The Hill News

With new environmental regulations looming overhead, there is much uncertainty for those who live, work, and farm in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Whether you reside in the Washington Metropolitan Area or the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, the goal of all involved is the same: the continued health and vitality of the Chesapeake Bay. However, the methods proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reach this goal would limit economic growth and unfairly over-regulate agriculture producers and local economies.

The EPA’s complex Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) is of great concern to communities in the watershed. The TMDL sets the limit on the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment discharged into the Bay and each of its tributaries by different sources. Although the Clean Water Act requires the EPA to establish a TMDL, the power is reserved by the states to determine how to improve water quality, including determining nutrient reduction alloca! tions among different types of point and nonpoint sources. The EPA clearly exceeds their authority in the proposed TMDL by setting specific nutrient reduction allocations.

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