David Thompson
WILLIAMSPORT SUN-GAZETTE
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
The Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a list Tuesday of consequences designed to hold states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed accountable for not making adequate progress in reducing pollution entering the bay.
Comments [Add Comment]
During a teleconference, agency officials said they were optimistic none of the measures would have to be used because states should be able to adhere to two-year pollution reduction milestones set by the agency.
"We fully anticipate states will meet their (pollution reduction) requirements and we won't necessarily need to implement any (consequences)," Shawn Garvin, regional administrator for the EPA's mid-Atlantic region, said.
By the end of 2010, states in the watershed, including Pennsylvania, will be assigned a Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL.
A TMDL is a "pollution diet" setting the total amount of daily pollution that can be discharged into the bay watershed. In the case of the bay, TMDLs will be set for nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment, which have been blamed for creating dead areas in the bay.
States must reach two-year benchmarks in achieving pollution controls, which include the creation of pollution control strategies and an implementation plan for those strategies.
The Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a list Tuesday of consequences designed to hold states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed accountable for not making adequate progress in reducing pollution entering the bay. READ MORE
