Traditionally, the Chesapeake Bay Act has been a simple approval of funding efforts to clean up the bay. While funding for bay restoration programs is certainly needed, lawmakers have hesitated from using the bill to create real change for the bay.

This year, however, Sen. Ben Cardin and Rep. Elijah Cummings are doing more. On Oct. 19th they introduced legislation that, in addition to funding typical programs, could give federal officials the tools they need to more effectively curb all sources of pollution.

Tell Senator Cardin that you support strong congressional action to clean up the bay.

Every summer pollution from wastewater treatment plants, fertilizer and manure laden agricultural fields, and sprawling development creates dead zones in the Chesapeake Bay in which almost nothing can survive. The two largest sources are development and agriculture, and yet loopholes in the Clean Water Act have prevented us for decades from reducing the pollution from those sources.

This year we have an unprecedented opportunity to close this loophole. President Barack Obama has created new momentum behind bay clean-up, and people across the bay watershed are frustrated with years of unmet promises by state leaders. Sen. Cardin has introduced a bill that could require states to establish pollution limits on all sources. If the states don’t achieve their reduction benchmarks every two years, the EPA could impose financial penalties and loss of state permitting authority.

Big agribusinesses like Purdue and Tysons, as well as the state’s biggest developers, will attempt to squash strong standards, as they’ve successfully done for the past 25 years. They’ll urge Congress to stick with voluntary programs, even though only accountability and enforcement can restore the bay. We need to hold bad actors accountable for their pollution once and for all, and this year is our best chance yet to make that happen.