EPA Evaluates States’ Final Phase II Watershed
Implementation Plans for Restoring the Chesapeake
Bay
(PHILADELPHIA May 31,
2012) – Today, EPA released its evaluations of the
final Phase II Watershed Implementation Plans (WIPs) from Pennsylvania, West
Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Completion
of the plans marks a significant
stage in the Chesapeake Bay cleanup effort, and represents the
local level planning needed to continue accelerating implementation of the
necessary practices to restore the health and economic engine of the Bay
watershed’s streams and rivers.
The plans were developed by the states and the District
with support from EPA, and in collaboration with local governments and
conservation districts. They outline steps each jurisdiction will take toward
restoring clean water to the thousands of streams and rivers that make up the
Chesapeake Bay watershed, and improving the quality of life for the more than 17
million people who live in the watershed.
“While significant progress continues to be made across
the watershed, the Phase II WIPs represent a transition from planning to
implementing the necessary practices at the local level,” said EPA mid-Atlantic
Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin during a conference call with reporters
today. “We will continue to work closely with the states and the District as we
reaffirm our shared commitment for restoring this incredibly valuable national
resource.”
Regional Administrator Garvin acknowledged that the
jurisdictions are already doing much of this work, consistent with their Phase I
WIP commitments. He added that the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership, including
state and federal officials, have committed to having all of the needed
pollution control measures in place to fully restore the Bay by no later than
2025.
