Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load Implementation

In a recent edition of our Energy, Environment and Resources Update, we discussed the then-pending petition for writ of certiorari from a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upholding the Chesapeake Bay TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load). On February 29, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the petition. The Chesapeake Bay TMDL will now move into implementation mode, free from legal attack on EPA's authority to issue it.

The TMDL requires substantial reductions in the amounts of nitrogen (25 percent), phosphorus (24 percent) and sediment (20 percent) that are annually released to the Chesapeake Bay watershed. A major tool to be employed in meeting these targets is the establishment and expansion of riparian buffers—areas of forest or grassland bordering streams and rivers in agricultural settings. Details are established through Watershed Implementation Plans for each of the six Bay states (i.e., Delaware, Maryland, New York,