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Tuesday, July 7th, 2015

Federal Appeals Court Rules Against Groups Trying To Block The Clean Up Of The Chesapeake Bay

Author:     Katie Valentine
Source:     Climate Progress
Publication Date:     July 6, 2015 at 3:50 pm
 Link: Federal Appeals Court Rules Against Groups Trying To Block The Clean Up Of The Chesapeake Bay
Stephan:   I grew up on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, and it has always held a special place for me. In many ways it could be said that America exists as a country because of the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal rivers, and sheltered harbors. Watching it be polluted by industrial animal and fowl husbandry operations, dumping thousands of tons of fecal matter into the bay's waters, along with massive blasts of antibiotics and hormones was a disturbing experience. But now there is some hope, as this story describes. This is good news.
Chesapeake Bay

Chesapeake Bay

The future of the Chesapeake Bay looks a little cleaner Monday, after a federal appeals court struck down a case that sought to undermine an effort to clean up the bay.

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals’ newly-released opinion upholds a decision made by a lower court that found that the Environmental Protection Agency-led cleanup effort, which involves all six states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, is legal. The plan, called the Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Blueprint, establishes a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for how much nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment can enter the bay each year — limits that aim to cut these forms of pollution by 20-25 percent by 2025.

The EPA’s plan is being put in place by the states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. But a range of agriculture groups, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, the Fertilizer Institute, and the National Pork Producers Council, have taken issue with the plan, with the Farm Bureau suing the EPA over it in 2011. That lawsuit garnered the […]

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