DEP Submits Draft Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan To EPA On Time

Pennsylvania joined Maryland in submitting a draft Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan on time by the September 1 deadline this week, but Virginia asked for a two day extension.
Each plan must assign nutrient and sediment loads by source sector: agriculture, stormwater, wastewater treatment, forestry and resource extraction and further by major drainage basins within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. In Pennsylvania this covers two-thirds of the state.
The Plan must show how Pennsylvania will achieve at least 60 percent of the required reductions with controls to be put in place by 2017 and have all controls in place by 2025 to meet the mandated nutrient and sediment reductions.
The Department of Environmental Protection convened a stakeholder's group on March 31 to start working on the Plan.
Also in March the Chesapeake Bay Foundation issued a special report on Pennsylvania efforts to cleanup the Bay watershed which concluded the state will have to double or triple its efforts to install agricultural best management practices if it hopes to meet the aggressive cleanup milestones established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The draft Plan submitted by DEP expresses concerns about how recent budget cuts have reduced staff and funding to implement measures to reduce nutrient and sediment pollution. Several examples include--
Compliance With Agricultural Requirements: "With current budget considerations, there is no expectation that additional state funds for staff resources will become available in the near term. Currently there are vacancies within the program at the state, regional and local levels which are not expected to be filled."
Stormwater Program Compliance: "Appropriations for the state’s 75 percent cost share of stormwater management planning and municipal implementation costs have been suspended due to budgetary reductions, therefore no funding is currently available to support fulfillment of the Act’s requirements."
Erosion & Sedimentation Controls: "With current state and local budget considerations, there is no expectation that additional or increased funds for staff resources will become available in the near term. Increased integration, efficiency, coordination, and cross-training of local, county and state staff to enhance effectiveness in program implementation will be needed."
Forestry Technical Assistance: "Demands on their time have been intensified due to recent budgetary and staffing cuts; CFM (service forester) staffing was reduced by 19 percent, resulting in 15 full-time equivalents to provide technical support to 7 million acres of private forest land across the 33 counties within the Bay watershed."
Forestland Conservation: "Funding for forestland conservation has come primarily from state Growing Greener funds, Key ‘93 funds, and the Oil and Gas fund. These sources are in jeopardy, either scheduled to expire soon, declining with the recession, or diverted to help balance the state budget."
John Brosious, PA Municipal Authorities Association, said, "The Pennsylvania Municipal Authorities Association (PMAA) supports the DEP Watershed Implementation Plan as it applies to nutrient reduction at wastewater plants. PMAA represents many of the 184 impacted plants and has worked closely with DEP and other stakeholders to achieve equitable reduction goals. We are pleased that the Wastewater Treatment Plan adopted as part of the original Tributary Strategy, setting nitrogen limits at 6 mg/l and phosphorus limits at 0.8 mg/l, was retained and included in the new Watershed Implementation Plan."
A copy of Pennsylvania's draft plan is available online.
NewsClip: PA Plan To Reduce Pollution Going To Chesapeake Bay Released