"Facing weakened pollution targets and threats of federal inaction, Maryland and Virginia may have to become the agreement’s enforcers."
"The management board of the Chesapeake Bay Program will meet this week to hammer out the next iteration of the agreement that has governed the restoration of the watershed for more than four decades. But this year, they face dual challenges of getting states to sign off on a robust, accountability-driven pact while anticipating a hands-off approach from an Environmental Protection Agency that is already pushing for less ambitious goals.
The draft agreement, released for public comment between July 1 and Sept. 1, has been criticized by scientists, advocates and citizen groups for weakening legal accountability under the Clean Water Act and diluting the enforcement of the Bay’s 2010 pollution limits, known as the Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL.
As Inside Climate News previously reported, the new framework cut the 2014 agreement’s 10 goals and 31 outcomes down to 4 goals and 21 outcomes. Pollution targets were left blank, deadlines were pushed back as far as 2040 and oversight timelines were replaced with undefined “X-year” review periods. Several restoration goals were scaled back without explanation."
Aman Azhar reports for Inside Climate News September 30, 2025.
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