Pa. Chesapeake Bay cleanup plan falls short for third time, EPA says

Rachel McDevitt

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I report on energy and the environment for StateImpact Pennsylvania at WITF.

My work focuses on responses and solutions to climate change in the state legislature and communities around the state. I trace my interest in these issues back to my time as a Girl Scout and this episode of Rocko’s Modern Life.

I look forward to winter just for the chance to ski a few times each season. I try to keep myself from doom-scrolling on my phone by keeping my hands busy knitting and learning to play the piano.

I grew up in Cambria County, Pa. and graduated from Temple University. I started at WITF just after Christmas in 2014.

Ian Sterling for WITF

The Susquehanna River in Harrisburg as seen on Aug. 19, 2019. The river is the largest tributary to the Chesapeake Bay.

November 21, 2022 | 5:22 PM

Pennsylvania is still falling short in its efforts to reduce pollution flowing to the Chesapeake Bay, in spite of budgeting millions in new money for clean-up.

The federal government says it will continue heightened enforcement in the state indefinitely.

Pennsylvania isn’t meeting its goals to reduce annual pollution to the bay by 34 million pounds of nitrogen, 531 million pounds of sediment, and 700,000 pounds of phosphorus.

Lawmakers set aside $154 million from the federal American Rescue Plan to create a new Clean Streams Fund, which is meant to help with bay cleanup goals.

EPA started enhanced enforcement in Pennsylvania in April. The strategy includes increased inspections for sources of pollution such as agriculture and industrial and municipal stormwater. EPA also increased permit oversight and may review federal funds to ensure they are spent more efficiently in the state to make progress toward 2025 goals.

In a letter to the state Department of Environmental Protection, Ortiz noted Pennsylvania’s creation of the Clean Streams Fund and adoption of other best management practices for curbing pollution, but said there must be increased, sustained funding at the state level to improve water quality.

This is the third time Pennsylvania’s plan, known as the Phase III WIP, has missed EPA’s mark.

The state first submitted the plan in 2019. That one fell 9.8 million pounds short of achieving its nitrogen target. Pennsylvania submitted a draft amended Phase III WIP to EPA on December 30, 2021. EPA published its evaluation of that version on April 18 of this year and gave Pennsylvania 90 days to submit a final amended Phase III WIP. Pennsylvania turned in its final amended plan on July 18.

Ortiz said it’s not a lack of willingness among the commonwealth’s communities or farmers that is causing its pollution issues, but a matter of scale. The bay gets half of its freshwater from the Susquehanna River.

“Nonetheless, there’s no question that there’s more activity, more action, more progress taking place on the ground than ever before,” Ortiz said.

DEP spokeswoman Deborah Klenotic said monitoring in state waterways shows that current efforts are working to cut pollution and that the agency is committed to sustaining and increasing those efforts.

“We continue to work with our federal partners, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, to implement projects and practices that demonstrate real on-the-ground results, and we look forward to new funding through the Pennsylvania Clean Streams Fund to further accelerate local water quality improvement,” Klenotic said in a statement.