Two major lobbyists – the American Farm Bureau Federation and the Fertilizer Institute -- have some new allies in their legal fight against a plan to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, and environmentalists here are furious.
Twenty-one states have joined the Farm Bureau Federation and the Fertilizer Institute in a legal challenge to the EPA’s clean up plan for rivers and streams feeding into the Chesapeake Bay. A lower court ruled the program could proceed, but plaintiffs are appealing. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s president, Will Baker, says he was surprised and outraged to hear that Alaska, Missouri, Indiana, Texas and 17 other states are getting involved.
“We don’t see why they think they have a right to try to stop clean water programs here in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.”
Kansas, which is leading the charge, says it’s concerned about how the federal government might regulate pollution flowing into the Mississippi River. Clean-up of the Chesapeake watershed will continue unless the appeal succeeds.