EPA Evaluates Revised Plan By New York State To Meet Bay Pollutant Reduction Targets

New York State has submitted an amended Chesapeake Bay cleanup plan that if fully implemented would meet its share of the pollutant reduction targets agreed to by a multi-state partnership, an analysis by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency shows.

In an evaluation of New York’s Amended Draft Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan, EPA identified sector-by-sector strengths in the revised commitments as well as areas that could be enhanced to provide greater confidence the projected reductions will be achieved by 2025.

In a joint statement, EPA Region 2 Administrator Peter Lopez and Region 3 Administrator Cosmo Servidio said, “We appreciate New York’s commitment to an improved Phase III plan to benefit the Chesapeake Bay and local streams and rivers. We will work closely with New York to help ensure that the proposed actions are realized and that they generate the necessary pollutant reductions.”

As it has done since the release of the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load in 2010, EPA will commit staff, contractual and funding resources to support the implementation of New York’s Phase III WIP and future two-year milestones.

The seven jurisdictions (Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia) in the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) partnership agreed to develop Watershed Implementation Plans (WIPs) in three phases to provide a framework for reducing nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment loads to meet water quality standards in the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries. The CBP partnership established the goal to have all practices in place by 2025 that were necessary to achieve applicable water quality standards in the tidal Bay.

The evaluation is available on the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load website at https://www.epa.gov/chesapeake-bay-tmdl.