(The Center Square) — Legislators from the Mid-Atlantic region banded together to ensure that the Environmental Protection Agency would continue to play an active and leading role in the environmental restoration of the Chesapeake Bay past 2025.
As the goals of the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Agreement expire next year, the lawmakers wrote a letter to the EPA head, Michael Regan, asking for insight into how the agency plans to lead in the months ahead.
“As the federal member of the Chesapeake Executive Council and a key partner in Chesapeake Bay Program efforts, we write to inquire about your plans to continue the EPA’s history of strong leadership on Bay efforts during this critical time leading up to the next phase of the Bay Agreement,” the lawmakers wrote.
The EPA spearheads the Chesapeake Bay Program, which devised all four Chesapeake Bay cleanup agreements in the wake of 1972’s Clean Water Act. The Act mandated that all polluted bodies of water in the U.S. be made “fishable and swimmable” by 1983, but most of the waterways on the Act’s “dirty waters list” fell far short of meeting the deadline – including the bay.
Fifteen lawmakers from Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania challenged Regan in their letter, citing his commitment to reinstate the agency’s Federal Leadership Committee – a committee of representatives from federal agencies that play a role in the bay’s restoration – and call a meeting in the fall.
“When will the FLC be holding its first principal-level meeting and who will be invited to attend?” they asked.
They also asked if he planned to “personally attend” the meeting of the Chesapeake Executive Council in December.
“The Chesapeake Executive Council establishes the policy direction for the restoration and protection of the Chesapeake Bay. It consists of the governors of the six watershed states, the mayor of the District of Columbia, the chair of the Chesapeake Bay Commission and the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,” according to the Chesapeake Bay Program.
Last year, the only attendee listed from the agency was Acting Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe. This year appears to be the same, though the acting deputy administrator is Jane Nishida, and the council will hear an update from the Chesapeake Bay Program office director, Martha Shimkin.
“EPA is a key partner in Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts, and as the representative of the federal government on the EC, we are always grateful for your leadership on Bay Agreement issues,” the lawmakers wrote.
