By Michelle Perez, Senior Analyst

There is a Hearing in Congress today on how the federal government can accelerate clean up of the Chesapeake Bay. You can watch the Hearing online at 2 pm, EST.

In preparation for the event, the staff of the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment released a memo that quantifies what EWG said in our report, Facing Facts in the Chesapeake Bay:

The federal government's reach over pollution to the Bay is very limited.

The memo shows that the federal government DOES NOT have jurisdiction over:

60% of the nitrogen pollution load to the Bay, 65% of the phosphorus pollution load, and 96% of the sediment load.

Furthermore, the federal reach over the agricultural sources of pollution is just a fraction of the pollution sources:

43% of the total nitrogen load to the Bay comes from agriculture but only 6% is regulated by the federal government.

45% of the total phosphorus load to the Bay comes from agriculture but only 8% is regulated by the federal government.

The facts are undeniable. The federal government cannot solve the problem itself.

A healthier Bay will only be achieved if the state governments step up to the plate.

States have to get aggressive yet creative and fair to develop sensible solutions to the 60% - 96% of the pollution that the federal government can't touch.

EWG's report, Facing Facts in the Chesapeake Bay begins the discussion of what a fair and sensible regulatory framework should look like. Our report also details how the voluntary policy approach to agricultural sources has failed to get the job done. And, we shine the spotlight on the gaping holes in the few and limited agricultural regulations addressing the problem.

See the pie chart below from the House Subcommittee memo (pdf) detailing the sources of pollution to the Bay: