Obama Orders EPA to Lead Chessy Bay Cleanup

More proof that elections matter. And great news for one of America’s most endangered waterways. From today’s Washington Post:

President Obama took a dramatic step to revive faltering efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay yesterday, issuing an executive order that could empower the federal Environmental Protection Agency to set a more demanding timetable and penalize states that fail to meet it.

The order, signed yesterday, signals a far greater federal role in the bay cleanup, instructing the EPA to coordinate efforts by several federal departments and work with state governments to reduce pollutants flowing into the bay. It gives the agency enforcement authority if states miss established goals.

“I can assure you that the EPA is ready to enforce these goals,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, who said a “compliance and enforcement strategy” would be negotiated with state leaders in the coming weeks.

In taking the lead from a coalition of state governments, which admitted last year that their 25-year cleanup effort had failed, the administration is positioned to mandate more stringent cleanup goals than politically sensitive state officials could publicly embrace. EPA leadership and enforcement could serve as a cudgel over state legislatures whose focus on parochial issues has often fractured coordination efforts.

This is an example where Federal intervention was probably necessary. The conflicting political and regional interests, plus intrastate and intrastate battles, required the Feds step in to save this waterway. 

Gee, it’s great to have a functioning government again.