Today is the deadline for the public to comment on plans drafted by Maryand, the District of Columbia and the other Chesapeake Bay watershed states for accelerating their efforts to clean up the degraded estuary. Monday, Nov. 8 is also the last chance to comment on the Environmental Protection Agency's first cut at a baywide "pollution diet," which in many cases goes beyond what the states have pledged so far to do.
EPA's draft Total Maximum Daily Load, as the "diet" is known bureaucratically, has come in for heavy criticism from farm and business groups, especially in New York and Virginia, where state and local officials have complained that the pollution reductions demanded by the federal government are unachievable and could cost jobs, raise taxes and halt growth if carried out.
Environmentalists, on the other hand, have noted that the states have the option of revising their cleanup plans to propose a more palatable mix of pollution controls - as long as they reduce nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment to the levels called for by EPA. The problem is that except for Maryland and DC, none of the other states proposed to do enough.
The Center for Progressive Reform, a pro-environment Washington think tank, found all the states' bay cleanup plans lacking in comments it submitted late last week. The plans spent most of their ink describing what the states were already doing, the center said, and skimped on specifics about how they'd improve those efforts or what new cleanup steps they'd take. All but Maryland's plan fail to reduce one or more pollutants to the levels EPA has said are necessary to restore the Chesapeake, it said.
Even Maryland's plan comes in for criticism, despite the fact it lays out enough different options for reducing nutrient and sediment pollution to get them 30 percent below the federal targets. The problem is, the center said, that the state failed to commit to any of them, and didn't spell out how much each would cost.
Maryland officials have said they wanted to give residents, farmers, local officials and business interests a chance to comment on all the options in writing and at public meetings before choosing among them for a final cleanup plan due to EPA by Nov. 29.
"Public comment and input is undoubtedly valuable, but ultimately Maryland must make the tough decisions that protect the environment and lead to a restored Bay for present and future generations," the center wrote. "By leaving the particulars open to debate, Maryland is likely to receive less focused and helpful comments."
Of course, another effect of waiting to lay out a specific roadmap for reducing pollution in Maryland until Nov. 29 means the O'Malley administration was able to avoid speling out potentially costly and controversial pollution reduction measures until after the election. It remains to be seen how they'll choose now that the voting is done.
(Bay Bridge, from Sandy Point State Park, 2009 Baltimore Sun photo by Jed Kirschbaum)