Obama federalizes cleanup of Chesapeake Bay

Calling it “a national treasure,” President Obama on Tuesday issued an executive order dedicated to cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay.

His action puts the federal government at the head of efforts previously led by the states.

The executive order establishes a Federal Leadership Committee, led by the Environmental Protection Agency to oversee restoration programs and orders the EPA to research its authority under the Clean Water Act to restore the Bay.

At a news conference Tuesday on George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate overlooking the Potomac River, EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said the Bay’s poor health requires an urgent federal effort in partnership with the states.

“If we come up short, this may be the last generation of watermen on the Chesapeake Bay,” Mrs. Jackson said.

In recent years, regional leaders have claimed some success in reducing pollution in the Bay, the nation’s largest estuary, but blue crabs and oysters are well below their historical levels and scientists have warned of “dead zones” where nutrients such as nitrogen spur algae growth that deprives the water of oxygen.

Mr. Obama’s announcement came as the states that constitute the Bay watershed promised to accelerate their own cleanup efforts.

The six states plus the District set goals to reduce the flow of pollutants including nitrogen and phosphorus into the Bay by the end of 2011.

The plans, for instance, call for a 6 percent reduction in nitrogen flow between now and 2011, and a 7 percent reduction in phosphorus.

Some environmentalists, though, said the states’ goals fall woefully short of what is needed to restore the Bay to full health. They welcomed the executive order as a potential federal cudgel that will force the states to do more.

It is not yet clear what consequences would imposed on states that fail to meet their goals. The EPA is in the midst of crafting its own plan for limiting Bay pollution, with specific caps imposed on each state in the watershed for nutrient flow.

John Surrick, a spokesman for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said about half of the reductions called for in the states’ plans would have occurred anyway with existing plans to reduce nutrient flow. He said the states could have set more aggressive goals, especially because there has been an influx of federal funds dedicated to such efforts.

The foundation has said the Bay could be restored to health in five years if the federal government fully enforced the Clean Water Act. The foundation earlier this year sued the EPA seeking such enforcement. Mr. Obama’s executive order cites the Clean Water Act as justification for his actions.

Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, who chairs an interstate council dedicated to Bay restoration efforts, said the states wanted to set attainable, short-term goals, rather than pie-in-the-sky long-term goals that would never be reached.

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley said the reductions are significant and will require a serious policy and financial commitment. Some policies under consideration in Maryland, for instance, include requirements for all new and failing septic systems to be replaced with high-tech systems.

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