Bay czar: 'We will win this one'
The Environmental Protection Agency's Chesapeake Bay restoration strategy can stand up to court challenges by farm and development groups, the agency's senior bay adviser said yesterday.
"If you want to challenge the bay restoration effort, that's fine. Because we've got the science, we've got the modeling, we've got the legal backing. We will win this one," EPA adviser Jeff Corbin said. "The tricky part is going to be where is the money going to come from."
Well, that's why both sides will have lawyers, because the matter is in dispute. The government may well win, have it's way, and still not be able to solve the Bay's problems. In fact, that's where my money would be, based on previous experience.
The EPA adviser appeared at the panel discussion along with Robert Summers, secretary of the Maryland Department of the Environment; Will Baker, president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation; and Ann Pesiri Swanson, executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Commission, which advises state legislators in Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania on bay issues.
Summers agreed more money was needed, saying a doubling of the state's "flush fee" - which pays for septic tank upgrades that keep algae bloom-spurring nitrogen from the bay - is needed. But he couldn't say if the fee increase would be sought.
Oh goody, doubling the flush tax, that'll do it!
No comments:
Post a Comment