After decades of no progress in the Chespeake cleanup, feds and states are taking another whack

After decades of halting progress in curbing pollution in the Chesapeake Bay (actually regress would be more like it), president Obama  issued a executive order in 2009 specifying tougher new standards on pollutants flowing into the bay.  

The specifics of the plan were called too timid by environmentalists such as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, but industry called them too aggressive, according too the WaPo at the time: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/12/AR2009051202469.html

The Obama order imposed new pollution limits on the states in the Chesapeake watershed. States are responding by imposing limits on pollution in cities and counties throughout the watershed  Municipalities in turn are are responding by doing things like imposing limits on farmers waste and controlling storm waters to reduce sediment into the Bay, and installing water treatment plants to cut down on nitrogen and phosphorus emissions.  .

The Bay is supposed to bw subject to a "pollution diet"  Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), "a historic and comprehensive “pollution diet” with rigorous accountability measures to initiate sweeping actions to restore clean water in the Chesapeake Bay and the region’s streams, creeks and rivers," according to the EPA. http://www.epa.gov/reg3wapd/pdf/pdf_chesbay/FinalBayTMDL/BayTMDLExecutiveSummaryFINAL122910_final.pdf

So the recent report on the health of the Bay was a disappointment: The Chesapeake Bay Gets Bad Report Card: For the first time in 4 years, the Chesapeake's annual report card showed a... http://bit.ly/lIZtob