Virginia’s plan to reduce pollution in the Chesapeake Bay will likely fall short of the Environmental Protection Agency’s approval, experts say. The $7 billion plan details pollution reductions at wastewater treatment plants in the James River basin, and provides concrete examples of how a nutrient trading program could allow local jurisdictions to meet reduction goals.
It’s the second plan the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has submitted to the EPA in recent months. While experts say it’s a significant improvement over the original, the plan still includes too many voluntary measures and not enough assurances that it will actually work.
Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia and the District of Columbia also turned in updated plans. Maryland missed the deadline, though the EPA is expecting Maryland’s draft in about a week.
Virginia also failed to detail how it would pay for the plan. Without funding estimates, Virginia’s proposal may never get off the ground, according to a critique by the Center for Progressive Reform.
Virginia officials have been critical of the EPA’s Chesapeake Bay efforts, calling them a “massive unfunded federal mandate.” Virginia cannot guarantee that the state’s General Assembly will provide much of the funds needed to put the plan in action, according to Doug Domenech, Virginia secretary of natural resources.
Gov. Bob McDonnell did announce that he would add $36.4 million to the state’s water quality improvement fund in 2011.
Because of Virginia’s shortcoming, the EPA will likely impose federal backstop measures to reach the pollution reduction goals, according to officials with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The EPA will spend several weeks reviewing every plan to see if they will succeed in meeting their daily pollution limits, said David Sternberg, EPA spokesman.
