Virginia, U.S. at odds over Chesapeake Bay rules

RICHMOND

Tensions are mounting between Gov. Bob McDonnell's administration and the federal government over plans pushed by President Barack Obama for creating new regulations to hasten the Chesapeake Bay cleanup.

Some environmentalists worry this latest feud between Richmond and Washington could escalate to legal action from Virginia - or even lead to the state's withdrawal from a 30-year-old partnership with the U.S. government to save the Bay.

In an interview last week, McDonnell's secretary of natural resources, Doug Domenech, said Virginia is pursuing a two-track policy: remaining committed to restoring the Bay, but also taking a hard line toward the science and computer modeling behind proposed rules aimed at cutting pollution from agriculture, new development and other sources.

Domenech said he and other administration officials "have not talked about walking" away from the six-state partnership, nor have they discussed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Still, Domenech said he would not be surprised if industry groups sue over the proposed regulations, which he described as based on "admittedly flawed computer models, whose numbers keep changing - and will continue to change even as we go forward."

Specifically, he is referring to a prescribed pollution diet that the Bay is supposed to start living under next year. The diet seeks to reduce nitrogen, phosphorus and sediments entering the Bay.

Those three pollutants are chiefly responsible for the Bay's water-quality problems, which include dead zones, scant oxygen levels and soupy conditions that make it difficult for plants, fish and shellfish to thrive.

"The mitigating factor here is the economy," Domenech said from his office in Richmond. "It's such a bad time to impose all these new restrictions on farmers, foresters, land developers. It's the worst time to be kicking these guys."

Some of these issues will be flushed out today at a hearing in Richmond before the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources.

Jeff Corbin, a former scientist with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and an assistant secretary of natural resources under former Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, is scheduled to attend the meeting in his new role as a senior adviser to the EPA. Domenech and other Virginia officials also are slated to make presentations.

McDonnell sent EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson a letter last month outlining his concerns in blunt fashion. He wrote about a perceived lack of transparency, ill-defined mandates and rushed deadlines.

"We believe the EPA's time and energy would be better spent in Virginia educating farmers on best practices and positive actions... rather than expanding the scope of its regulatory authority through enforcement measures," the governor wrote.

Jackson responded Friday with her own letter. It seeks to ease tensions and better explain the Obama administration's rationale.

"The first Chesapeake Bay Agreement was signed in 1983 by the region's most senior elected and appointed officials. We have made significant progress since that time," Jackson wrote. "However, we have fallen short in achieving our goals for controlling pollution. Working together, I am confident that we can change the course of history on the Chesapeake."

It might not be surprising to some that the McDonnell administration, which already is feuding with the EPA over climate change and air-pollution rules, is voicing concerns over new regulations related to the Bay. But the Bay cleanup has always enjoyed an apple-pie political status in the mid-Atlantic region, even when less-regulation-is-better conservatives were in office in Virginia and other states involved in the cleanup.

To some environmentalists, McDonnell's administration is spending more time punching holes in the Obama formula than trying to help the Bay.

"If they don't like this, what then do they want to do?" asked Skip Stiles, executive director of Wetlands Watch, a Norfolk-based environmental group. "This all seems more obstructionist than anything."

Asked last week what the Republican administration wants, Domenech said he favors the existing approach - of voluntary goals and voluntary actions, a no-penalty system that has guided the partnership through mixed results for three decades.

"The Bay is getting cleaner," he said. "Why all the fuss about us 'failing' the Bay? We're not failing; the cleanup is working."

He said Maryland has not complained about the Obama approach because "they're highly regulated already. But we in Virginia have a different mentality."

Domenech said other states, including New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, also have complained about disparities in computer models.

"People assume this is based on science," he said, "but there's always been a factor of horse-trading in it. Sometimes, it makes you feel you can't have confidence in the science."

Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com