Virginia's plan to reduce stormwater runoff into Chesapeake Bay looks like it is going to work, a top Enviromental Protection Agency official says, even as he urged New York to submit its overdue plan.
The agency is assessing plans from Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia as it awaits New York's submssion, EPA Regional Administrator Shawn Garvin said Thursday.
"If either they don't get something to us in the very near future, and/or if that's not sufficient, then we'll have to consider what federal activities might have to happen," Garvin said.
I do believe I heard a touch of threat in there.
The EPA said in April that it had received a draft but New York missed a deadline for filing its final plan. A spokeswoman for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation said at the time that the department had asked for a 30-day extension, but did not give a reason for the delay.Steps the EPA can take include requiring additional pollution reductions from federally regulated sources, prohibiting additional discharges, redirecting grants and revising water quality standards.
Why yes, I believe I did. Meanwhile, EPA expressed a little dissatisfaction with Pennsylvania's approach:
"We're still working with them to figure out how they are actually going to accomplish it, and so based on that we feel that there's still more work to be done," Garvin said.
The administrator said the plan calls for 40 percent to 50 percent reductions in urban and suburban stormwater runoff, a growing source of pollution in the bay watershed. EPA spokesman Tom Wenz said the agency would take action if the issue is not addressed.
Meanwhile, West Virginia and Maryland were given tentative approval:
West Virginia had improved its plan and addressed the issues raised by the EPA. Maryland's plan, meanwhile, is expected achieve water improvement goals when fully implemented, the EPA said.
"When fully implemented". Ah, there's the rub.
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