Opinion ID: 2814626
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Chesapeake Bay TMDL, 2000–2010

Text: Development of the Chesapeake Bay TMDL began in earnest with the Chesapeake 2000 Agreement, whereby the EPA and political backers from the Bay states made commitments geared to reducing pollution in the Bay. This Agreement eventually gave way to states’ submission to the EPA of “Phase I Watershed Improvement Plans,” which were drafts proposing target pollutant limitations and how the in the waterbody to which that TMDL applies.”); Bravos v. Green, 306 F. Supp. 2d 48, 56 (D.D.C. 2004) (“EPA’s approval of a State’s TMDL does not translate into approval of the State’s implementation plan.”); City of Arcadia v. EPA, 265 F. Supp. 2d 1142, 1144 (N.D. Cal. 2003) (“TMDLs established under Section 303(d)(1) of the CWA function primarily as planning devices and are not self-executing.”); Idaho Sportsmen’s Coal. v. Browner, 951 F. Supp. 962, 966 (W.D. Wash. 1996) (“TMDL development in itself does not reduce pollution. It is only a step toward bringing [water quality limited segments] into compliance with water quality standards; TMDLs inform the design and implementation of pollution control measures.”); Corey Longhurst, Where Is the Point? Water Quality Trading’s Inability to Deal with Nonpoint Source Agricultural Pollution, 17 Drake J. Agric. L. 175, 187 (2012); Jan G. Laitos & Heidi Ruckriegle, The Clean Water Act and the Challenge of Agricultural Pollution, 37 Vt. L. Rev. 1033, 1054–57 (2013) (criticizing courts for the limited legal effect they have given to TMDLs); J.A. 1113 (“The cornerstone of the accountability framework is the jurisdictions’ development of [Watershed Improvement Plans], which serve as roadmaps for how and when a jurisdiction plans to meet its pollutant allocations under the TMDL.”). 23 states would achieve them. The EPA developed the Chesapeake Bay TMDL in reliance on these plans and did so only after approving the pollutant limitations and concluding that each state had given “reasonable assurance” of actually meeting the targets in its Watershed Improvement Plan. Several of the first drafts of the Phase I Watershed Improvement Plans did not provide reasonable assurance, whereupon the EPA conferred with the relevant jurisdictions, they revised their Plans, and the EPA incorporated those revisions. It determined that the final draft Phase I Watershed Improvement Plans provided reasonable assurance in all respects save two sources of pollution (Pennsylvania urban stormwater and West Virginia agriculture), and it imposed a “backstop adjustment,” meaning that it will require greater reductions from point sources in Pennsylvania and West Virginia if those states cannot meet their projected load allocations. The EPA also decided to provide a “backstop allocation” for New York because that jurisdiction proposed to discharge too much nitrogen and phosphorous; this will also require more stringent point-source limitations than New York proposed. After making these adjustments to the states’ Watershed Improvement Plans, the EPA incorporated them into the final Chesapeake Bay TMDL. It is detailed, as it includes point- and nonpoint-source limitations on nitrogen, phosphorous, and sediment for 92 segments of the Bay identified as overpolluted and further allocates those limits to specific point sources and to nonpoint source sectors. The TMDL sets target dates, anticipating that 60% of its proposed actions will be complete by 2017, with all pollution control measures in place by 2025. The next step, yet to happen, is for the states to develop their Phase II Watershed Improvement Plans to implement the TMDL. 24 On December 29, 2010, the EPA promulgated the TMDL through the notice-and-comment rulemaking process of the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”). See 5 U.S.C. § 553. Over 45 days, the EPA held 18 public meetings (at which 2,500 members of the public attended), and it received more than 14,000 comments. It took these comments and meetings into account when publishing the final TMDL.