Chesapeake Bay Foundation: Bay Executive Council Fails To Hold Pennsylvania Accountable For Its Water Pollution Cleanup Commitments

[Chesapeake Bay Foundation:] The Chesapeake Executive Council held its meeting on October 1. The Council’s job is to lead Bay restoration efforts, establish the policy direction for the restoration and protection of the Bay and its living resources, and be accountable to the public for progress made under the Bay agreements.

By those measures the Executive Council has fallen short. Following the meeting, Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) President William C. Baker issued this statement.

“For Bay restoration to succeed, each of the jurisdictions must meet their promised pollution reductions. EPA agreed to hold them accountable if they slip.

“Once again, the Council ignored the failure of Pennsylvania to meet its commitments. Worse yet, EPA failed to hold the Commonwealth accountable, even as CBF, its partners, and the Attorneys General of Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Virginia are suing EPA in federal court to do just that.  [Read more here]

“If the Council and EPA refuse to exert leadership, Bay restoration efforts are doomed to fail.

“The Executive Council’s sole objective this year was to sign a Climate Change Directive. Sadly, that directive is only a start, taking small steps at a time when bold action is needed. 

“The Climate Change Directive must do more to meet scientists’ findings. While Virginia has set a pollution-reduction goal that includes mitigating the damage from climate change, Maryland and Pennsylvania have not.

“The 2025 deadline is just around the corner. In 2016, success seemed possible. Today, hope is fading. The last 40 years of Bay restoration efforts have been littered with promises broken and commitments unmet.” 

For more on Chesapeake Bay-related issues in Pennsylvania, visit the Chesapeake Bay Foundation-PA webpage.  Click Here to sign up for Pennsylvania updates (bottom of left column).  Click Here to support their work.

Also visit the Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership to learn how you can help clean water grow on trees.

CBF has over 275,000 members in Bay Watershed.

PA Chesapeake Bay Plan

For more information on Pennsylvania’s plan, visit DEP’s Chesapeake Bay Office webpage.

How Clean Is Your Stream?

DEP’s Interactive Report Viewer allows you to zoom in on your own stream or watershed to find out how clean your stream is or if it has impaired water quality using the latest information in the draft 2020 Water Quality Report.

 

(Reprinted from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation website.)

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-- PA Senate Committee Reports Out Bipartisan Bill Allocating $500 Million In American Rescue Fund Monies For Local Environmental Improvement, Recreation Projects

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-- Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership: Enters Fourth Fall Season;  3 Million+ Trees Planted So Far 

-- DEP’s Health Waters Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan Update - September

-- Water Science Institute, Partners: Celebrate Big Spring Run Legacy Sediment Stream Restoration Project In Lancaster County Sept. 30 

-- Middle Spring Watershed Assn. Stream Restoration Project In Shippensburg Working Well After Hurricane Ida 

-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission: Releases Sediment & Nutrient Pollution StoryMap  

-- DCNR: Hosts Virtual Community Conservation Partnership Grant Workshops In November  

-- Call For Abstracts: Bucknell University’s 16th River Symposium Nov. 5-6  

-- Register Now For 2021 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Forum Nov. 1-5 

[Posted: October 1, 2021]  PA Environment Digest