Environmental Protection Agency officials said Nov. 4 that they expect the states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed to undertake unprecedented activities in the next two years and beyond that will result in major pollution control advances by 2017, with the first regulatory product due in June 2010.rnThe effort is aimed at getting the states and the District of Columbia ready to implement stringent water pollution control programs long before the 2025 cleanup deadline set in May by President Obama and bay state governors.rnEPA officials suggested that the interim 2017 deadline and early performance expectations and accountability for bay states will go a long way toward ensuring that the restoration effort succeeds, unlike efforts begun in 1984, 1990, and 2000.rnChuck Fox, special adviser on the bay to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, told reporters that letters have been sent to the mayor of Washington, D.C, and six governors laying out the agency's "rigorous expectations" for the jurisdictions to improve their pollution control performance and accountability. "This is a new era in Chesapeake Bay protection," he said.
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