FIGHT FOR CLEAN WATER

SIGN THE PETITION TO THE EPA

 

We the undersigned respectfully demand that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency keep its promise to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.

Administrator Lisa Jackson
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20460

Dear Administrator Jackson:

We the undersigned respectfully request the EPA keep its promise to clean up Chesapeake Bay by 2010. The Bay is a national treasure, but it and its rivers are sick. The 'dead zone' consumes 35 percent of the Bay every summer. The Susquehanna runs brown with sediment. Fish kills occur across the watershed. The number of blue crabs has fallen by two-thirds, threatening a rich cultural heritage. Unless immediate concerted action is taken, the Bay and its rivers will not survive. In 2000, the EPA promised to restore the Bay's health by 2010. The EPA has admitted the goal will not be met. And now there is talk of a new 2020 deadline. This continued delay is unacceptable. We support the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's legal action against the EPA. The EPA must do everything it can to reduce the pollution destroying this national treasure and its rivers.

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Background on the Petition

The Bay is a national treasure. But, it remains in critical condition—designated as impaired under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act—with nitrogen and phosphorus pollution choking the life out of the Bay and its rivers and streams. Populations of the iconic blue crab have fallen by two thirds since 1990. Watermen and others are out of work. Algal blooms kill fish. Beaches are closed.

Enough is enough. In 2000, the EPA and the states surrounding the Bay signed an interstate agreement that promised to reduce enough nitrogen and phosphorus pollution from entering the Bay to remove it from the Impaired Waters list by 2010. The EPA which has the ultimate responsibility for cleaning up the nation’s waters has admitted that it will fail to meet that goal. And now the agency and the states are talking about moving the deadline back to 2020—this will be the second extension of the original 2000 deadline.

Clean water is a right and lives depend on it. Because this continued delay is unacceptable, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation decided to take legal action to force the EPA to do its job and save the Bay. The EPA must do everything in its power to immediately reduce the nitrogen and phosphorus pollution that is destroying the Chesapeake.

No more delay! Save the Bay. Sign the Petition!
Learn more about CBF's Chesapeake 2000 lawsuit against the EPA