EPA Reaches Settlement in Chesapeake Bay Lawsuit

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today

that it reached settlement with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, four

former Maryland, Virginia and Washington,D.C. elected officials, and

organizations representing watermen and sports fishermen in resolving a

lawsuit filed in January 2009 claiming that EPA had failed to take

adequate measures to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay. The

lawsuit, Fowler v. EPA, is pending in federal district court for the

District of Columbia.

The settlement agreement, negotiated with groups and individuals with a

long history of advocating protection and restoration of the bay, tracks

much of the comprehensive suite of strong regulatory and other actions

that EPA has initiated or pledged to take under the Obama administration

to restore water quality in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

These actions include establishing the stringent Chesapeake Bay total

maximum daily load (TMDL), putting in place an effective implementation

framework, expanding its review of Chesapeake Bay watershed permits, and

initiating rulemaking for new regulations for concentrated animal

feeding operations and urban and suburban stormwater. The agreement also

includes a commitment to establish a publicly accessible tracking and

accounting system to monitor progress in reducing pollution through the

TMDL and two-year milestones.

"Because EPA and the co-plaintiffs share the same goals of clean water

in the Chesapeake Bay and the waterways flowing through communities in

the region, we felt that a settlement building on our common goals was

far more positive than defending a lawsuit filed in the Bush

administration " said EPA Deputy Administrator Bob Perciasepe. "Through

the executive order issued by President Obama, this administration is

committed to making real progress in restoring water quality, and our

strong actions and rigorous accountability system are evidence that EPA

is serious about reducing pollution."

By December 31, 2010, EPA will establish the Chesapeake Bay TMDL, a tool

of the federal Clean Water Act, that sets a strict "pollution diet" to

restore the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. The Chesapeake TMDL will

be the largest and most complex ever developed in the nation, involving

pollution sources throughout a 64,000-square-mile watershed that

includes six states and the District of Columbia. In 2009, EPA announced

that it expects the six watershed states and D.C. to provide detailed

strategies for reducing pollutant loads to meet water quality standards.

EPA also expects detailed schedules for implementing pollution controls

and achieving pollution reductions. Progress will be measured through

milestones every two years, and EPA may take action for inadequate plans

or failure to meet the milestones.

Tomorrow, EPA will be announcing the final federal strategy for the

Chesapeake Bay, implementing the president's executive order. Many of

the commitments in the settlement agreement will be reflected in the

strategy.

More information about the TMDL is available at:

http://www.epa.gov/chesapeakebaytmdl/

New Federal Strategy for Chesapeake Launches Major Initiatives and Holds

Government Accountable for Progress

< http://executiveorder.chesapeakebay.net/post/New-Federal-Strategy-for-Chesapeake-Launches-Major-Initiatives-and-Holds-Government-Accountable-for-Progress.aspx >

May 12 2010

Download the Executive Summary - Chesapeake EO Strategy Executive

Summary.pdf (872.17 kb)

< http://executiveorder.chesapeakebay.net/file.axd?file=2010%2f5%2fChesapeake+EO+Strategy+Executive+Summary.pdf >

Download the Full Strategy - Chesapeake EO Strategy.pdf (7.79 mb)

< http://executiveorder.chesapeakebay.net/file.axd?file=2010%2f5%2fChesapeake+EO+Strategy.pdf >

The new federal strategy for the Chesapeake region released today

focuses on protecting and restoring the environment in communities

throughout the 64,000-square-mile watershed and in its thousands of

streams, creeks and rivers. The strategy includes using rigorous

regulations to restore clean water, implementing new conservation

practices on 4 million acres of farms, conserving 2 million acres of

undeveloped land and rebuilding oysters in 20 tributaries of the bay. To

increase accountability, federal agencies will establish milestones

every two years for actions to make progress toward measurable

environmental goals. These will support and complement the states'

two-year milestones.

The "Strategy for Protecting and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay Watershed"

was developed under the executive order issued by President Obama in May

2009, which declared the Chesapeake Bay a national treasure and ushered

in a new era of shared federal leadership, action and accountability.

The strategy deepens the federal commitment to the Chesapeake region,

with agencies dedicating unprecedented resources, targeting actions

where they can have the most impact, ensuring that federal lands and

facilities lead by example in environmental stewardship and taking a

comprehensive, ecosystem-wide approach to restoration. Many of the

federal actions will directly support restoration efforts of local

governments, nonprofit groups and citizens and provide economic benefits

across the Chesapeake region.

"This strategy outlines the broadest partnerships, the strongest

protections and the most accountability we've seen in decades. It's a

new era for our work on the Chesapeake Bay," said EPA Administrator Lisa

P. Jackson, who chairs the Federal Leadership Committee for the

Chesapeake. "Through President Obama's leadership and the commitment of

many active stakeholders, we have an historic opportunity to restore the

environmental health of these waters and the vibrant economy of this

community."

To restore clean water, EPA will implement the Chesapeake total maximum

daily load (a pollution diet for the Chesapeake Bay and local

waterways), expand regulation of urban and suburban stormwater and

concentrated animal feeding operations and increase enforcement

activities and funding for state regulatory programs.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will provide farmers and

forest owners throughout the bay watershed with the resources to prevent

soil erosion and keep nitrogen and phosphorous out of local waterways.

USDA will target federal funding to the places where it will have the

greatest water quality impact and ensure that agricultural producers'

conservation efforts are accurately reported. USDA will also lead a

federal initiative to develop a watershed-wide environmental services

market that would allow producers to generate tradable water quality

credits in return for installing effective conservation practices.

"A thriving, sustainable agricultural sector is critical to restoration

of the Chesapeake Bay," said USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. "We will help

the bay watershed's farmers and forest owners put new conservation

practices on 4 million acres of agricultural lands so that agriculture

can build on the improvements in nutrient and sediment reductions that

we have seen over the last 25 years."

Conserving 2 million acres of natural areas, forests and farmland

preserves the environmental, recreational, cultural and economic

benefits these lands provide. To protect priority lands, the Department

of the Interior will launch a collaborative Chesapeake Treasured

Landscape Initiative and expand land conservation by coordinating

federal funding and providing community assistance. Interior will also

develop a plan for increasing public access to the bay and its rivers.

"Under the leadership of President Obama, our strategy provides the

blueprint for finally restoring the Chesapeake Bay to health - its

bountiful wildlife, abundant fish and shellfish, beautiful waterways and

rich wetlands," said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. "My

department, which has 13 refuges and 51 units of the National Park

System throughout the watershed, will play a key role in the plan,

working hand-in-hand with other federal agencies, states, local

communities and other stakeholders to restore this national treasure

cherished by so many.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers will launch a bay-wide oyster restoration

strategy in close collaboration with Maryland and Virginia that focuses

on priority tributaries, expands commercial aquaculture and bolsters

research on oyster stock, habitat and restoration progress. Oysters are

among the bay's most struggling species and restoration in 20

tributaries will yield great environmental and economic benefits.

"Oysters are a key species for Chesapeake Bay restoration. Not only are

they important to seafood lovers, but they cleanse water and form reef

habitat," said Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans

and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator. "It is critical that we apply our

best science toward native oyster restoration and habitat protection, as

well as toward development of sustainable aquaculture. Ecosystem-based

approaches to management will enable progress toward a healthy,

sustainable Chesapeake ecosystem that will include oysters for

generations to come."

Several overarching approaches in the strategy are also important:

Short-term action: To accelerate the pace of restoration and protection,

many actions occur in the next few years, and many of the actions are

"on-the-ground" and "in-the-water" all around the Chesapeake watershed.

Supporting local efforts: The strategy is designed to directly support

the restoration activities of local governments, watershed groups,

county conservation districts, landowners and citizens.

Benefiting economies and jobs: Many actions will provide economic

benefits, including conservation of working farms, expanded oyster

aquaculture, support for conservation corps programs and green jobs, and

development of an environmental marketplace for selling, buying and

trading credits for pollution reductions.

Targeting of resources: Agencies will be aggressively targeting

resources where they can have the most impact - areas with the most

pollution and potential for runoff, with the highest potential for

restoring fish and wildlife, and with habitats and lands most in need of

protection.