"President Obama took a dramatic step to revive faltering efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay yesterday, issuing an executive order that could empower the federal Environmental Protection Agency to set a more demanding timetable and penalize states that fail to meet it.

The order, signed yesterday, signals a far greater federal role in the bay cleanup, instructing the EPA to coordinate efforts by several federal departments and work with state governments to reduce pollutants flowing into the bay. It gives the agency enforcement authority if states miss established goals."
 
Ashley Halsey III reports for the Washington Post May 13, 2009.