With Gov. Timothy M. Kaine choosing not to intervene in an environmental dispute, a state panel on Thursday approved new rules aimed at curbing storm-water pollution from more than 100 cities, universities and military bases.
Environmental groups had asked Kaine to step in and toughen the proposed rules, saying they do not go far enough to reduce nutrients, oil, fertilizers, mud and toxics that foul state waters and the Chesapeake Bay through storm drains whenever it rains.
In a response letter this week from Kaine's secretary of natural resources, L. Preston Bryant Jr., the administration said the proposed storm-water permits are much better than old ones and will help the Bay.
Joe Tannery, an attorney for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, one of the groups that had urged Kaine to intervene, said afterward that a lawsuit is possible. The groups have 30 days to decide whether to challenge the decision in court.
Storm-water runoff is the No. 1 pollution source entering the Bay today. Permits for storm-sewer owners are valid for five years, and were last updated in 2003.
Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com
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