Chesapeake Bay To be cleaned up By EPA

Staff Writer, Feb 10, 2009

There has recently been a lawsuit filed by a conservation group that is trying to force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to clean up the Chesapeake Bay that has been plagued with pollution after around 25 years of the agency failing to restore or protect the nations largest estuary.

The main assertion of the lawsuit is that the EPA has failed to live up to its obligations to protect the bay. The lawsuit claims that the EPA’s inability to meets their obligations to protect and restore the Bay has led to continued degradation of the water quality. The lawsuit also goes on to state that this inability has harmed the residents who depend on the quality of water as well as harming the natural resources that surround the area.

There are many different issues that have arose when it comes to Chesapeake Bay recently, which is located in many different states including Pennsylvania, Virginia,  Maryland, as well as the District of Columbia. Poor water quality has affected much of the ecosystem as many issues with the, Maryland crab population have been brought up recently regarding the issues with the EPA and the Chesapeake Bay. The issues with the Blue Crab in the water are that the poor quality has destroyed the underwater grasses and this process has affected the fish and sea life negatively. The poor water quality and the problems with the ecosystem has led to much damage to the population of peeler blue crab fishery industries as well as soft shell crab in both Virginia and Maryland. These problems are understandably huge issues to these industries and it looks like the EPA will be help responsible for these issues.

The EPA has stated that it is completely committed to combating pollution and the agency has also said that partnerships are needed to resolve the issues with Chesapeake Bay, not lawsuits. However this does not mean much to supporters of the lawsuit and especially to William Baker the president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation who claims that the lack of effort on the agency’s part has gone on for way too long. This is the reason that the lawsuit will go forward despite the agency’s claims that this is not what is needed to resolve the issues with the Bay.