The Chesapeake Bay Program

The Chesapeake Bay Watershed encompasses Washington, D.C. and six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. The federal government created the Chesapeake Bay Commission, a tri-state legislative body, in 1980 to advise the general assemblies of Virginia, Maryland, and the U.S. Congress on issues related to the Bay. In 1983,

Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., the Chesapeake Bay Commission, and the EPA signed the Chesapeake Bay Agreement, a voluntary pact aimed to restore the ecological health of the waters.

The 1983 Agreement established the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP), a regional partnership among the signatories of the compact. The CBP is a regional partnership that consists of multiple entities including: the states of Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia; the District of Columbia; the Chesapeake Bay Commission; and the EPA (federal entity). The CBP has expanded to include other federal agencies such as the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), academic institutions, and other non-governmental organizations. It is focused on restoring the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed by reducing nutrient loads entering its waters.345 In 1987, the signatories of the Chesapeake Bay Agreement set a goal to reduce nutrients

(nitrogen and phosphorus) entering the Chesapeake Bay by 40 percent from 1985 levels by 2000 and “to improve water quality sufficiently in order to sustain the living resources of the

Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries and to maintain that water quality into the future.”346 _The 1987 Agreement targeted “controllable” nutrients primarily from point sources.347 _{The Agreement} did not address nonpoint sources and remained mostly unregulated. Consequently, the

Agreement did not meet the 40 percent reduction target. Despite additional efforts from

Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, under the 1992 Chesapeake Bay Agreement, to develop tributary strategies that allocated nutrient and sediment reduction targets, when the 2000 deadline for the 1987 Chesapeake Bay Agreement approached, it was clear that the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership would not attain their nutrient and sedimentation reduction goals.

In response, the members of the Bay Program signed a new commitment, Chesapeake 2000, to both extend the deadline and adopt stricter water quality goals. In 2000, the Chesapeake Bay partners renewed the Chesapeake Bay Agreement of 1987 and set a goal "to improve water quality sufficiently in order to sustain the living resources of the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries and to maintain that water quality into the future."348 _{More specifically, the Chesapeake} 2000 agreement aimed to have the Bay’s tidal rivers deleted from EPA’s 303(d) list of impaired waters by 2010. The Chesapeake 2000 commitments are listed in Table 4-5. The 2000

345 _{U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Region 3: The Mid-Atlantic States, Chesapeake Bay Program Office,"} http://www.epa.gov/region03/chesapeake/.

346 _{Chesapeake Bay Program, "Chesapeake 2000," (2000).}

347 _{Ernst, Chesapeake Bay Blues: Science, Politics, and the Struggle to Save the Bay. (Lanham, MD Rowman &} Littlefield, 2003), 64.

Agreement intended: to attain the 40% nutrient reduction goal established in 1987, to reduce sediment and toxics, to increase protection and restoration of streams, and mitigate sprawl. Essentially, the 2000 Agreement set the Program’s agenda for new nutrient and sediment reduction targets.

In April 2003, the Chesapeake Bay Program partners agreed to the following reductions:

- Nitrogen will be reduced from the 2000 levels of 285 million pounds entering the Bay to no more than 175 million pounds per year, a reduction of 110 million pounds;

- Phosphorous will be reduced from the 2000 levels of 19.1 million pounds entering the Bay to no more than 12.8 million pounds per year, a reduction of 6.3 million pounds;

- Sediment will be reduced from the 2000 levels of 5.04 million tons entering the Bay to no more than 4.15 million tons per year, a reduction of 0.89 million tons.349

Since the Bay and its tributaries did not meet water quality standards by 2010, federal regulations required a TMDL for the Chesapeake in 2011.

Table 4-5. The Chesapeake 2000 Commitments Commitments

Living Resource Protection and Restoration

(oyster, exotic species, fish passage, migratory and resident fish, multi-species management, crabs)

- Restore, enhance, and protect the finfish, shellfish and other living resources, their habitats and ecological relationships to sustain all fisheries and provide for a balanced ecosystem

Vital Habitat Protection and Restoration

(submerged aquatic vegetation, watersheds, wetlands, forests)

- Preserve, protect, and restore those habitats and natural areas that are vital to the survival and diversity of the living resources of the Bay and its rivers.

Water Quality Protection and Restoration

(nutrients and sediment, chemical contaminants, priority urban waters, air pollution, and boat discharge)

- Achieve and maintain the water quality necessary to support the aquatic living resources of the Bay and its tributaries and to protect human health.

Sound Land Use

(Land conservation, development, redevelopment and revitalization, transportation, and public access)

- Develop, promote, and achieve sound land use practices, which protect and restore watershed resources and water quality, maintain reduced pollutant loadings for the Bay and its tributaries, and restore and preserve aquatic living resources.

Stewardship and Community Engagement

- Education and outreach, community engagement, government by example, partnership

- Promote individual stewardship and assist individuals, community-based organizations, businesses, local governments, and schools to undertake initiatives to achieve the goals and commitments of this agreement.

Source: Chesapeake Bay Program, Chesapeake 2000.

349 _{Chesapeake Bay Program, "What Are Tributary Strategies?," Backgrounder,} http://www.chesapeakebay.net/content/publications/cbp_12252.pdf.