The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in Philadelphia, upheld the EPA’s “pollution diet” intended to restore the health of the Chesapeake Bay, affirming a 2013 ruling by a U.S. district judge. “The ruling upholds restrictions on farm and urban runoff in six states that surround the Bay,” said the Lancaster Online, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Farm groups and a national homebuilding group filed suit in 2012, saying the federal government intruded on state governments by ordering a reduction of runoff from farms and upgrades to sewage treatment plants.
In its ruling, the appellate court said pollution in the Bay was a complex problem that affects 17 million people. “Any solution to it will result in winners and losers …. The Chesapeake Bay TMDL [total maximum daily load of nutrients] will require sacrifice by many, but that is a consequence of the tremendous effort it will take to restore health to the Bay …. Farm Bureau’s arguments to the contrary are unpersuasive and thus we affirm the careful and thorough opinion of the district court.”
The EPA set limits in 2010 on nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment that enter the Bay and across its watershed of 64,000 square miles, said the Easton (Maryland) Star Democrat. The six states in the watershed – Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York – along with with Washington, D.C., agreed to adopt 60 percent of the practices to reduce pollution by 2017 and to fully implement them by 2025.
The appellate court affirmed the EPA’s power to set limits for pollution from different origins, so-called point sources such as sewage plants and “non-point” sources such as farms, an official of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation told the Star Democrat.
The American Farm Bureau Federation and the other plaintiffs have 90 days to decide whether to appeal to the Supreme Court.
“The EPA says animal waste and fertilizer that moves from streams into the Chesapeake is the single largest source of bay pollution,” said the Associated Press. It called the ruling “a clear win for environmentalists.”