Advertisement Maryland governor directs AG to sue Pennsylvania, EPA over Chesapeake Bay Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan directed the state's attorney general Wednesday to pursue legal actions against Pennsylvania and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in an effort to protect Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts.In a statement, the governor's office said Hogan has repeatedly called on upstream states, including Pennsylvania, to step up and take responsibility for sediment and debris that pours into the Chesapeake Bay via the Susquehanna River."We have a generational responsibility to protect the bay, and we simply cannot afford to fall short of these shared obligations," Hogan wrote in the letter. "Therefore, I ask that you commence litigation against the EPA and Pennsylvania, and in close coordination with the Maryland Department of the Environment."Read the governor's letter to the attorney general here.According to Hogan's office, watershed states submitted in August 2019 their final Chesapeake Bay cleanup plans to the federal administration. At that time, Hogan expressed "alarming concerns" about Pennsylvania's lack of progress on clean water goals and called on the EPA to use its robust oversight powers to hold states accountable."Pennsylvania, which is under 'enhanced' or 'backstop' federal oversight due to failed pollution reduction efforts, has proposed a draft Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) under which it would fall drastically short of its agreed-upon 2025 pollution reduction targets," Hogan said in the statement. "The EPA currently appears to have no intention of taking the necessary action to ensure Pennsylvania's compliance with its commitments."Hogan is serving his second term as chairman of the Chesapeake Executive Council, which consists of the governors of the six watershed states, the mayor of the District of Columbia, the chair of the Chesapeake Bay Commission and the EPA administrator.As governor, Hogan has committed $5 billion toward wide-ranging bay restoration initiatives and was recently successful in securing an increase in federal funding for bay cleanup, according to Hogan's office.The Chesapeake Bay Foundation released the following statement Wednesday evening: "The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) is supporting Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s effort to pursue legal actions against the EPA and Pennsylvania for that state’s deficient Chesapeake Bay cleanup plan."Gov. Hogan announced this afternoon he directed Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh to begin the legal actions to attempt to hold Pennsylvania accountable."The Chesapeake Bay Foundation first sued EPA in 2009 for its failure to enforce the Clean Water Act regarding Chesapeake Bay pollution. The settlement to that lawsuit established the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint, or Bay TMDL, which set a pollution reduction requirement for each state in the Bay’s watershed."Last year, Pennsylvania submitted to EPA its most recent plan to reduce Bay pollutants. The plan included an annual estimated funding gap of more than $300 million and fell 25 percent short of the state’s requirement for reducing nitrogen. Meanwhile Maryland and Virginia’s plans were mostly on track to meet their pollution reduction goals by 2025, although Maryland must make more progress on reducing pollutants from agriculture and stormwater runoff."Pennsylvania is the lynchpin of the Chesapeake Bay cleanup. The state makes up the bulk of the Susquehanna River’s watershed and the Susquehanna supplies about 50 percent of the freshwater that enters the Bay. "For several months, CBF has been considering a second lawsuit as EPA has failed to vigorously enforce the Blueprint."The CBF President Will Baker issued the following statement: “We commend Gov. Hogan for pursuing legal options. The Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint requires all states in the watershed to do their part and EPA to hold them accountable. So far, Pennsylvania’s elected officials have not made the investments needed to meet their clean water commitments. And EPA’s failure to impose consequences puts the entire cleanup at risk.”