Cardin offers new remedy for ailing bay

Bill puts cleanup issues before Congress
By PAMELA WOOD, Staff Writer
Published 10/20/09
With the Chesapeake Bay so sick it's in intensive care, U.S. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin yesterday offered a new prescription: $1.5 billion more in federal spending, a pollution credit-trading program, enforcing clean water laws and setting a deadline for a cure: 2025.

 J. Henson - The Capital

"This is a major moment. This is really the most significant advancement on the Chesapeake Bay in 25 years," said Cardin, D-Md.

He was joined by fellow politicians, an activist and a farmer in unveiling his bill before a bank of TV cameras and a crowd of sign-waving members of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

In large part, Cardin's bill would put into law a series of promises made over the last year by bay state governors and the federal government.

Between now and 2025, each state that drains into the Chesapeake Bay will have two-year incremental deadlines for reducing nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment that sully the water and choke out aquatic life - a promise already made by the bay's governors.

To help the states meet those deadlines, Cardin proposes sending more money to far-flung places in the bay's watershed, such as New York and West Virginia.

He also wants to put $1.5 billion toward combating stormwater runoff, a vexing bay problem and the only pollution source that has increased.

Pollution credit-trading would also be part of the mix. For example, farmers could earn credits for making extra pollution reductions that could be sold or traded to other farmers, or to cities with problematic, polluting sewage plants.

If the two-year targets or the 2025 deadline aren't met, Cardin's bill would require enforcement, although he was vague about what that might entail.

Last month, the federal Environmental Protection Agency promised to yank permits or stop federal funding, if necessary, if states don't meet pollution targets.

Cardin earned plenty of pats on the back from enthusiastic politicians and bay advocates during and after the news conference.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Baltimore, who is co-sponsoring the bill, said that all the promises and pledges and billions of dollars over the years have made the bay no healthier than it was before. But this bill, he said, is "the legislation that will finally achieve bay restoration."

Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Montgomery, went so far as to say that people will look back at this "historic day" and note that it was the turning point in bay restoration efforts.

Other government officials joining Cardin included Maryland Gov. Martin O' Malley and L. Preston Bryant Jr., Virginia's secretary of natural resources.

The talk of finally saving the bay once and for all is nothing new to Fred Kelly, the Severn Riverkeeper. He said he's pleased the federal government is focusing more attention on the bay and spending more money on restoration.

But he's not sure Cardin's bill goes far enough.

"2025 doesn't register with the folks who live on the water. We were talking 2010, now it's 2025," Kelly said. The last round of promises included getting the bay off the list of the nation's "impaired waters" by 2010, which all agree won't happen.

Environment Maryland, an advocacy group, issued a statement that said Cardin's bill "could" be what the bay finally needs.

But Will Baker, longtime president of the nonprofit CBF, had no such hesitation. He said Cardin's bill is the best thing to come along in the foundation's 42-year history.

"This legislation will require that actions replace words," Baker said.

Cardin said his bill may not pass on its own; rather, its key provisions could be tacked onto another water-related bill.

Meanwhile, as Cardin's bill gets going, the Obama administration's federal agencies are fine-tuning their latest round of promises.

In response to an executive order from the president in May, the agencies are coming up with ways they can better serve the Chesapeake Bay.

The EPA made key promises to set a pollution budget limiting how much nutrients and sediment the bay can absorb and making states responsible for parceling out the pollution limits to rivers.

If the states fail to hit the pollution marks, the EPA could block federal permits, halting construction and road-building.

The executive order-inspired promises from EPA and the other agencies will be compiled into a single "coordinated strategy" by early November, although they won't become final until next May.

New bay cleanup bill
U.S. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin's Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act of 2009 would:

• Set a 'firm' Chesapeake Bay cleanup deadline of 2025. This will be a legally binding part of the federal Clean Water Act.
• Spend $1.5 billion on controlling polluted stormwater runoff from urban and suburban areas.
• Require 10 percent of grant money to go to New York, West Virginia and Delaware.
• Require 20 percent of grant money to go to farmers and foresters.
• Put key features of recent federal agency promises into law, such as two-year deadlines for state pollution reductions under a new, baywide pollution budget.
• Create a nutrient-trading program.
• Put into law the decision not to introduce Asian oysters into the bay.
• Expand nutria eradication on the Delmarva Peninsula.
• Study how large-scale, industrial fishing is affecting the population of menhaden.