NORFOLK — A new executive order from President Donald Trump is changing the federal government's approach to protecting the Chesapeake Bay, raising concerns from environmental advocates about what it could mean for Hampton Roads.
For decades, the federal government has worked with Virginia and other states to reduce pollution across the Chesapeake Bay watershed. On Thursday, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation held a media briefing to express its concerns about the president's new order.
Foundation President Hilary Harp Falk said federal coordination has been essential to that work.
"For decades federal leadership has been essential to Chesapeake restoration. We know pollution crosses state lines and what happens upstream impacts everyone downstream," Harp Falk said.
Trump's executive order revokes a 2009 Obama-era order that strengthened federal coordination of Bay restoration. The Trump administration says federal resources should instead focus on projects that produce measurable water-quality improvements.
The president is also taking aim at stormwater fees paid in communities across the Bay watershed, including in Hampton Roads. The administration calls them "rain taxes" and says they can cost residents and small businesses hundreds of dollars a year, with what it calls "little to no measurable benefits" to the Bay.
The order directs the EPA to work with Virginia and other Bay jurisdictions to assess those costs and encourage state and local governments to repeal or rescind the fees. The order does not eliminate them.
The administration also points to progress, saying Bay jurisdictions have reached their sediment-reduction goal, 90 percent of their phosphorus goal and 57 percent of their nitrogen goal.
At Thursday's briefing, Harp Falk questioned the order's focus on stormwater fees.
"Also it seems like the new executive order unfairly focuses on stormwater fees. Stormwater is one of the fastest growing pollution sources to local rivers and streams," Harp Falk said.
In Hampton Roads, those fees can pay for more than water-quality projects. Under Virginia law, stormwater revenue can fund infrastructure, maintenance, monitoring and flood-control projects.
At the briefing, Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Alison Hooper Prost said the 2009 order took a broader approach — one she said was particularly important in Hampton Roads.
"The previous executive order from 2009 took a real holistic approach, it wasn't just focused on water quality. So in an area like Hampton Roads yes the stormwater management is important for water quality but it's also important for habitat, it's important for resiliency and for what it means for community down there," Hooper Prost said.
The order directs the EPA to work with Virginia and other Bay jurisdictions to explore alternatives and encourage state and local governments to repeal or rescind those fees.
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