EPA's Chesapeake Bay restoration strategy due today

[kristopher]

EPA's Chesapeake Bay restoration strategy due today

Associated Press • September 9, 2009

WASHINGTON — A federal strategy for restoring the Chesapeake Bay is expected to be released by the Environmental Protection Agency today.
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The strategy was mandated under an executive order issued earlier this year by President Obama, who put the federal government in charge of efforts previously led by bay states.

Since the announcement, bay advocates have urged strong federal action to clean the nation's largest estuary.

Chuck Fox, senior EPA adviser on the Chesapeake Bay, has said while agriculture still accounts for much of bay pollution, the strategy would contain bold ideas and was likely to include stringent new standards for urban and suburban areas.

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20090909/NEWS/90909010/EPA+s+Chesapeake+Bay+restoration+strategy+due+today

[Botany]

1. Damn Socialists trying to clean up Chesapeake Bay .... I protest!

More blue crabs, oysters, and rock fish are just code words for a commie take over.

[hatrack]

2. "Blue" crabs? Sounds more like RED crabs to me!

To say nothing of the well-known RED snapper!!!

:mad:

[kristopher]

3. I was struck by the fact that the Feds have taken over the effort from the states. nt

[Botany]

5. The pollution of the bay is a multi state problem

Nitrogen pollution is one of the real problems ..... the biology and ecology is straight forward but
getting everybody to work together is like herding cats.

A cleaner Chesapeake Bay would be a really wonderful thing.

[HamdenRice]

4. If New York could do it, so can the Chesapeake

As an east coast amateur fisherman, we often read that the most productive estuaries are the Hudson River/New York bight and the Chesapeake.

After many years of hard work, the Hudson is now clean enough to swim in right off Manhattan, and the city is considering creating beaches in Manhattan. Apparently giant oyster shoals are returning to the Hudson also -- which will accelerate the cleaning process because they are filter feeders. Stripped bass, shad, sea trout and bluefish are back in New York harbor.

The Chesapeake is much bigger and more complex and has lots of agricultural runoff issues, but there's little environmental choice but to clean it up if the east coast fisheries are to survive.

[joshcryer]

6. You can now swim in the Hudson? That's awesome!

I wasn't even aware they were doing a Hudson cleanup.

[HamdenRice]

7. For about 40 years -- started by Pete Seger

I think the clean up really began with a mid 60s song by Pete Seger, "Sailing Down my Dirty Stream," and he's been an activist. Bobby Kennedy and RiverKeeper have put a lot of pressure on also.

The big change was the Clean Water Act, and massive spending on sewage treatment all along the Hudson from the 60s on. And the last real big issue was a GE plant way up river, and GE was I believe required to spend hundreds of millions in clean up costs.

Ironically, now that the Hudson is clean enough to swim in, we are being reminded how dangerous the currents are, and it seems someone drowns in it almost every summer -- and in an odd way, because you could be wading in it and it will just suddenly suck you into the deep water.

On edit: I mean the clean up has been going on 40 years, not that you could swim in it for 40 years. It was been swimmable just a few years. Last year, Pete Seger, who is widely considered the savior of the Hudson, was invited to dedicate a Hudson River swimming pool, a safe way to swim in the river:

http://www.observer.com/2008/green/pete-seeger-green-hero-our-time

[kristopher]

8. They are also having trouble with the docks.

A mussle(?) of some sort that destroys docks had disappeared about 70 years ago. The clean water allowed it to make a comeback and they are having a heck of a time combatting it.

[HamdenRice]

9. I've heard about that also! I think they are called "borers" and are ...

worms rather than mussels.

[OKIsItJustMe]

10. September 10th

http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/d0cf6618525a9efb85257359003fb69d/f257b1c0cb337c958525762c005a7f73!OpenDocument

TOMMORROW: EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, USDA and DOI to Hold Chesapeake Bay Press Conference Call

Release date: 09/09/2009

Contact Information: EPA Press Office (PRESS ONLY), [e-mail], 202-564-6794

WASHINGTON – EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson will hold a press conference call Thursday, September 10 at 1:30 p.m. to discuss the seven draft reports required by President Obama’s Executive Order on the Chesapeake Bay. She will be joined on the line by officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Department of the Interior and others.

The reports will be posted at 12:30 p.m. Thursday on the Chesapeake Bay Executive Order website: http://executiveorder.chesapeakebay.net.

Members of the press who are interested in participating should email [e-mail] for the call-in information.

Due to a limited number of lines, this call is reserved for press only.

WHO: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson and representatives from the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Interior

WHAT: Press conference call to discuss the future of the Chesapeake Bay

WHEN: Thursday, September 10, 2009 at 1:30 p.m.

RSVP: email [e-mail]