CHAPTER ONE: OVERVIEW Introduction This paper is in some ways a status report on the Chesapeake Bay Program (CPB) as well as my findings to date. As additional research is undertaken there may be some modification of my conclusions. However, I believe more and more that the evolving program and policies in the Chesapeake Bay region may very well serve as a model for future environmental policy and administrative control patterns. After reviewing the nature of regional pollution problems and past efforts to deal with them, key governmental actors, crucial issues of growth and intergovernmental cooperation, we will then attempt to assess the emerging and apparently more successful management strategies. The Chesapeake Bay is our country's largest estuary and is often described as a "national treasure". Concern over degradation of the bay and its declining resources led Congress in 1975 to authorize a comprehensive seven-year investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the environmental problems and programs in the estuary and its tributaries. Publication of the research findings and proposed strategies for remediation led to a landmark 1983 Chesapeake Bay Agreement signed by the states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, the District of Columbia and the EPA. This four-paragraph compact proposed a "cooperative approach" to deal with the Bay's problems and established an organizational structure to focus on water quality and pollution control, while recognizing that "EPA and the States share the responsibility for management decisions and resources." A followup agreement in 1987 was much more detailed and ambitious. It also covered living resources, population growth and development, establishing broad goals and objectives with specific commitments and dates for action. These include a wetlands policy, development policies and guidelines and fisheries management plans. In addition, a basinwide toxics reduction strategy has been adopted along with a very specific and demanding commitment to reduce nutrients from 1985 levels by 40% by the year 2000. Agreements in 1991 and 1993 and 1994 have further refined and strengthened the nutrient reduction and other commitments. The Chesapeake Executive Council agreements spurred a variety of state actions, including new state legislation controlling development along shorelines to minimize its impact on bay water quality. Especially intriguing is a Maryland law, establishing the Chesapeake Bay Critical Areas Program which divides the area into intensely developed, limited development and resource conservation areas, each with different development criteria and constraints. Although public concern over the future of the Bay is very high, the implementation of the agreement's many plans, strategies and policies depend on considerable funding resources and political commitment and cooperation from the many jurisdictions and local, state and federal agencies.

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