On Monday, August 23, 2010, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality released Virginia’s 2010 Water Quality Assessment Report, and its findings appear to be just as murky as the James River.

As with many things in life, there’s the good news, and the bad news. The good news is that more than 430 waters have been removed from the impaired waters list because they now fully meet water quality standards. (more…)

On August 13, 2010, EPA announced draft sediment limits for the jurisdictions and major river basins in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, including those affecting Virginia, its rivers and the Eastern Shore. Virginia, along with other watershed states and the District of Columbia, are expected to use the limits, along with those issued for nitrogen (more…)

Forty years ago today, Earth Day was born. Its conception marked the beginning of the modern environmental movement in the United States, and according to its founder, Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, was the day “the environmental issue came of age in American political life.”

What many might not know, however, is that the environmental movement in Virginia began long before April 22, 1970. Almost a quarter century before mainstream environmentalism hit (more…)

And it may be a foreshadowing of more to come.

Earlier this year, Virginia Attorney General Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, II, filed a suit against the EPA calling into question certain data upon which some global warming regulations were based.

At a press conference yesterday, two Virginia legislators, state senator Ryan T. McDougle (R-Hanover), and delegate Timothy D. Hugo (R-Fairfax) called into question EPA data related to percentage increases in impervious surface areas. The data, which indicates that from 1990 to (more…)

What a Difference a Year Makes!

During last year’s Environment Virginia Symposium at the Virginia Military Institute’s Center for Leadership and Ethics, scientists and speakers joined then Governor Tim Kaine in addressing the nexus of economic prosperity and economic stewardship in the quest for a more sustainable environment. Not surprisingly, climate change was a “hot” topic, as was the discussion of whether reducing global warming would (more…)

Since May 2009, when President Obama issued Executive Order 13508: Chesapeake Bay Protection Restoration and a new federally mandated cleanup initiative for the Chesapeake Bay was born, it has been unclear what consequences might be imposed by EPA if the states did not meet the new clean up requirements. Now we know.

On December 29, 2009, in a letter to the six states in the Bay watershed and the District of Columbia, EPA’s “accountability framework” was revealed. The framework is in addition to the EPA requirements set forth in November, 2009, when standards for the implementation of Watershed Implementation Plans were set, and milestones towards achieving the goals of those plans were established. (more…)