PA Environment Digest Blog: CBF: Proposed Settlement Of Lawsuit Against EPA For Failing To Hold Pennsylvania Accountable For Meeting Chesapeake Bay Water Pollution Reduction Goals Focuses On Actions In 7 PA Counties

Thursday, April 20, 2023

CBF: Proposed Settlement Of Lawsuit Against EPA For Failing To Hold Pennsylvania Accountable For Meeting Chesapeake Bay Water Pollution Reduction Goals Focuses On Actions In 7 PA Counties

On April 20, a proposed settlement was announced in the 2020 lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its failure to require Pennsylvania to develop and implement a plan to meet its commitments to reduce pollution under the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint.

It is the result of lawsuits filed against EPA by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and its partners including Anne Arundel County, the Maryland Watermen’s Association, and Robert Whitescarver and Jeanne Hoffman.

The Attorneys General for Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Virginia filed a separate similar suit. The courts combined the cases.

Focus On 7 PA Counties

EPA previously failed to require Pennsylvania to develop a plan to fully meet the pollution reduction goals, including identifying the necessary funding, or impose consequences.

The settlement requires EPA to, among other things, look for ways to reduce pollution from agriculture–the state’s biggest polluting source–and stormwater runoff from urban and suburban land.

As part of the settlement, EPA also commits to increase compliance and enforcement efforts.

Under the settlement, EPA will prioritize its efforts in Pennsylvania on the counties that contribute the most pollution to, or have the largest impact on, local rivers and streams.

Those are Lancaster, York, Bedford, Cumberland, Centre, Franklin, and Lebanon counties.

In the agriculture sector, EPA will take a close look at farms not currently required to have federal permits that have proximity to rivers and streams to see if there is significant damage to water quality from manure generation, manure management practices and/or available storage capacity, and compliance history.

If EPA determines that a farm is a significant contributor of pollution, EPA will confer with Pennsylvania about designating the farm as a point source subject to permitting.

In urban and suburban areas, EPA will begin to evaluate whether pollution from sources of stormwater that are not currently subject to federal regulations are adding to the damage to local rivers and streams.

If EPA determines that a particular source, or sector of sources, contributes to a violation EPA will, at a minimum, confer with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

EPA and PA DEP will examine the possibility of designating the sources as needing to obtain a point source permit that limits pollution by requiring the removal of impervious surfaces, the installation of BMPs or both.

In enforcement, EPA will increase compliance-assurance activities in the priority counties to assess whether federally-permitted sources are complying with existing permit requirements.

EPA will also determine whether there are any PA DEP-issued general permits or individual permits within the Pennsylvania portion of the Bay watershed that have been administratively extended.

EPA will work with the Commonwealth to develop a permit reissuance strategy designed to bring permits up to date and significantly reduce the number of administratively extended permits.

These steps are primarily so-called “back-stop” actions EPA could take to hold states accountable for water pollution reductions.

Pennsylvania is not a party to this settlement since the lawsuit was against EPA.

The public will now have 30 days to comment on the proposed settlement before it can be finalized.

“This proposed settlement is a win for local waterways, healthy communities, and the Chesapeake Bay. EPA focusing on concerted remedial action to address some of the most severe problems in Pennsylvania provides accountability and reasonable assurance that Bay restoration will succeed,” said CBF President Hilary Harp Falk. “This is a welcome change. The Trump Administration did not use its Clean Water Act tools to hold all Bay partners accountable. By signing this agreement, the Biden Administration has taken a significant step forward in meeting that obligation.”

Click Here for a copy of the proposed settlement.

Click Here for the complete announcement.

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.

Visit DEP’s Chesapeake Bay Watershed webpage to learn more about cleaning up rivers and streams in Pennsylvania's portion of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Click Here to sign up for regular updates on Pennsylvania’s progress.

How Clean Is Your Stream?

Check DEP’s 2022 Water Quality Report to find out how clean streams are near you.

NewsClips:

-- Bay Journal: Settlement Proposed For Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Lawsuit Over EPA’s Oversight Of Pennsylvania

-- PA Capital-Star: EPA Settles Lawsuit With States, Enviros Over Chesapeake Bay Pollution From PA

-- AP: EPA Agrees To Make Pennsylvania Cut chesapeake Bay Pollution