Protecting the Bay

For more than 25 years, Virginia has relied on voluntary goals to clean up the Chesapeake Bay. Unfortunately, chicken farmers like Tyson and Perdue, as well as mega developers like Ryan Homes, have not bought into these voluntary goals and have used the Bay as their personal dumping ground. Environment Virginia is working with our partners in Maryland and Pennsylvania to call on EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to set numerical limits on pollution entering the Bay in order to reverse this trend.

In May, President Obama took the first step in a new direction by issuing an executive order asking the EPA to develop a plan to restore the Bay. To ensure that the public’s voice is heard in the EPA’s process, Environment Virginia knocked on over 25,000 doors across the state asking citizens to sign postcards and write letters to Administrator Jackson asking her to hold polluters accountable.