"Restoration targets are significantly scaled back from earlier agreements and critical metrics are undefined, raising fears that the decades-long cycle of missed opportunities is about to repeat itself."
"The newest draft of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement lacks meaningful pollution reduction targets and allows states to evade legal accountability, according to concerned environmental advocates and experts who have reviewed the document.
Released for public comment on July 1, the current draft is intended to chart the future course of bay restoration efforts beyond 2025. But the proposal obscures enforcement responsibilities under the Clean Water Act, experts say, and dilutes the legal clarity of the 2010 Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), the so-called nutrient diet for a healthy bay, and shifts toward more voluntary, advisory language.
The proposed agreement, open for public comment through September 1, reduces the structure of the 2014 version of the agreement from 10 goals and 31 outcomes to 4 goals and 21 outcomes, on the pretext that doing so would streamline efforts.
Critical metrics are missing throughout the document. Pollution targets for nitrogen and phosphorus are unspecified, key conservation outcomes are left as placeholders (“XX%”) and multiple deadlines are extended to 2030, 2035, or 2040 without explanation or justification. The section outlining “Management Strategies,” crucial for overseeing progress, replaces prior biennial review cycles with an undefined “X-year” periods."
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