EPA will strengthen enforcement of Chesapeake Bay pollution rules in Pa. under proposed settlement

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will enhance its oversight of Pennsylvania’s efforts to reduce pollution that reaches the Chesapeake Bay under a proposed settlement that would end lawsuits brought by Maryland and other plaintiffs in 2020.

The plaintiffs sued over the EPA’s failure to require Pennsylvania to hold up its end of a multistate agreement to clean up the bay. Under the settlement, the EPA will seek ways to reduce agriculture-related pollution and stormwater runoff in urban and suburban areas of Pennsylvania, according to a joint news release from the plaintiffs.

The EPA will also ramp up its compliance and enforcement efforts in Pennsylvania and prioritize counties that contribute the most pollution to local waterways: Lancaster, York, Bedford, Cumberland, Centre, Franklin and Lebanon counties.

The settlement is the result of lawsuits filed during former President Donald Trump’s administration.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Anne Arundel County and the Maryland Watermen’s Association filed suit over the EPA’s failure to require Pennsylvania to develop a plan that would keep it in line with goals laid out in the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint. The attorneys general for Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and the District of Columbia also filed a similar lawsuit, which was combined with the earlier suit.

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said all of the states in the Chesapeake Bay’s watershed must participate in pollution-reduction efforts.

“As the Susquehanna (River) travels from New York through Pennsylvania, it brings with it pollution that impairs the health of the bay,” Brown said Thursday. “Marylanders have been doing the demanding work to curb pollution and restore the ecosystem. We can only get so far without the commitment and the effort of all jurisdictions in the bay’s watershed.”

“This settlement is about EPA’s responsibility to take action to ensure that Pennsylvania … does its part to reduce the pollution flowing into the bay,” he said.

The public has 30 days to comment on the proposed settlement before it will be finalized.

Under the terms of the settlement, the EPA will examine farms that are close to waterways and are not currently required to have federal permits to determine if water quality is being damaged by manure management practices.

If the EPA finds that a farm is a significant polluter, the agency will “confer with Pennsylvania about designating the farm as a point source subject to permitting,” the plaintiffs said.

Pollution from agriculture is Pennsylvania’s biggest polluting source. Agricultural operations generate nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus, which can contribute to harmful algae blooms that damage ecosystems in the bay.

The EPA will also examine whether stormwater pollution sources that are not federally regulated are damaging local rivers and streams, and will confer with Pennsylvania environmental authorities to evaluate whether the pollution sources need point-source permits.

The EPA will also enhance compliance efforts in Pennsylvania’s priority counties to determine if currently permitted pollution sources are complying with their requirements under federal rules.

The Blueprint plan was established in 2010 with a deadline of 2025. It implemented incremental goals for the states that contribute to pollution in the bay and was intended to hold those states accountable.

Evaluations by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the EPA have concluded that most states are not on track to meet their pollution-reduction obligations by 2025.

CBF President Hilary Harp Falk said the goal will be “yet another missed deadline.” But, she said, “the Blueprint’s goal remains achievable and should remain our north star.”