New day for the bay?

January 8, 2009 12:35 am

AS PROMISED, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation has sued the EPAfor failing to enforce the Clean Water Act as it pertains to the mid-Atlantic estuary. The lawsuit claims that if the act had been properly executed, Uncle Sam would have provided adequate cleanup funding.

It's a logical argument: The law is the law; live by it. The Bay's condition exemplifies the chronic pollution the Clean Water Act is to address. But the 2010 deadline for improving Bay water quality won't be met by a long shot.

Bay Foundation President William Baker says that not only has the Environmental Protection Agency failed to help the Bay, it has been a "negative factor" by relaxing power-plant air-pollution-reduction targets and cutting funds for sewage-treatment-plant upgrades. In statements that have been disputed, former EPA chiefs say they were ordered to exaggerate Bay cleanup progress to ensure the continued flow of the meager funds allocated for that purpose.

The lack of funding and political will made it easy rowing for agricultural and fishing interests that saw the cleanup as an expensive imposition. Only recently have farmers and watermen conceded that getting behind Bay cleanup would serve their interests.

While Virginia and Maryland have led the watershed states' efforts to save the Bay, the federal government has been a reluctant partner. Maybe the new administration will sprinkle some "change we can believe in" on the Bay cleanup program in appreciation of the chief watershed states' support. Cleaning up the estuary will create new jobs and restore some old ones.

President-elect Obama knew he could count on Maryland, a Democratic stalwart. Pennsylvania, which contributes half of the Bay's fresh water and 40 percent of its nitrogen pollution via the Susquehanna River, gave Obama 55 percent of its votes.

Now comes Virginia into the Democratic fold on Election Day, favoring a Democrat for president for the first time since 1964, while completing the switch to a Democratic Senate delegation and converting the House delegation from 8-3 Republican to 6-5 Democratic. What's more, Gov. Kaine became an Obama foot soldier early in the campaign and is now the president-elect's choice to head the Democratic National Committee.

Bay advocates have said the cleanup should be part of Mr. Obama's economic-stimulus plan, citing the loss of nearly 4,500 jobs between 1998 and 2006 directly attributable to the decline of the blue crab. The Bay's estimated crab population of 260 million is down two-thirds since 1990.

It is simply unacceptable that the federal government allows the degradation of the Bay to continue, with laws and deadlines ignored. Let's hope the new administration will mean the dawning of a new day for the Bay.