Today at 12:30pm the Federal Leadership Committee released, pursuant to President Obama’s Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration Executive Order, seven draft reports to improve Bay restoration. Each report is about 50 pages, so there’s a lot of information to take in – from strengthening water quality to strengthening storm water management to assessing the impacts of climate change. After a quick look, here are my initial thoughts:
1. EPA Special Advisor Chuck Fox’s diligence and energy is impressive. Not only did he have to navigate EPA’s many layers of bureaucracy, he also coordinated representatives from the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Interior, Transportation and others to make sure these reports made the Executive Order deadline. He has been – and I think will continue to be – remarkably effective.
2. In contrast to the previous administration, the Obama EPA seems to be serious about using existing authority to the fullest. For example,
With all the above said, the devil is, of course, in the details. For example, the draft report’s recommendations on the Bay-wide TMDL, while a step in the right direction, are still vague. A crucial part of ensuring that nonpoint sources meet their pollution budgets under the TMDL will depend on how stringently “reasonable assurance” or “reasonable progress” will be defined in the guidance – and the current definition in the report leaves much to be desired. In July 2000, the EPA proposed a definition of “reasonable assurance” that was later jettisoned. But that definition was far more stringent than the definition in today’s draft report. The 2000 definition required a state to demonstrate reliable delivery mechanisms and adequate funding to ensure load allocation reductions. The draft report definition refers vaguely and more generally to identifying the capacity to meet load allocations and commitments, omitting the stronger, mandatory language of the 2000 definition. In November, the reports will be finalized and open to public comment. We’ll be posting more detailed analyses on the draft reports in the coming days.
For the moment, it's fair to say the EPA's efforts here are impressive. The proposals today are some of the kinds of steps that could really make a tremendous difference in saving the Chesapeake Bay.
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Shana Campbell Jones | September 10, 2009
Today at 12:30pm the Federal Leadership Committee released, pursuant to President Obama’s Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration Executive Order, seven draft reports to improve Bay restoration. Each report is about 50 pages, so there’s a lot of information to take in – from strengthening water quality to strengthening storm water management to assessing the impacts […]
Yee Huang | September 10, 2009
On Tuesday the Environmental Working Group (EWG) released a report on the status of state and federal agriculture policies for five Chesapeake Bay watershed states: Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia. The report focuses on agriculture policies that impact water quality and highlights a gaping hole in the regulation of animal-based operations. Past and […]
Rena Steinzor | September 10, 2009
After weeks of sustained attack from the right-wing on issues that are marginal to the job the President asked him to do, Cass Sunstein has emerged from the nomination process bloody but apparently unbowed (here's this afternoon's roll call). He is now the nation’s “regulatory czar,” Director of the White House OMB Office of Information and […]
Ben Somberg | September 9, 2009
Late this afternoon the Senate ended debate, in a 63-35 cloture vote, on the nomination of Cass Sunstein for Administrator of the Office of Information and Reuglatory Affairs (OIRA). Here's a quick look back at what CPR scholars have said about the Sunstein nomination and the role of OIRA in regulatory policy: CPR Member Scholars' […]
Thomas McGarity | September 9, 2009
Yesterday, the Food and Drug Administration implemented a 2007 food safety statute by promulgating a rule requiring food manufacturers to report instances of foodborne diseases to an electronic database that the agency has just established (the Reportable Food Registry). This long-awaited database will help epidemiologists at the Centers for Disease Control, state health agencies and […]
Yee Huang | September 9, 2009
A feature article Sunday in the Philadelphia Inquirer, by Sandy Bauers, describes the impressive restoration of the Lititz Run, a stream located in the Lower Susquehanna Watershed in Pennsylvania. Lititz Run flows into the Susquehanna River, which contributes about 40 percent of the nitrogen in the Chesapeake Bay, as well as a significant amount of […]
Matthew Freeman | September 6, 2009
CPR’s Dan Rohlf had an op-ed in The Oregonian on Friday, taking the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to task. Faced with news that the nation’s largest emitter of mercury pollution is a cement plant in the state, DEQ moved quickly to…defend the polluter. Rohlf writes: The biggest mercury polluter in the entire United States […]
Douglas Kysar | September 5, 2009
Prominent environmental commentator Bjorn Lomborg is at it again, this time convening a blue ribbon panel of five economists to assess the relative merits of different possible methods for addressing climate change. As reported by Reuters Friday morning, Lomborg’s panel concluded that “‘climate engineering’ projects, such as spraying seawater into the sky to dim sunlight, […]
Ben Somberg | September 4, 2009
The AP reports: A federal judge presiding over hundreds of lawsuits against Chinese drywall makers and installers said Thursday that he plans to hold the first trial in January for the cases, which claim the imported products emit sulfur, methane and other chemical compounds that have ruined homes and harmed residents’ health. U.S. District Judge […]