfish sandwiches - all come from the Bay or the waters that flow into it. It's time to raise our voices in support of this opportunity to protect the water that sustains us.

]]> Feds to Release Plan to Clean Up Chesapeake Bay tag:switchboard.nrdc.org,2009:/blogs/nstoner//179.4093 2009-09-10T14:37:12Z 2009-09-20T11:28:05Z Today, officials from EPA, the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture will be releasing reports with a series of recommendations to improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay. The reports are called for under an Executive Order,... Nancy Stoner Today, officials from EPA, the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture will be releasing reports with a series of recommendations to improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay. The reports are called for under an Executive Order, signed by the President in May, that recognized the Chesapeake Bay as a national treasure and called for federal leadership in protecting our nation's largest estuary.

Pollution in the Bay comes from a variety of sources. Runoff from lawns and parking lots, agricultural crop production and large-scale animal feedlots, and sewage all add dangerous levels of nutrient and pathogen pollution to our waters. These anticipated Executive Order reports will include recommendations that touch on all of the sources of Bay pollution.  NRDC has been particularly focused on recommendations to improve agricultural practices and reduce urban and stormwater runoff. 

When these recommendations come out later today, we'll especially be looking for a few big things: 

  • With 22 percent of the watershed in agricultural production, improved agricultural crop practices have a tremendous impact on the health of streams throughout the Bay.  There are a number of steps that farmers can take to reduce the fertilizer runoff that feed algal blooms that rob streams and the Bay of oxygen that fish and shellfish need to survive.  There is also funding available to assist farmers to take those steps.  Some farms have taken advantage of this opportunity to reduce fertilizer use or put in stream buffers, but those who haven't continue to foul downstream water resources.  The federal plan needs to put effective controls on the fertilizer that contaminates the Bay and its tributaries.
  • Animal waste is also filled with bacteria and other pathogens can run off into streams and rivers if not treated properly. In 2008, the EPA finalized a rule that requires all large, animal factory farms (typically those with 1,000 animals or more) to include a manure management plan as part of their Clean Water Act permit applications. However, due to strong opposition from corporate agricultural interests, the rule continues to exempt many large factory farms. Data supplied in March to NRDC by U.S. EPA confirms that large feedlots in Maryland and Virginia may not be obtaining Clean Water Act permits under the new EPA rule - indicating they have not addressed their contribution to manure pollution that contaminates the Bay.  Although the compliance deadline had passed, not a single large operator had obtained a permit in Virginia, and only 14% of Maryland's had permits. Expanded definition and scope of pollution controls for factory farms are critical to the Bay's long-term health.  
  • Similarly, as the fastest growing source of water pollution in the watershed, policies to curb urban stormwater runoff - such as green roofs, rain gardens, permeable pavement and other great solutions highlighted in NRDC's Rooftops to Rivers report - are also sorely needed.  Environmental site design approaches are now in use in many communities throughout the Bay watershed.  These approaches are visually appealing, very effective at reducing pollution into the Bay and the streams that feed into it, and usually more cost-effective than other approaches as well.  These approaches must be expanded to protect all the rivers and streams that flow to the Chesapeake Bay.

The recommendations for the Bay restoration reports will outline critical steps needed to control pollution in the streams, rivers, and water that millions of people depend on. These reports, coupled with strong legislation announced by Senator Cardin, the Chesapeake Bay Ecosystem Restoration Act, outline a bold new approach to cleaning up our nation's largest estuary.  They move beyond a series of previously ineffective efforts to control all the major sources of water pollution to achieve real results in restoring the health of the Bay.  They also create new partnerships that encourage expanded use of proven, cost-efficient practices and policies to reduce pollution and restore fisheries.

The Chesapeake Bay watershed spans portions of six states and more than 60,000 square miles.  The only way to clean up the Bay is to get all of those states and the pollution sources in them to work at home to clean up the streams that supply drinking water, recreational opportunities, and economic heft to communities large and small throughout the watershed.  Federal leadership is critical to making this happen, so we are delighted to see that the Obama Administration is choosing clean water as one of its earliest priorities. 

]]>