The Environmental Protection Agency announced yesterday new plans to crack down on Chesapeake Bay pollution.
EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said the federal agency will toughen regulations limiting stormwater runoff and pollution from some livestock farms.
"We have to send a clear message . . . that we are ready to act," Jackson said at a clean-water conference in Washington.
The Chesapeake remains polluted despite a 26-year effort to restore it. President Barack Obama pledged a renewed cleanup last spring.
One of the most difficult problems, experts say, is reducing pollution that runs off developed areas and farms. The EPA is now trying to tackle those problems.
Jackson said the agency will create new regulations to reduce the flow of polluted stormwater from recently developed and redeveloped sites. The agency also will consider tougher rules for stormwater that flows from urban areas.
In addition, the EPA will consider expanding the number of livestock farms that are subject to pollution regulations.
The agency plans to put the stormwater rules into effect by November 2012 and the livestock rules by late 2013.
The rules almost certainly will face opposition from builders, farm groups and others.
Virginia already has taken steps to toughen regulations for stormwater that runs off shopping centers, subdivisions and other developments.
Because the EPA hasn't yet proposed specific stormwater and farm regulations, it's hard to say what impact the federal rules will have on Virginia, said spokesmen for Virginia's Department of Environmental Quality and Department of Conservation and Recreation.
Rex Springston is a staff writer at the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
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