It may not have the same bling as five golden rings, but to EPA, Virginia’s draft Phase II Watershed Implementation Plan (“WIP”) should be just what it wanted. In accordance with EPA’s designated schedule, Virginia presented the agency with its Draft Plan on December 15, 2011.

The spirited debate about the accuracy and dependability of the Environmental Protection Agency’s proscription for limiting pollution throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed spilled over into the news again Monday.

This month, the Chesapeake Bay Executive Council met in Richmond to discuss, among things, progress being made on efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay. Data released that same day indicates that Virginia is on target to meet interim cleanup goals set in 2009.

Image via Wikipedia Phase II of Virginia’s Watershed Implementation Plan: Where are we now, where are we heading, and how do we get there? Work on Virginia’s Watershed Implementation Plan (“WIP”), specifically, the required implementation of Phase II, has begun…sort of.

Last December, EPA and the Commonwealth of Virginia reached agreement on the state’s proposed Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP). In evaluating the WIP, EPA found that the WIP met nutrient and sediment allocations for each basin in the final TMDL. EPA also accepted that Virginia was committed to implementing aggressive WWTP upgrades, a more accountable urban [...]

On  Monday, the Commonwealth of Virginia submitted a revised Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) to the EPA, meeting EPA’s established deadline. However, in the revised draft, Secretary of Natural Resources Doug Domenech,