Fed faces suit for failing on cleanup

Fowler says Patuxent River, Chesapeake on ‘death watch'

Friday, Oct. 31, 2008

The notice of intent to file suit in federal court aims to force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to comply with pollution reduction mandates outlined in the agreement signed in 2000 and impose sanctions if those goals are not met.

"The Chesapeake Bay sits perched right on the brink of going beyond a point of no return," said William C. Baker, president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, one of eight plaintiffs in the suit. "In spite of three decades worth of government efforts, it is not on the road to recovery yet."

The 2000 agreement stated that the Bay and its tributaries would be sufficiently cleaned to be removed from the federal impaired waters list by 2010. But the EPA recently acknowledged that that the 2010 deadline was out of reach and is discussing pushing back the timeline to 2020.

More delay is unacceptable, said longtime environmental advocate Bernie Fowler, a former state senator from Calvert County who will also be named as a plaintiff.

"After 38 years of pleading, begging … and court suits, we're at a point now where the Patuxent River is on death watch and so is the Chesapeake Bay," he said.

Water quality in the Bay and its tributaries has steadily declined over the years and two past accords signed in 1983 and 1987 to reverse the trend have also failed. In its 2007 State of the Bay Report Card, CBF issued a "D" grade for the health of the 64,000 square-mile watershed.

"I think we've reached the tipping point," said Fowler. "We've got to fish or cut bait. There's no time for any more studies or committees."

The Bay Foundation wants the EPA to lay out an ambitious timetable to reach the pollution reduction goal by 2015 and will ask the court to enact severe penalties for missing the deadline.

"The sad thing is that science has given us all the strategies needed to restore it to vibrant health," said Baker. "It's not that we as a society don't know what to do, it's that we as a society have failed to do it."

The deterioration of the Chesapeake watershed has led to declining blue crab and oyster population, vast dead zones where no organism can survive and routine beach closures due to polluted waters, Baker said.

Rapid shoreline development, stormwater runoff and pollution from power plants have contributed to the chronic degradation of the watershed, said Fowler, who was raised on the banks of the Patuxent River and holds his annual Wade-In each June to measure the depth at which he can see his shoetops.

As recently as the 1950s, the watershed had an abundant supply of aquatic life. Dozens of watermen would collect 10 barrels of crabs a day and it was not unusual to catch 30 bushels of oysters daily, he said.

"We all have a responsibility to leave the planet better off than we found it and if we leave here today, we have not done that," he said. "Our stewardship has left something to be [desired]."

Political leaders need to step to the plate and address the situation immediately, Baker said. The suit will be filed before the election to demonstrate that the effort is nonpartisan.

"We will be only too happy to work with whichever candidate wins," he said.