Recent comments from the head of the Environmental Protection Agency's Chesapeake Bay Program about pollution limits designed to improve the health of the bay have sparked concern among environmental groups and some Maryland officials.
EPA's bay program Director Dana Aunkst said at a conference this week in Annapolis that 2025 pollution goals set forth in 2010 for Chesapeake Bay states and the District of Columbia are "an aspiration" and not an enforceable deadline, according to The Capital.
Will Baker, president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said in a statement that position "should put fear in the hearts of all who care about clean water." He called it a sign that President Donald Trump's administration is retreating from the bay cleanup effort.
Lee Currey, director of the Water and Science Administration in the Maryland Department of the Environment, called on the EPA to enforce the limits.
"The federally approved Bay TMDL includes a range of steps that the U.S. EPA can take to hold all states accountable, and Maryland expects the EPA to use all the tools at its disposal to do just that in the agreed-upon 2025 timeframe," Currey said in a statement released by an agency spokesman.
