Chesapeake Bay Cleanup effort delayed

State shooting for 2025 deadline instead of 2020


For a while, Maryland appeared aggressive in efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay. The state set a 2020 deadline - five years ahead of the federal deadline - for getting required pollution-busting projects in place.But the O'Malley administration is backing off from its 2020 promises after pressure from local governments and farmers who find the process challenging and expensive. "This is a very aggressive strategy that we have, and it's going to require full speed ahead to get there by 2025," said Robert Summers, state secretary of the environment. The decision to bump back the deadline was made by Gov. Martin O'Malley's "bay cabinet" of secretaries of the environment, natural resources, planning and agriculture and other officials.The pressure to move the deadline has been building for months, as it became clear how much work has to be done to meet the federal "pollution diet" for the Chesapeake. This time last year, the state submitted a broad plan for how to make the needed pollution cuts.Since then, county governments have been working on more detailed plans. They've figured out how much work they have to do in the form of sewage plant modernizations, septic system upgrades, stormwater control improvements and changes to farming practices. In Anne Arundel County, as The Capital reported last month, the Department of Public Works drew up a plan that relies heavily on scores of stormwater pollution retrofits and hooking up to the public sewer system thousands of homes that now have septic systems. The costs could top $1 billion. Ron Bowen, the county's public works director, has said that it would be difficult to get all the work done on time, even if cost were no object. But there's not enough money in the pipeline for all the projects.That scenario is playing out across the state. "Looking at the plans that are coming in … the reality is, it's going to take that kind of time frame to get that all done," Summers said. Officials at the nonprofit Chesapeake Bay Foundation - the largest bay advocacy group - were not surprised by the decision to move the deadline. Jenn Aiosa, a senior scientist at the bay foundation, said she hopes the new deadline doesn't give anyone an excuse to slow down their bay-saving efforts. "We want to make sure that the movement of the time line doesn't allow folks to think, 'Whew, we have another couple years before we have to get serious,' " Aiosa said. Delays have plagued the decades-long effort to clean up the bay and get it off of the list of the nation's "dirty waters."Too much nutrient and sediment pollution fouls the bay and chokes oxygen from the water. Top government officials have signed voluntary agreements over the years, pledging to cut pollution. But the agreements had deadlines that were far in the future, when the signatories were no longer in office. Summers said he doesn't expect a repeat of those past failed promises."This is pedal to the metal," he said. "We're full speed ahead."

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