Environmentalists and politicians worry Chesapeake Bay cleanup efforts could be weakened, if not doomed, days after the federal official overseeing that work called an agreement to reduce water pollution an “aspirational” goal and not rules to be enforced.
 
They say the federal Environmental Protection Agency, through its Annapolis-based Chesapeake Bay Program office, plays a central role in guiding water quality improvements across the big estuary’s watershed. Under the EPA’s supervision, six states and the District of Columbia in 2010 agreed to significantly reduce pollution by 2025; the EPA pledged it would step in if they didn’t meet the goals.
 
So it stirred significant concern when Dana Aunkst, the bay program’s director, suggested Friday that’s no longer the case.
 
At a meeting of the Chesapeake Bay Commission, a partnership between Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania, Aunkst called the so-called pollution “diet” codified a decade ago “an informational document” that is not “enforceable."
 
On Monday, Aunkst’s comments raised questions about what role the EPA might play in cleanup efforts going forward, and whether the agency is bound to enforce the agreement under federal law. Sen. Chris Van Hollen said he planned to ask EPA officials for clarity this week, and both he and Maryland Environment Secretary Ben Grumbles said they plan to air their concerns at a Senate committee hearing Wednesday.
 
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