The Chesapeake Bay Foundation has issued a Notice of Intent to sue the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to enforce the Clean Water Act. The Maryland Watermen’s Association, Anne Arundel County, and Virginia cattle farmer Bobby Whitescarver are joining us in signing the notice.
EPA has failed to fulfill its Clean Water Act requirements to reduce pollution throughout the Bay watershed, a 64,000-square-mile national treasure. Specifically, EPA has refused to require Pennsylvania and New York to develop pollution reduction plans consistent with the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint.
Most experts consider the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint the Bay's best, and perhaps last, chance for real restoration. It is therefore our duty, as the Bay’s watchdog, to hold EPA accountable if we are to save the Bay and ensure clean water for generations to come.
Underscoring the importance of holding EPA accountable, the Attorneys General of Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia are also filing a Notice of Intent to sue. I have been working for CBF for over 40 years and have never seen such a concerted effort to require the federal government to do its job to reduce Bay pollution. We are truly grateful.
Filing Notices of Intent is a legal requirement of the Clean Water Act and the first step toward litigation. EPA has 60 days to resolve concerns before we can sue. While we hope EPA will do its job, I believe it is unlikely. A CBF delegation and I met with EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler on this subject over a year ago. He voiced little interest in addressing our concerns.
The federal/state Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint is different from prior agreements because it has teeth. And it’s working. Pollution is going down. Underwater grasses and blue crab numbers are going up. The federal courts have also upheld the legality of the Blueprint.
But now it is all at risk, due to EPA’s unwillingness to address major deficiencies in the final plans submitted by Pennsylvania and New York. EPA is poised to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by rejecting a specific requirement by Congress to reduce Bay pollution. We are fully prepared to file suit after 60 days if EPA does not act. It will then be up to the courts to compel EPA to do its job.
We’re now in the final and most important phase of the Bay cleanup effort. This may well be the last chance to get this right. The health of our region’s environment, our public health, and our way of life are at stake.
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