Bay Journal, Bay agreement draft criticized as ‘weakening’ commitment
Proposed revisions to the plan that guides the Chesapeake Bay cleanup fall short of what many experts and environmental advocates want to see.
The draft document weakens several targets in place since 2014, including goals for restoring wetlands and establishing new public access points. Some goals provide only an X for amounts instead of real numbers, leaving crucial numerical objectives to be decided months or even years into the future. And, while many tasks face their own deadlines, there is no cutoff date by which the entire suite of initiatives must be completed.
“My initial thought was this was very incomplete,” said Keisha Sedlacek, senior policy director for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. “While the goals and outcomes included are the right ones, there is less accountability and detail than we were anticipating.”
The Chesapeake Bay Program, the state-federal collaboration that has overseen the cleanup since 1983, released an 18-page revised version of the 2014 Bay agreement for public comment on July 1. The program’s Executive Council is set to vote on a finalized draft in December.
Heaven forfend they should set goals that might be achieved. Then they'd have to close up shop and go home.
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