By Madison Disney
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
The state’s lawsuit against Pennsylvania and the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection is needed more than ever to protect the Chesapeake Bay from more pollution, a state official said Monday.
Maryland Environment Secretary Ben Grumbles said the litigation that was filed earlier this year is one step in the state’s efforts to restore the bay.
“Our lawsuit is now absolutely necessary to get EPA and our partners upstream and upwind to do their fair share to protect our beloved bay,” Grumbles said in an interview.
Gov. Larry Hogan announced in January that he asked Attorney General Brian Frosh to take legal action against Pennsylvania and the EPA, arguing that neither one was doing enough to prevent pollutants from seeping into the bay.
The governor’s announcement came a month after the EPA approved Pennsylvania’s final watershed implementation plan, which outlined the steps the state would take to protect the bay. Hogan has argued that the plan is deeply flawed and the EPA is failing to hold Pennsylvania accountable.
“Earlier this year, I directed the attorney general to take this legal action in keeping with our generational responsibility and shared obligation to enhance, protect, and restore the Chesapeake Bay,” Hogan said in a statement released last week. “I have fostered a constructive dialogue with our partners and will continue to work with them to pursue our shared goal: a cleaner and healthier Chesapeake Bay.”
In 2010, the EPA and the six states and District of Columbia that make up the 64,000-square-mile Chesapeake watershed area established pollution reduction standards designed to cut back on nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment that was harming the bay.
The agreement required the states and Washington to submit clean-up plans to the EPA in three phases. The final phase was implemented in 2019, when the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia and New York submitted their proposals.
Hogan says he is concerned about the watershed states’ final Chesapeake Bay clean-up plans. Pennsylvania’s projections would fall short of their 2025 pollution reduction goal, he said. He added that the EPA made excuses for the state rather than forcing it to make meaningful changes.
As the chairman of the Chesapeake Executive Council, Hogan said he works with the six governors of the watershed states and the mayor of D.C. to increase federal funding for bay cleanup. He has previously spent up to $5 billion in restoration efforts.