A man looks out over the Chesapeake Bay, with the Bay Bridge in the background, at Sandy Point State Park in Annapolis, Md., on Wednesday, May 12, 2010. (Photo: AP )
The U.S. Supreme Court today decided to let stand a ruling that allows a plan for cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay.
This means that the ruling of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals will stand, said the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The unanimous ruling found that EPA did not exceed its authority and that the efforts to restore local rivers, streams, and the Chesapeake Bay are legal.
“Now that all of the legal challenges have been denied, we hope those who have opposed the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint will devote their time, expertise, and money to working with all of the clean water partners to help Save the Bay,” Foundation President William Baker said. “We have consistently urged partnership not litigation, and now we hope to achieve it.”
The restoration plan calls for reducing nitrogen and phosphorus by about 25 percent and sediment by 20 percent across the 64,000-square-mile watershed. To meet those broad targets, the EPA and six states — including Delaware, Maryland and Virginia — have set pollution-limit goals, known as total maximum daily loads, for 92 waterways that feed into the bay.
The agreement sets a 2017 deadline for completing 60 percent of the actions and 2025 for all of them.
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