The Department of Environmental Protection is now accepting applications for Growing Greener Watershed Restoration Projects designed to reduce pollution in watersheds impaired by nonpoint source pollution.  Applications are due September 17.

With the Growing Greener II bond funding now spent, the competition for funding can be expected to be intense.  $6 million will be available for Growing Greener Watershed Projects, $3 million in federal 319 watershed funding and $500,000 for flood control projects.  A special priority area is the Chesapeake Bay Watershed where reduction in nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment pollution is being targeted.

Examples of eligible projects could include reducing nonpoint source pollution in watersheds where streams are impaired; integrating stormwater management and flood protection into watershed management; encouraging the beneficial use of abandoned mine pool water; and water conservation strategies, and projects that will help reduce Total Maximum Daily Load pollutants.

Through the same application process, applicants can also apply for funding through the Department’s Flood Protection Grant Program and Section 319 Nonpoint Source Grant.  Flood protection grants are intended for communities that operate and maintain State and Federal flood protection projects.  Section 319 grants focus on funding projects similar to Growing Greener but with special emphasis within targeted watersheds.

PA Environment Digest has posted a copy of the application online.

DEP indicated that more information on the 2010 application process would be posted on its Growing Greener webpage.

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From Penn Future…

Time is running out to register for a free clean water breakfast near you. Join PennFuture and our partners to learn about Pennsylvania’s commitment to clean water here at home and downstream in the Chesapeake Bay. The first of the series is less than a week away.

This is an event you won’t want to miss. Officials from the Department of Environmental Protection will outline the plan to limit the amount of pollution in the region (technically known as a total maximum daily load or TMDL) and Pennsylvania’s approach to meeting pollution reduction goals. Learn more about innovative stormwater solutions. And even better, find out about federal efforts to provide additional resources for local governments.

Clean water starts here — Pennsylvania provides half of the freshwater to the Chesapeake Bay, so clean water starts with the creeks, streams and rivers here at home. Speakers will discuss the impact our clean water commitments will have on local water quality and what local government officials and citizens can expect as we move forward.

This process cannot happen without your input. Join us for a FREE breakfast, and learn how you can be involved.

admin Chesapeake Bay, Events ARRA, Chesapeake Bay, clean water, Clean Water Act, PA DEP, stormwater best management practices, TMDL, US EPA, water quality, watershed protection

Special Bulletin From the Editors

The Chesapeake Bay drainage is by a large measure the single largest watershed in Pennsylvania, comprising approximately 50 % of the state.  Impaired water quality in the Bay for some years has been the focus of national attention, with EPA and other federal agencies working hard to improve problems (e.g., nutrients nitrogen in various forms, phosphorus, and sediment) which persist.  In recent months, after years of strenuous management actions that failed to deliver the desired water quality improvements, more stringent actions have been defined and are pending, all likely to add more water quality requirements on municipalities within the watershed.  Given the extent of the Bay watershed in Pennsylvania and the number of municipalities which these new actions could potentially affect, keeping track of what’s going on makes sense.

We recently interviewed Harry Campbell, Senior Scientist at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (Harrisburg Office) for a summary of these pending actions.

Harry points out that at the moment, there are 4 major developments with both legal and regulatory and technical ramifications for municipalities to watch.  Although these developments seem to be converging to some extent, they also are driven somewhat separately by distinct legal and technical mandates.

1.  Federal governments significant tightening of water quality performance at its own facilities.  Refer to President Obama’s Executive Order 13508 Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration.  This Order discusses preparation of an Accountability Framework, comprehensive Watershed Implementation Plans, definition of explicit milestones, application of rigorous LEED performance standards at federal facilities, and a host of other new management measures.  This is a thesis unto itself!

2.  Introduction of Congressional (Senate S. 1816 and House H.R. 3852, named the Chesapeake Clean Water Act) bills to reauthorize and strengthen Section 117 of the Clean Water Act, specifically focusing on the Chesapeake Bay.  Go to the CBF webpage ( http://www.cbf.org/Page.aspx?pid=1420) for explanation of why this expanded and more specific law is necessary.  Although these 2 companion bills started out life being quite similar, as time progresses, aspects of the bills are undergoing some change.  Nevertheless, the legislative intent here is to:

-Places legally enforceable, science-based limits on pollution from all sources.

-Gives states pollution reduction standards to meet and allows them the flexibility to achieve those reductions as they best decide.

-Provides significant funding for technical assistance to farmers so they can implement pollution controls, as well as funding for stormwater pollution controls.

-Encourages market-based approaches to pollution reduction, which could provide an estimated $300 million annually to rural areas.

3.  The Bay TMDL.  Most folks at this point have come to understand what Total Maximum Daily Loads or TMDLs are all about.  TMDLs have been created by the Clean Water Act to quantify the total amount of pollution (pollutant loads from both point sources such as wastewater treatment plants and nonpoint sources such as dispersed stormwater runoff).  TMDLs are supposed to address both existing sources and future or projected sources of pollution.  As can be imagined, calculating and modeling the 6-state watershed to develop a single TMDL for the Chesapeake is one challenging exercise.  Scientists have been at it for some time and have promised to have the TMDL developed by December 31, 2010 for the pollutants of primary concern in the Chesapeake: nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment.

These TMDLs are critical for any number of reasons.  In describing the relationship between the new Congressional bills (above), the CBF website points out:

-EPA will require the states to specify, in great detail, how they will achieve pollution reductions from all sources through enforceable or binding, rather than voluntary measures.

-EPA wants these plans designed to ensure 100% implementation of pollution reduction practices by 2025.

-EPA has indicated its intent to invoke strict consequences if the states fail to develop adequate implementation plans or to make progress in achieving the necessary pollution reductions.

-The TMDL will require tidal states to set pollution caps for smaller geographic areas than in the past, e.g., counties, because much of the reduction efforts will occur at the local level. To clean-up the Bay and its tidal rivers, we need to reduce pollution from all the streams and rivers that feed them. So implementing the TMDL will help clean up local streams as well as the Bay.

-The local pollution caps for tidal states will increase accountability by providing a goal against which local efforts can be measured

The Chesapeake Clean Water Act adopts the Bay-wide TMDL pollution caps and the state cleanup plan requirements, but it also clarifies and strengthens EPA’s role in ensuring the needed pollution reductions occur. In addition, the legislation includes more than $1.5 billion in grants for state and local governments to help cover the costs associated with implementing those reductions. It also establishes an interstate trading program designed to lower the costs of compliance with the new TMDL, particularly for local municipalities.

In addition to the CBF website, more details on the TMDL process can be found here, on EPA’s website>>

4.  Finally, in the midst of all of the above, there has been a May 11, 2010 lawsuit settlement, reached between environmental groups (including CBF) and the EPA which will require EPA to strengthen measures to protect and restore Bay water quality.

This historic settlement is a legally binding, enforceable document that requires EPA to take specific actions by dates certain to ensure that pollution to local rivers, streams, and the Chesapeake Bay is reduced sufficiently to remove the Bay from the federal “dirty waters” list. The settlement mandates:

-Reasonable assurances: The settlement outlines what “reasonable assurances” EPA will require of the states to support the Bay TMDL.. The states will be required to develop Watershed Implementation Plans (WIPs) explaining how they will meet the limits for all sources in each area of their state.

-Consequences: The settlement identifies what consequences EPA will impose upon states and localities that fail to develop sufficient WIPs or meet their limits. One of those consequences could be that permits will not be issued to new sources of pollution. That could include new sewage treatment plants or major new developments.

-Offsets: The settlement requires that the states offset all new nitrogen, phosphorous, and sediment loads. In the settlement EPA has agreed that each state’s WIP will provide offsets for new or increased permitted discharges.

-Dates certain: The settlement establishes dates identifying when EPA will complete development of a Bay TMDL and when the states are to provide WIPs.

-Tracking: The settlement requires EPA to develop a tracking system that is publically available and which describes whether increased pollution from new, small sewage treatment plants and industrial dischargers have been included in calculating whether the state or local jurisdiction is meeting its new limits. CBF has recently seen an increase in small sewage treatment plants that are below EPA’s permit threshold.

-Stormwater: EPA agrees that one of the biggest sources of pollution in the Bay region is urban stormwater and that this form of pollution is growing.  EPA agreed to:

1. review all new construction general permits (those that apply to categories of construction) drafted by Bay states and make sure they meet federal standards;
2. by July 31, 2010 develop a guidance for major municipal stormwater permits in the Bay region; and
3. by Nov. 19, 2012, take final action on industrial and municipal stormwater regulations.

-Reducing pollution from agriculture: The settlement commits EPA to proposing new regulations for controlling pollution from agriculture by Dec. 15, 2012 and taking final action by Dec. 15, 2014.

-Addressing air pollution: Under the settlement EPA will require an allocation for air deposition of nitrogen from the states in the Bay TMDL, so that some portion of the total nitrogen budget will be attributed to air pollution.

More details on this lawsuit settlement agreement can be found at the CBF website>>

Change is coming to Pennsylvania’s Bay municipalities.  Many thanks to Harry Campbell and the Chesapeake Bay Froundation for the work they are doing in forging these changes. Harry can be reached at (717-234-5550, HCampbell@cbf.org)

admin Chesapeake Bay, From the Editors agriculture, Chesapeake Bay, clean water, Clean Water Act, nitrogen pollution, Nonpoint source pollution, nutrient reduction, phosphorous reduction, stormwater, stormwater legislation, stormwater runoff, TMDL, US EPA, water quality, watershed protection

PHILADELPHIA  (July 1, 2010) - EPA today announced draft allocations for nitrogen and phosphorus as part of a rigorous pollution diet for meeting water quality standards in the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries, and restoring local rivers and streams throughout the 64,000-square-mile watershed.

Restoring the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries will not be easy. While we all recognize that every jurisdiction within the watershed will have to make very difficult choices to reduce pollution, we also recognize that we must collectively accelerate our efforts if we are going to restore this national treasure as part of our legacy for future generations.

–EPA Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin

EPA proposed watershed-wide limits of 187.4 million pounds of nitrogen and 12.5 million pounds of phosphorus annually, and divided those allocations among the six watershed states and the District of Columbia, as well as the major river basins (see link below). These loadings were determined using the best peer-reviewed science and through extensive collaboration with the states and the District of Columbia. EPA will assign draft allocations for sediment August 15.

In addition, EPA is committing to reducing air deposition of nitrogen to the tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay to 15.7 million pounds per year. The reductions will be achieved through implementation of federal air regulations over the coming years.

The jurisdictions are expected to use the allocations as the basis for completing Watershed Implementation Plans, detailing how they will further divide these allocations among pollution sources, and achieve the required reductions. The first drafts of those plans are due to EPA by September 1. The jurisdictions are expected to have all practices in place to meet the established limits by 2025, with 60 percent of the effort completed by 2017.

EPA plans to issue a draft Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) or pollution diet for a 45-day public comment period on September 24. The final Phase 1 Watershed Implementation Plans are due November 29, and EPA will establish the Bay TMDL by December 31.

In 2017, the jurisdictions are expected to submit updated implementation plans to ensure that all the control measures needed to meet Bay water quality standards will be in place by 2025.

In 2009, EPA announced that it expects the six watershed states and D.C. to provide  Watershed Implementation Plans, including detailed strategies for reducing pollutant loads to meet water quality standards in the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries. EPA also expects detailed schedules for implementing pollution controls and achieving the required pollution reductions. EPA and the jurisdictions will measure progress utilizing two-year milestones. EPA may apply federal backstop measures for inadequate plans or failing to meet the milestones.

For more information about the Chesapeake Bay TMDL, go here>>

admin Chesapeake Bay agriculture, Chesapeake Bay, Clean Water Act, nitrogen reduction, Nonpoint source pollution, phosphorous reduction, stormwater best management practices, stormwater standards, TMDL, US EPA, water quality, watershed protection

From the Chesapeake Bay Foundation…

June 30^th, 2010

(WASHINGTON, D.C.)-Chesapeake Bay Foundation President William C. Baker issued this statement following passage of the Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act by the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works with strong bipartisan support. It will now move to consideration by the full Senate.

The Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act is the most important legislation for Bay restoration in decades. It will replace the failed cleanup efforts of the past with accountability, milestones, and consequences for failure. The legislation affirms the science-based pollution limits that are being established by the EPA, the watershed states, and the District of Columbia through the judicially-ordered Total Maximum Daily Load, and allows each jurisdiction to decide how best to achieve those limits. It also authorizes generous new funding to help local jurisdictions attack the expensive task of reducing urban and suburban runoff and creates an important new source of revenue for farmers and landowners.

The environmental tragedy unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico underscores the linkages between clean water and a healthy economy. Here in the Chesapeake Bay watershed we have our own variation of the Gulf oil spill tragedy-over 22 million pounds of polluting nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment spewing into local rivers, streams, and the Bay every day.

Senator Cardin has done extraordinary work in drafting strong, substantive legislation that Senators from both parties and from every part of the nation can support.  We commend the efforts of Senator Cardin and his committee colleagues to move this critical bill forward, and encourage the full Senate to act swiftly to pass S. 1816.

admin Chesapeake Bay agriculture, Chesapeake Bay, clean water, nitrogen, phosphorous, sediment, stormwater best management practices, stormwater legislation, stormwater runoff, TMDL, US EPA, water quality, watershed protection