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The PA Chamber of Business and Industry is urging the business community within the Susquehanna and Potomac River basins to review and comment on pending proposals for imposing a Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) limiting future discharges of nutrients and sediment. These proposals impact every business in the central region of the Commonwealth, from the Maryland to New York borders.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is in the process of setting new regional limitations on the amount of nitrogen and phosphorous flowing into the Chesapeake Bay, establishing a pollutant budget governing discharges from the six states draining into the bay by December 31, 2010. EPA essentially charged state environmental agencies with devising a compliance plan to be executed through 2025, with specific milestones to be met every two years.

Subsequently, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, in partnership with stakeholders comprising the PA Chamber and other concerned parties, issued a proposed Watershed Implementation Plan. The WIP articulates various actions to reduce loadings from each sector – sewage treatment plants, industrial plants, and non-point sources such as agriculture, urban storm water, forests, etc. While not ideal from a business standpoint, the WIP represents a reasonable compromise in terms of allocating reductions across all sectors.

However, EPA found that the Pennsylvania WIP failed to provide “reasonable assurance” that the reductions would be achieved in all identified sectors. Moreover, EPA indicated that the actions identified to address non-point sources were not adequately described or sufficient.

To address these areas of concern, EPA has proposed a Back Stop TMDL which would shift the reductions that had been assigned to non-point sectors to municipal treatment plants and industries. Of concern to the business community is the reality that the values proposed by EPA are well beyond what existing technology can achieve.

Forcing municipal sewage plants to this extreme level of compliance will require billions of additional dollars in infrastructure investment, while the loading reductions are rather marginal. The Pennsylvania Municipal Authorities Association estimates an additional three to four billion dollars, beyond what municipalities have already committed to invest. These costs would ultimately be borne by ratepayers.

“Instead of trying to address the Bay’s needs in a balanced and rational manner, EPA is simply proposing to punish those already doing their fair share,” PA Chamber Director of Government Affairs Stephanie Catarino Wissman said. “The imposition of impossible and draconian mandates is not the way to achieve real bay improvement.”

Chamber members are urged to review the proposed WIP, materials relating to the EPA TMDL, EPA’s comments on the Pennsylvania WIP, and the proposed EPA Backstop TMDL values and provide feedback. Comments received will guide the framework of the PA Chamber’s own comments on the proposals. Comments may be directed to swissman@pachamber.org by October 22. The PA Chamber also urges members to submit their own comments directly to both EPA and DEP by November 8.

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Founded in 1916, the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry is the state's largest broad-based business association, with its membership comprising businesses of all sizes and across all industry sectors. The PA Chamber is The Statewide Voice of Business.