Chesapeake Bay, RIP— or TMDL?

摘要

Arguably, the military and agriculture enjoy the most far-reaching exemptions from federal environmental law. The Chesapeake Bay watershed, for example, remains heavily polluted with nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment, despite huge amounts of scientific data, near-heroic computer modeling efforts, and decades of regulatory effort. Much of this pollution is from agriculture. The Chesapeake Bay cleanup efforts generally, and American Farm Bureau Federation v. EPA specifically, promise to be critical in determining whether there will be effective Clean Water Act control of agricultural pollution going forward. This case concerns regulation of agricultural pollution in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and is currently awaiting a decision in federal district court in Pennsylvania, after oral arguments last fall. It is instructive to start with what is not being litigated.