Archive: News

Washington, DC— Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, along with Congressmen Michael Arcuri, Maurice Hinchey, Christopher Lee, Daniel Maffei, Scott Murphy, Bill Owens and Paul Tonko sent a letter to Administrator Lisa Jackson of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Wednesday expressing strong concerns over the requirements that would be placed on New York by the draft Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) that EPA recently released.

“We are all strongly committed to the goal of restoring and ensuring the long-term health of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem,” the group wrote. “However, we believe that the draft TMDL allocations released by EPA place unattainable pollution reductions on New York and, if finalized, will jeopardize the economic well-being of communities within New York’s Bay Watershed and the agricultural industry on which the entire state relies.”

On September 24, EPA released a draft Chesapeake Bay TMDL regulation that would set limits on the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment pollution discharged into the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries by various pollution sources. It calls for 25 percent reductions in nitrogen and phosphorus, averaged across the Bay Watershed that encompasses New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.  However, the draft TMDL would require even steeper reductions in nitrogen and phosphorus discharge in New York’s portion of the watershed, which includes all or parts of Allegany, Broome, Cayuga, Chemung, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Herkimer, Livingston, Madison, Montgomery, Oneida, Onondaga, Ontario, Otsego, Schoharie, Schuyler, Steuben, Tioga, Tompkins, and Yates counties.

New York State and local officials have said that making the reductions proposed by EPA for New York is not possible.  Additionally, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) has estimated that implementing the wastewater treatment plant upgrades and agricultural pollution controls programs that EPA’s draft TMDL regulations would require, could cost the state and local taxpayers several billion dollars.

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