OUR SAY: EXPERTS CALL FOR ACTION ON BAY - IS ANYONE LISTENING?

The Capital  Annapolis, MD    Editorial Published December 09, 2008 
SOMETIMES THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS NOT WHAT GETS SAID BUT WHO SAYS IT.  At this point it surprises no one to declare that, "after 25 years of effort, the formal (Chesapeake) Bay Program and the restoration efforts under the voluntary, collaborative approach currently in place have not worked. … (In) the face of significant population growth and expanding development, these efforts have been insufficient and are failing. Water quality is declining or not improving in much of the bay and its rivers, and living resources continue to decline."
We've said much the same thing in this space, and it was the only conclusion that could be drawn from our Sunday retrospective story on the quarter-century of well-intentioned but sporadic effort that began on Dec. 9, 1983, when Gov. Harry Hughes met with his Virginia and Pennsylvania counterparts to sign the first Chesapeake Bay Agreement.
So the most striking thing about the one-page declaration signed yesterday is the 16 names on it. They include: Dr. Howard Ernst, a political science professor at the Naval Academy and the author of "Chesapeake Bay Blues"; former U.S. senator Joseph Tydings; former state senators and environmental leaders Bernie Fowler and Gerald Winegrad; and Dr. Walter Boynton and Dr. William Dennison of the University of Maryland, Center for Environmental Science.
It's a distinguished list of authors, academics and environmental leaders - all signing off on a blunt statement that, "We must transition from the voluntary collaborative approach in place for 25 years to a more comprehensive regulatory program that would establish mandatory, enforceable measures for meeting the nutrient, sediment and toxic chemical reductions needed to remove all bay waters from the Clean Water Act impaired waters list."
Their statement, which we posted online, ends with a list of six necessary actions. These include "change development patterns through state and local land use legislation," "mandatory controls and increased accountability to reduce agricultural pollutants," "stronger protection and management of bay fisheries" and a renewed effort by the federal government to fund bay cleanup, enforce the laws, take regulatory action and reorganize the bay restoration effort.
The bay is still being poisoned by nutrients and sediments. In 25 years of work, the politicians have had successful and even courageous moments. But they have not done enough to counter the heavy growth that they have allowed.  While some of the politicians have been more committed to saving the bay than others, all of them have made calculations based on what they thought the voters would put up with. On the whole, they've concluded that scattered actions, feel-good declarations and ever-deferred deadlines were the course of least resistance.
They are not going to change their minds because 16 distinguished experts signed a declaration, however admirable.
It is an admirable document, and we thank those who signed it. But unless the voters and community groups get busy applying pressure, it will be just one more well-intentioned piece of paper.