Apparently the Chesapeake Bay has developed a bit of a consumption problem and received a diagnosis to go on a diet — a “pollution diet,” that is, to help alleviate the algae blooms that have take up residence in the bay. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a draft in an effort to cleanup the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding streams, creeks and rivers.
The cleanup effort is also in response to President Barack Obama’s Executive Order 13508 on May 12, 2009, the summary said. The draft, known as the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), was developed in response to “insufficient restoration progress over the last several decades in the Bay,” according to the TMDL executive summary.
The government’s clean up regulations will cost the areas and states surrounding the Chesapeake Bay such as Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, billions of dollars, Corporate Engineer Maggie Cossman said. The estimated cost of the TMDL impact to the city of Lynchburg is $350-$520 million by 2025. Cities throughout the Bay watershed will be facing similar financial impacts. Most of the regulations focus on discharges in densely populated areas, like Lynchburg. . The new regulations require all pollutant measures to be in place by 2025, with 60 percent completion by 2017, according to the executive summary.
“The TMDL mandate sets strict limits on the amount of nutrients that point sources, such as water treatment plants, and non-point sources, such as farms, can discharge. The limits that EPA is proposing have far-reaching consequences for everyone who lives, works, and farms in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed,” Congressman Bob Goodlatte’s website said.
Cities like Lynchburg will have to opt for an additional water tax or fee to be able to cover the sum. The Lynchburg City Stormwater Management Advisory Committee is currently considering choosing the fee option, which would force tax-exempt entities such as Liberty University to pay several hundred thousand dollars per year. The fee is calculated by the amount of impervious — or paved or impenetrable — land that an establishment owns. The fee would also affect other local business and homeowners. Homeowners could pay a fee of $4.94 per month for an equivalent residential unit (ERU).
“The ERU is determined by calculating the average impervious area for a single family parcel in the City of Lynchburg,” Cossman said. “The city consultant has determined this to be 2,043 square feet of impervious area to equal one ERU.”
Liberty, in conjunction with Thomas Road Baptist Church (TRBC) and the Plaza owns about 486 acres of maintained land, Cossman said.
“Assume 75 percent of the maintained Liberty property is impervious, equaling 365 acres impervious,” Cossman said. “The proposed yearly fee (for Liberty) would be $461,339.00.”
The University will either assess a fee of $40 to each resident student annually or divert the same amount away from academic programs, student services or facility improvements.
“Either way, there is a negative impact on our students and no real proven positive impact on the Chesapeake Bay. Agriculture is the largest single source of pollutant loading in the bay — however, much of the agricultural discharge nutrient pollution originates from agricultural activities that will remain unregulated,” Chancellor Jerry Falwell, Jr. said.
Falwell added that, “To add insult to injury, Liberty University and the Lynchburg area are drained by the James River and the James River really doesn’t empty into the body of water between the Delmarva Peninsula and the mainland that we all think of as the Chesapeake Bay. The James River meets the Atlantic Ocean south of that body of water. That section of the ocean still carries the Chesapeake Bay name but it doesn’t have the same fragile characteristics as the upper bay. This is a big government scam that will cost citizens millions for no real proven environmental benefit.”
Goodlatte has received several complaints from Virginians worried about the EPA’s legislation, which may over regulate stormwater usage. In response, Goodlatte has formed his own response to remove pollution from the bay.
“My legislation allows states and communities more flexibility in meeting water quality goals so that we can help restore and protect our natural resources. This bill sets up new programs to give farmers, homebuilders and localities ways to meet their water quality goals,” Goodlatte’s website said. “Additionally, my bill creates a voluntary assurance program for farmers. The program will deem farmers to be fully in compliance with their water quality requirements as long as they have undertaken approved conservation activities to comply with state and federal water quality standards. Further this legislation calls for more oversight of the Chesapeake Bay Program. This legislation would enhance coordination, flexibility and efficiency of restoration efforts while also calling for a review of the EPA’s Bay Model.”
The Chesapeake Bay TMDL is the largest ever drafted by the EPA, equaling about 1,000 pages. The TMDL is actually made up of 92 smaller TMDLs, according to the TMDL executive summary.
A final draft of the TMDL will be available Dec. 31.