We’re banding together to take bold action for the Chesapeake Bay Region
/It is critical that the Chesapeake Bay Executive Council take quick action this December if we are to get this restoration effort back on track.
The Potomac River, viewed from Billy Goat Trail B in Montgomery County, Maryland. PHOTO CREDIT: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Alice Crain
As a member of the Choose Clean Water Coalition, the Potomac Conservancy was proud to sign-on to the following letter.
The undersigned members of the Choose Clean Water Coalition (Coalition) write to formally comment on the Chesapeake Bay Program (the Program) Beyond 2025 Steering Committee’s recommendation to the Principals’ Staff Committee (PSC). The Coalition proposes our own recommendations and a new vision for our work to achieve our goals beyond 2025.
We envision a thriving watershed for people and nature stewarded by a diverse partnership that protects and conserves our land and water resources, promotes innovation, and confronts the impacts from climate change through strong, inclusive, and collaborative leadership.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
When the Coalition was created in 2009, our charge was two-fold: 1) provide oversight to ensure the Chesapeake Bay jurisdictions and federal agencies are held accountable to their commitments under the soon to be created Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), and 2) advocate for the state and federal resources necessary for those jurisdictions and agencies to achieve those goals. Over the last 15 years, the Coalition, and our now more than 300 member organizations, have worked tirelessly to do both.
The collaboration and partnership provided by the Program has delivered many successes. These include achieving several of its outcomes under the 2014 Chesapeake Watershed Agreement (2014 Agreement), including increased public access sites, land under conservation, blue crab abundance, and number of oyster reefs created. While we have made progress, the broader restoration of our rivers, streams, and the Chesapeake Bay is off track, and we will not meet many of the commitments in the 2014 Agreement.
While goals and outcomes were not met, the Coalition views these difficult moments not as defeats, but rather as opportunities; a chance to celebrate what we have achieved, and more importantly reinvigorate and reimagine our collective work to ensure we achieve a thriving and healthy watershed.
The undersigned members of the Coalition believe this moment calls for innovation, creativity, and bold leadership as we embark down a path to the next era of our work. One that will incorporate new science and research from the Comprehensive Evaluation 151 West Street, Suite 101, Annapolis, MD 21401 choosecleanwater.org of System Response (CESR) report, consider our work based on the impact of climate change and population growth, address new and emerging challenges in issue areas like toxics and land use, and ensure our work addresses the issues that have the greatest impact on the people in our local communities and watersheds.
The undersigned members appreciate the work of the Beyond 2025 Steering Committee but feel the recommendations do not go far and move quickly enough. The undersigned offer the following alternative recommendations for the Chesapeake Executive Council to consider adopting at their annual meeting in December:
At the December 2024 meeting, the Executive Council signs a recommitment to all 31 outcomes in the 2014 Chesapeake Watershed Agreement.
The Executive Council signs a directive to the Principals’ Staff Committee to:
Lead a revision of the current 31 outcomes and identify suggested changes to bring to the Executive Council at their 2025 meeting.
Sunset the Beyond 2025 Steering Committee and begin an open stakeholder-centered process.
Incorporate the impact of climate and population growth, and ensure our goals are viewed through the lens of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice.
By December 2026, facilitate a process to streamline decision-making, eliminate duplicative systems, and ensure the Program is built to advance our ultimate goal of thriving living resources, healthy communities, and clean water.
Address barriers to progress within the structure of the Program (Management Board), elevate living resources, and prioritize stakeholder engagement, including the role of the Program’s Advisory Committees.
Re-engage all federal leadership with consistent convenings of the Federal Leadership Committee.
By the 2026 Executive Council Meeting, assess the current TMDL Accountability Framework of the Chesapeake Bay Program and identify opportunities for additions and improvements to ensure the signatories are meeting their clean water commitments. Create an implementation structure that tracks progress and provides mutual accountability toward all the goals and outcomes in the 2014 Agreement.
Consistent implementation of the authorities currently outlined in the Accountability Framework
Institute currently defunct roles such as the Independent Evaluator and Senior Advisor of the Chesapeake Bay and Anacostia River
Clearly define the different roles of Region III and EPA Chesapeake Bay Program to ensure broad and consistent enforcement of the Clean Water Act and authorities under other EPA statutes.
Develop an implementation structure that includes mutual accountability to ensure progress towards all the goals and outcomes in the 2014 Agreement.
SUMMARY
As a Coalition of more than 300 organizations across the entire region, we are all too aware that the Chesapeake watershed restoration effort is not just about the Bay. While as an environmental and conservation community we care deeply about the Bay’s health and sustainability, it is just as important that our work is impactful at the local level, from Cooperstown, New York to Norfolk, Virginia, and everywhere in between. This work is about more than the Bay; people are depending on this movement to ensure they have access to clean drinking water, that their children can safely play in a public greenspace, that their outdoor recreation business can operate, and that their communities develop the resiliency to face stronger and more frequent storms. There is no other option than to take bold and immediate action to recalibrate our work and the undersigned members of the Coalition are ready to support the Program in these renewed efforts. We have been a supporter and an accountability partner for this movement for the past 15 years and we are ready to continue our important work together. We ask the Executive Council to lead us into this new era by embracing and enacting the Coalition’s recommendations outlined in this letter.
Read the full sign on letter below
Current co-signers
Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley
American Rivers
Anacostia Watershed Society
Audubon Society of Northern Virginia
Baltimore Tree Trust
Butternut Valley Alliance
Capital Region Land Conservancy
Centro de Apoyo Familiar
Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Chesapeake Legal Alliance
Clean Water Action
Coalition for Smarter Growth
Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania
Earth Force
Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation
Forever Maryland
Friends of the Cacapon River
Friends of the Chemung River Watershed
Friends of the Rappahannock
Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake
Lynnhaven River NOW
Maryland League of Conservation Voters
Muddy Branch Alliance
Nature Forward
Penns Valley Conservation Association
Phillips Wharf Environmental Center
Potomac Conservancy
Restore America's Estuaries
Rock Creek Conservancy
Sleepy Creek Watershed Association
Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project
Sweet Springs Resort Park Foundation Inc.
Sweet Springs Watershed Association
The 6th Branch
Virginia Conservation Network
Ward 8 Woods Conservancy
Waterkeepers Chesapeake
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