The Baltimore Sun reports this week that a federal appeals court upheld the U.S. Environmental Protections Agency’s authority to order pollution reductions by Maryland and other states that drain into the Chesapeake Bay. USEPA, acting after more than 25 years of little or no cleanup progress, had set a “total maximum daily load” (TMDL) for nutrients and sediment washing into the Chesapeake from the six bay states and the District of Columbia. The agency set a deadline of 2025 for the states to adopt measures needed to reduce all sources of pollution, or face possible federal sanctions.

In a 60-page ruling, the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia pushed aside challenges from agricultural and home building groups to the “pollution diet” that EPA imposed for the bay in 2010.  >Read More via http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/green/blog/bal-appeals-court-upholds-epas-chesapeake-pollution-diet-20150706-story.html#