In what could well be the largest outpouring of public comments on the Chesapeake Bay, Environment Maryland reported that 43,140 bay area residents wrote to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency demanding they take stronger action to protect the bay.
"The message from the public is deafening and crystal clear: the EPA should be using every tool available to rein in bay polluters—including tough penalties if states fail to do their part," said Tommy Landers, Environment Maryland Clean Water Advocate.
Landers and other environmental advocates are concerned that the EPA appears to be backing away from some tough measures it had previously proposed. Pursuant to President Obama's executive order on the bay from May 2009, the EPA had issued a draft report in September 2009. However, subsequent documents from the agency omit or modify key proposals, including:
- Regulating agricultural livestock operations and municipal stormwater systems. Agriculture and urban development represent the largest sources of pollution into the bay. In September the EPA proposed to expand and strengthen permits for these sources. In November they announced they would first wait to see state plans before acting.
- Denial of new or expanded permits. One of the biggest sticks that the EPA carries is the ability to deny new pollution permits until adequate bay clean-up is underway. The EPA's September report included this as a possible "consequence" for state failure. But the agency's latest "consequences" announcement omits explicit reference to this threat.
"The EPA came out swinging, but now they're pulling their punches. As we and more than 40,000 people across the watershed have said, the EPA should immediately strengthen and expand permits for urban stormwater and farmland runoff. After 26 years of state action, it's clear that a wait-and-see approach will not work. The EPA should also use the strongest penalties at their disposal to push states to meet their goals." said Landers.
This outpouring of public support for a healthy bay is the latest, and largest, in a string of grassroots calls to action. Last summer, on a muggy August day, over four hundred bay residents packed a church cafeteria in Annapolis to express their frustrations directly to Chuck Fox, the EPA's new special adviser for the bay. In September, together with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Environment Virginia, Environment Maryland presented the EPA with over 19,000 public comments calling for enforceable limits on all sources of pollution.
The 43,140 comments come from areas in the bay watershed throughout three states: 9,491 comments were from Maryland, 14,542 from Virginia, and 19,107 from Pennsylvania.
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