EPA Taking Tough Stand on Chesapeake Bay Clean Up

In the fall, the federal government outlined what it expects of the jurisdictions in the Chesapeake watershed, which are Maryland, Virginia, the District, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware and New York. A computer model of the bay will be used to calculate a pollution "diet" for the Chesapeake -- and each state will have to reduce its pollution accordingly.

Tuesday's letter explained what might happen if they don't. EPA officials said they might:

-- Object to state-issued permits for new sources of pollution, such as factories, sewage-treatment plants or suburban storm sewers.

-- Require states to offset pollution in one area by cutting it in another. If a state can't find ways to curb pollution from farms, for instance, the EPA could require stricter cuts from sewage-treatment plants.

-- Take tighter control of federal money that goes to states for antipollution programs, to make sure it is used to solve outstanding problems.

In Virginia, Natural Resources Secretary L. Preston Bryant Jr. said he thought that the EPA's threats might actually change the trajectory of the Chesapeake cleanup, by forcing states to take their obligations more seriously.

"This letter, and whatever follows up from this, is going to get people's attention," said Bryant, part of the outgoing administration of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D).

But the Chesapeake Bay Foundation said the EPA's threats were not tough enough. William C. Baker, the foundation's president, said the EPA wants to wait for states to set new goals for cleaning up pollution late next year -- when it should instead hold the states to goals they've already set.

Oliver A. Houck, a Tulane University professor who studies water laws, said the EPA's threats don't solve a legal loophole that has bedeviled the Chesapeake cleanup since its beginning.

Clean-water laws make it easy to crack down on pollution that comes out of a pipe, such as treated sewage and factory discharges. But they give states less power to crack down on pollution that doesn't come from pipes, such as the fertilizer and animal manure that wash off suburban lawns and farm fields.