It didn't take long for the Chesapeake Bay "pollution diet" to get challenged in court.
The American Farm Bureau Federation filed suit Monday, contending that the plan unveiled less than two weeks ago by the Environmental Protection Agency is "dangerous and unlawful," in the words of the national farm group's president.
The suit, joined by the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, was filed in federal court in that state, but could affect whether the cleanup plan is enforced in Maryland and the rest of the region.
The farm groups contend that the EPA overstepped its legal authority under the Clean Water Act by specifying pollution reductions for farms, municipalities and other sources within the 64,000-square mile watershed - something the suit argues is the purview of the states, not the federal government.
The suit also asserts that the "total maximum daily load," as the diet is officially known, is based on erroneous information about pollution sources, that the EPA relied on computer models "unsuitable" for simulating the impacts on bay water quality and that the agency did not allow adequate time for public comment and review before imposing its diet.
"We all want a clean and healthy Chesapeake Bay," farm bureau president Bob Stallman said in a statement. "This lawsuit is about how we get there. Farm Bureau believes EPA's 'diet' for the Chesapeake is dangerous and unlawful." A farm bureau federation official told The Virginian-Pilot that the intent of the lawsuit is to force EPA to "start over" in assigning state-by-state pollution reductions to restore the bay.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation criticized the farm bureau federation, saying its action was "anti-clean water" and that the lawsuit will only delay a bay cleanup effort that has been in the works for years now. CBF President William C. Baker accused the farm groups of "an attempt to evade their responsibility and shift additional obligations to reduce pollution to sewage treatment plant ratepayers and urban and suburban jurisdictions."
This isn't the only legal challenge to EPA's authority to require restoration of waters fouled by nutrient pollution, as the Chesapeake is. The Florida League of Cities and Florida Stormwater Association announced Monday they had joined with the state of Florida and other groups in suiing over new nutrient limits set by EPA for Florida's waters. The federal complaint contends the limits are costly and unworkable and based on faulty science.
(Farmland along Chester River and its tributaries, photo by Jane Thomas, IAN-UMCES image library)