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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Clock Ticks on PA's Pollution Strategy for Chesapeake Bay

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Monday, April 12, 2010   

HARRISBURG, Pa.- For many years, there's been talk of restoring Chesapeake Bay to its former glory, and because Pennsylvania provides more than half of the bay's fresh water, the state is a key player. Among the work ahead is establishing a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), sometimes called a "pollution budget," which outlines how much pollution is too much.

A first draft of the plan is due next year, and implementation of those pollution limits must happen no later than 2025, says Matt Ehrhart, executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

"This may be Pennsylvania's last chance to build a strategy that works for Pennsylvania: What we're going to do, when we're going to do it and where the resources to do it are going to come from."

Ehrart says the new TMDL requirements will affect all pollution sources, including sewage treatment, stormwater runoff and agriculture. Some are new to the on-going pollution control discussions, others have been involved for a number of years.

"If folks haven't come to the door of the county conservation district or the U.S.D.A. office, we haven't reached out to them. A lot of people out there have never been involved in this conversation."

Ehrhart says a continuing challenge remains: Convincing Pennsylvanians how they will benefit by helping to protect the health of a bay they don't see every day.

"These changes improve Pennsylvania's water, they improve our drinking water supplies, they improve the recreational opportunities on our rivers and streams. The benefits from these changes accrue here first."

Ehrhart says if the state fails to get that plan in place in a timely fashion, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may implement its own strategy, which Ehrhart warns could be less-than-favorable for the state. He says both houses of Congress also have sponsors for the Chesapeake Clean Water Act, which would give states new tools to comply with the law, as well as strengthen EPA enforcement efforts.



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