Recently in Landscaping Category
Humans pee! Yep, and a lot.
And wastewater treatment has become BIG systems. But the story isn't a simple one. Sewer treatment is necessary because our urine collects all the waste chemicals from our medications and foods and drinks...and it goes back into our water system. Those New Yorkers are innovative! They are developing an open source innovation project that is crowd sourced to develop ideas on how to turn pee into hydroponic farming fertilizer.
And wastewater treatment has become BIG systems. But the story isn't a simple one. Sewer treatment is necessary because our urine collects all the waste chemicals from our medications and foods and drinks...and it goes back into our water system. Those New Yorkers are innovative! They are developing an open source innovation project that is crowd sourced to develop ideas on how to turn pee into hydroponic farming fertilizer.
To learn more about urban agriculture ... which doesn't require pee, here's an introduction to Window Farms and urban agriculture for food production.
Stormwater runoff in urban and suburban areas is one of the leading sources of water pollution in the United States. Runoff can cause increased flooding and erosion and more pollution to surface waters.
EPA is using sustainable techniques for reducing the effects of stormwater runoff at its facilities, such as installing a 3,000 square foot green roof as well as using rain gardens and cisterns to capture and reuse stormwater.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued guidance to help federal agencies minimize the impact of federal development projects on nearby water bodies. The guidance is being issued in response to a change in law and an Executive Order signed by President Obama, which calls upon all federal agencies to lead by example to address a wide range of environmental issues, including stormwater runoff.
Peter S. Silva, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Water said, "By taking these steps to create more sustainable facilities, federal agencies can lead by example in reducing impacts in the local watershed."
EPA worked closely with other federal agencies to develop this document, which provides background information, key definitions, case studies and guidance on meeting the new requirements of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.
Under the new requirements, federal agencies must minimize stormwater runoff from federal development projects to protect water resources.
Federal agencies can comply using a variety of stormwater management practices often referred to as "green infrastructure" or "low impact development" practices, including reducing impervious surfaces, using vegetative practices, using porous pavements and installing green roofs.
More information on the guidance: http://www.epa.gov/owow/nps/lid/section438/
Did you know... 65% of new impervious cover can be classified as car habitat!
What is "car habitat"?
"...the geometry of roads, parking lots, sidewalks, cul-de-sacs and other new development infrastructure." That's car habitat.
Local development codes enforce how much impervious surface is allowed. They take into consideration how water drains and is absorbed by local soil conditions, as well as the level of development already affecting the watershed.
Better site design can reduce flooding by improving absorption of heavy water deluges into nature's groundwater infrastructure. Snowpack might be nature's LARGEST water reservoir, but groundwater is also a very valuable service provided by nature in lowlands.
Better Site Design (BSD), can include greater use of
Several dozen communities across the country have changed their local codes and ordinances to promote BSD through a roundtable process to gain consensus among development stakeholders.
Better Site Design Can Reduce Development Costs
The strength of the BSD approach is that numerous modeling studies have demonstrated it can reduce impervious cover, pollutants and development costs by as much as 10 to 40% at individual development sites.
The weakness of BSD is that it lacks a watershed context and therefore reductions in site IC may be not be enough to meet subwatershed objectives.
SOURCE:
Chesapeake Stormwater Network, CSN Technical Bulletin No. 3, "Implications of the Impervious Cover Model".
What is "car habitat"?
"...the geometry of roads, parking lots, sidewalks, cul-de-sacs and other new development infrastructure." That's car habitat.
Local development codes enforce how much impervious surface is allowed. They take into consideration how water drains and is absorbed by local soil conditions, as well as the level of development already affecting the watershed.
Better site design can reduce flooding by improving absorption of heavy water deluges into nature's groundwater infrastructure. Snowpack might be nature's LARGEST water reservoir, but groundwater is also a very valuable service provided by nature in lowlands.
Better Site Design (BSD), can include greater use of
- swales
- relaxed lot geometry
- natural area conservation
- open-space subdivisions
- pervious paving
- and other site design techniques
Several dozen communities across the country have changed their local codes and ordinances to promote BSD through a roundtable process to gain consensus among development stakeholders.
Better Site Design Can Reduce Development Costs
The strength of the BSD approach is that numerous modeling studies have demonstrated it can reduce impervious cover, pollutants and development costs by as much as 10 to 40% at individual development sites.
The weakness of BSD is that it lacks a watershed context and therefore reductions in site IC may be not be enough to meet subwatershed objectives.
SOURCE:
Chesapeake Stormwater Network, CSN Technical Bulletin No. 3, "Implications of the Impervious Cover Model".
By Lester R. Brown
In combination with moving down the food chain to eat fewer livestock products, reducing the food miles in our diets can dramatically reduce energy use in the food economy.
In the United States, there has been a surge of interest in eating fresh local foods, corresponding with mounting concerns about the climate effects of consuming food from distant places and about the obesity and other health problems associated with junk food diets. This is reflected in the rise in urban gardening, school gardening, and farmers' markets.
With the fast-growing local foods movement, diets are becoming more locally shaped and more seasonal. In a typical supermarket in an industrial country today it is often difficult to tell what season it is because the store tries to make everything available on a year-round basis. As oil prices rise, this will become less common. In essence, a reduction in the use of oil to transport food over long distances--whether by plane, truck, or ship--will also localize the food economy.
This trend toward localization is reflected in the recent rise in the number of farms in the United States, which may be the reversal of a century-long trend of farm consolidation. Between the agricultural census of 2002 and that of 2007, the number of farms in the United States increased by 4 percent to roughly 2.2 million. The new farms were mostly small, many of them operated by women, whose numbers in farming jumped from 238,000 in 2002 to 306,000 in 2007, a rise of nearly 30 percent.
Many of the new farms cater to local markets. Some produce fresh fruits and vegetables exclusively for farmers' markets or for their own roadside stands. Others produce specialized products, such as the goat farms that produce milk, cheese, and meat or the farms that grow flowers or wood for fireplaces. Others specialize in organic food. The number of organic farms in the United States jumped from 12,000 in 2002 to 18,200 in 2007, increasing by half in five years.
Gardening was given a big boost in the spring of 2009 when U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama worked with children from a local school to dig up a piece of lawn by the White House to start a vegetable garden. There was a precedent. Eleanor Roosevelt planted a White House victory garden during World War II. Her initiative encouraged millions of victory gardens that eventually grew 40 percent of the nation's fresh produce.
Although it was much easier to expand home gardening during World War II, when the United States was largely a rural society, there is still a huge gardening potential--given that the grass lawns surrounding U.S. residences collectively cover some 18 million acres. Converting even a small share of this to fresh vegetables and fruit trees could make an important contribution to improving nutrition.
Many cities and small towns in the United States and England are creating community gardens that can be used by those who would otherwise not have access to land for gardening. Providing space for community gardens is seen by many local governments as an essential service, like providing playgrounds for children or tennis courts and other sport facilities.
Many market outlets are opening up for local produce. Perhaps the best known of these are the farmers' markets where local farmers bring their produce for sale. In the United States, the number of these markets increased from 1,755 in 1994 to more than 4,700 in mid-2009, nearly tripling over 15 years. Farmers' markets reestablish personal ties between producers and consumers that do not exist in the impersonal confines of the supermarket. Many farmers' markets also now take food stamps, giving low-income consumers access to fresh produce that they might not otherwise be able to afford. With so many trends now boosting interest in these markets, their numbers may grow even faster in the future.
In school gardens, children learn how food is produced, a skill often lacking in urban settings, and they may get their first taste of freshly picked peas or vine-ripened tomatoes. School gardens also provide fresh produce for school lunches. California, a leader in this area, has 6,000 school gardens.
Many schools and universities are now making a point of buying local food because it is fresher, tastier, and more nutritious and it fits into new campus greening programs. Some universities compost kitchen and cafeteria food waste and make the compost available to the farmers who supply them with fresh produce.
Supermarkets are increasingly contracting with local farmers during the season when locally grown produce is available. Upscale restaurants emphasize locally grown food on their menus. In some cases, year-round food markets are evolving that market just locally produced foods, including not only fruit and vegetables but also meat, milk, cheese, eggs, and other farm products.
Food from more distant locations boosts carbon emissions while losing flavor and nutrition. A survey of food consumed in Iowa showed conventional produce traveled on average 1,500 miles, not including food imported from other countries. In contrast, locally grown produce traveled on average 56 miles--a huge difference in fuel investment. And a study in Ontario, Canada, found that 58 imported foods traveled an average of 2,800 miles. Simply put, consumers are worried about food security in a long-distance food economy. This trend has led to a new term: locavore, complementing the better known terms herbivore, carnivore, and omnivore.
Concerns about the climate effects of consuming food transported from distant locations has also led Tesco, the leading U.K. supermarket chain, to label products with their carbon footprint--indicating the greenhouse gas contribution of food items from the farm to supermarket shelf. Sweden is a recent pioneer in labeling food with its carbon footprint along with nutritional facts.
As agriculture localizes, livestock production will likely start to shift away from mega-sized cattle, hog, and poultry feeding operations. The shift from factory farm production of milk, meat, and eggs by returning to mixed crop-livestock operations facilitates nutrient recycling as local farmers return livestock manure to the land. The combination of high prices of natural gas, which is used to make nitrogen fertilizer, and of phosphate, as reserves are depleted, suggests a much greater future emphasis on nutrient recycling--an area where small farmers producing for local markets have a distinct advantage over massive feeding operations.
As world food insecurity mounts, more and more people will be looking to produce some of their own food in backyards, in front yards, on rooftops, in community gardens, and elsewhere, further contributing to the localization of agriculture.
RESOURCE:
Adapted from Chapter 9, "Feeding Eight Billion People Well," in Lester R. Brown, Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2009), available on-line at www.earthpolicy.org/index.php?/books/pb4
Additional data and information sources at www.earthpolicy.org
Spiders that live near water may be an effective warning system for contaminants in aquatic ecosystems, according to a new USGS and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency study.
PCB Contamination in Aquatic Habitat
Scientists examined PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls) levels in shoreline-living spiders at Lake Hartwell, a Superfund site in South Carolina, and used this information to map contaminant concentrations in lake sediment.
Researchers also made risk maps for a spider-eating bird, the Carolina wren, which could be exposed to PCBs through eating spiders. These spiders rely heavily on adult aquatic insects for food and play a key ecological role in the transfer of contaminants between water and land ecosystems. In spite of this, they are underused as a sentinel species at contaminated sediment sites.
This study, "Using riparian spiders as sentinels of PCB export and risk" was conducted by USGS at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry and the EPA.
PCB Contamination in Aquatic Habitat
Scientists examined PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls) levels in shoreline-living spiders at Lake Hartwell, a Superfund site in South Carolina, and used this information to map contaminant concentrations in lake sediment.
Future monitoring studies will use the spiders as indicators of ecosystem recovery from PCB contamination.
Researchers also made risk maps for a spider-eating bird, the Carolina wren, which could be exposed to PCBs through eating spiders. These spiders rely heavily on adult aquatic insects for food and play a key ecological role in the transfer of contaminants between water and land ecosystems. In spite of this, they are underused as a sentinel species at contaminated sediment sites.
This study, "Using riparian spiders as sentinels of PCB export and risk" was conducted by USGS at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry and the EPA.
Wading through the sources of lake contamination
These PAHs can be toxic to bottom-dwelling organisms, can cause tumors in fish, and several are believed to cause cancer in humans.
In this study, researchers examined five sources of PAHs in 40 urban lakes from across the United States, including coal-tar-based pavement sealcoat, coal combustion, oil combustion, vehicle emissions and wood combustion.
Sealcoat Contributes to PAH Contamination
Of the five sources studied, sealcoat was the strongest contributor to PAH contamination in lake sediment. This research can help those trying to reduce pollution levels in the urban environment by providing them with a better understanding of PAH sources.
This study, "Sources of PAHs to urban lakes in the United States," was conducted by USGS at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemist
Contamination of urban lakes and streams by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is widespread and has been increasing over the last 40 years in the United States.PAHs are Toxic to Fish Humans and Other Organisms
These PAHs can be toxic to bottom-dwelling organisms, can cause tumors in fish, and several are believed to cause cancer in humans.
In this study, researchers examined five sources of PAHs in 40 urban lakes from across the United States, including coal-tar-based pavement sealcoat, coal combustion, oil combustion, vehicle emissions and wood combustion.
Sealcoat Contributes to PAH Contamination
Of the five sources studied, sealcoat was the strongest contributor to PAH contamination in lake sediment. This research can help those trying to reduce pollution levels in the urban environment by providing them with a better understanding of PAH sources.
This study, "Sources of PAHs to urban lakes in the United States," was conducted by USGS at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemist
Elevated concentrations of pesticides in streams can affect aquatic organisms in streams as well as the quality of drinking water in some high-use areas where surface water is used for municipal supply.Decreasing Usage Decreases Stream Contamination...???!
Concentrations of several major pesticides mostly declined or stayed the same in "Corn Belt" rivers and streams from 1996 to 2006, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey study.
The declines in pesticide concentrations closely followed declines in their annual applications, indicating that reducing pesticide use is an effective and reliable strategy for reducing pesticide contamination in streams.
Declines in concentrations of the agricultural herbicides cyanazine, alachlor and metolachlor show the effectiveness of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulatory actions as well as the influence of new pesticide products.
In addition, declines from 2000 to 2006 in concentrations of the insecticide diazinon correspond to the EPA's national phase-out of nonagricultural uses. The USGS works closely with the EPA, which uses USGS findings on pesticide trends to track the effectiveness of changes in pesticide regulations and use.
Stream Pollutants in llinois, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska and Ohio
Scientists studied 11 herbicides and insecticides frequently detected in the Corn Belt region, which generally includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska and Ohio, as well as parts of adjoining states.
This area has among the highest pesticide use in the nation -- mostly herbicides used for weed control in corn and soybeans. As a result, these pesticides are widespread in the region's streams and rivers, largely resulting from runoff from cropland and urban areas.
Four of the 11 pesticides evaluated for trends were among those most often found in previous USGS studies to occur at levels of potential concern for healthy aquatic life. Atrazine, the most frequently detected, is also regulated in drinking water.
"Pesticide use is constantly changing in response to such factors as regulations, market forces, and advances in science," said Dan Sullivan, lead scientist for the study. "For example, acetochlor was registered by the EPA in 1994 with a goal of reducing use of alachlor and other major corn herbicides -- acetochlor use rapidly increased to a constant level by about 1996, and alachlor use declined. Cyanazine use also decreased rapidly from 1992 to 2000, as it was phased out because of environmental concerns. Metolachlor use did not markedly decrease until about 1998, when S-metolachlor, a more effective version that requires lower application rates, was introduced. Each of these declines in use was accompanied by similar declines in concentrations."
Although trends in concentration and use almost always closely corresponded, concentrations of atrazine and metolachlor each declined in one stream more rapidly than their estimated use. According to Skip Vecchia, senior author of the report on this analysis, "The steeper decline in these instances may be caused by agricultural management practices that have reduced pesticide transport, but data on management practices are not adequate to definitively answer the question. Overall, use is the most dominant factor driving changes in concentrations."
Simazine Shows Increased Usage
Only one pesticide -- simazine, which is used for both agricultural and urban weed control -- increased from 1996 to 2006. Concentrations of simazine in some streams increased more sharply than its trend in agricultural use, suggesting that non-agricultural uses of this herbicide, such as for controlling weeds in residential areas and along roadsides, increased during the study period.
The USGS study is based on analysis of 11 pesticides for 31 stream sites in the Corn Belt for two partially overlapping time periods: 1996 to 2002 and 2000 to 2006. Pesticides included in the trend analyses were the herbicides atrazine, acetochlor, metolachlor, alachlor, cyanazine, EPTC, simazine, metribuzin and prometon, and the insecticides chlorpyrifos and diazinon. Additional detailed analyses of relations between concentrations and use focused on four herbicides mainly used for weed control in corn (atrazine, acetochlor, metolachlor and alachlor) at a subset of 11 sites on the main rivers and selected large tributaries in the Ohio, Upper Mississippi and Missouri River basins.
Concentrations of many other pesticides that were less prevalent than the 11 included in the study were below analytical detection limits in most samples and thus could not be analyzed for trends.
Glyphosate, the most heavily used herbicide in the US
Glyphosate, an herbicide which has had rapidly increasing use on new genetically modified varieties of soybeans and corn, and which now is the most heavily used herbicide in the nation, was not measured until late in the study and thus had insufficient data for analysis of trends.
A USGS Scientific Investigations Report, "Trends in Pesticide Concentrations in Corn-Belt Streams, 1996-2006," (Analysis of concentration trends for 11 pesticides at 31 stream and river sites) and a journal article in the Environmental Science and Technology journal, "Trends in Concentrations and Use of Agricultural Herbicides for Corn Belt Rivers" (Analysis of concentration and use trends for 4 herbicides at 11 major river sites) is available online. Additional information, including data, reports and maps on pesticide status, trends and use may be found at the USGS Pesticide National Synthesis Project Web site.
USGS provides science for a changing world. For more information, visit www.usgs.gov.
The advantages of portable sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) can encourage more PONGs
(Portable Outreach Neighborhood Garden (PONG) and personal gardens with no need for the backbreaking and costly work
of breaking concrete and blacktop.
Back breaking work is simply not necessary.
SIP gardening also avoids the risk of contaminated soil.
InsideUrbanGreen.com is a helpful DIY site to help you make your own planters and planter boxes instead of going gung ho and tearing up concrete, etc.
Add to these innovative storage box planters a few heirloom seeds...and you have your own victory garden on your patio!
Back breaking work is simply not necessary.
SIP gardening also avoids the risk of contaminated soil.
InsideUrbanGreen.com is a helpful DIY site to help you make your own planters and planter boxes instead of going gung ho and tearing up concrete, etc.
Add to these innovative storage box planters a few heirloom seeds...and you have your own victory garden on your patio!
Federal Agencies Release Draft Reports Required by Chesapeake Bay Executive Order
Federal agencies released the seven draft reports required by President Obama's executive order on the Chesapeake Bay , which contain a range of proposed strategies for accelerating cleanup of the nation's largest estuary and its vast watershed.
Focus is on increased accountability and performance
The draft reports collectively call for increased accountability and performance from pollution control, habitat protection and land conservation programs at all levels of government, including an expanded use of regulatory authorities to address pollution control and additional voluntary and market-based solutions - particularly when it comes to habitat protection and land conservation programs. Federal agencies are also proposing new ways to harness the latest innovations in science and technology. The proposed actions are in response to overwhelming scientific evidence that the health of the Chesapeake Bay remains exceptionally poor, despite the concerted restoration efforts of the past 25 years.
"We need bold new leadership, collective accountability by all contributors to the bay's problems, and dramatic changes in policies using all the tools at hand if we are to fulfill President Obama's goal for clean water throughout the region. These reports bring us a step closer to achieving the vision we all share for the future of the Chesapeake Bay ," said U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, chairperson of the Federal Leadership Committee and the federal representative to the Chesapeake Executive Council.
The draft reports are the first step in the creation of a new strategy for restoring and protecting the Chesapeake Bay and waterways in the region, as defined by the executive order.
The reports include a variety of strategies and options for addressing issues such as
The draft reports were also submitted to the Federal Leadership Committee that is coordinating work on the executive order. The draft reports are available at http://executiveorder.chesapeakebay.net .
Executive Order 13508 on Chesapeake Bay Restoration and Protection
On May 12, 2009 President Obama issued Executive Order 13508 on Chesapeake Bay Restoration and Protection, the first-ever presidential directive on the bay and the first environmental executive order by President Obama.
Multidisciplinary Federal Leadership Committee
The order established a Federal Leadership Committee, chaired by EPA, and with senior representatives from the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Interior and Transportation.
Over 120 days, 10 federal agencies collaborated to develop the draft reports. The recommendations in the reports were shaped by consultations with the six states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and the District of Columbia , as well as suggestions from stakeholders and the public. Successful restoration of the Chesapeake Bay depends on the involvement of federal, state and local governments; the private sector; nonprofit organizations; and the watershed's 17 million residents. The draft reports were released to engage the public in the process outlined in the executive order.
The draft report on water quality includes some of the more significant potential changes to existing programs.
In this report, EPA proposes to develop new regulations for the Chesapeake Bay to significantly reduce runoff pollution from urban, suburban and agricultural sources.
The report also relays EPA's intention to hold the states in the watershed more accountable for controlling pollution, through increased oversight, enforcement activities and new policies.
The Federal Leadership Committee will evaluate the proposals in the draft reports and consult with bay jurisdictions to refine the recommendations for meeting key challenges to the Chesapeake Bay 's health. However, the agencies will be moving forward in a number of areas before the strategy becomes final.
"We have an urgent obligation to citizens of today and generations of tomorrow to restore the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed, and this executive order puts new weight behind our work," Jackson said. "We're moving quickly and transparently on a comprehensive strategy that will get real results for the bay."
More information on the executive order: http://executiveorder.chesapeakebay.net
Federal agencies released the seven draft reports required by President Obama's executive order on the Chesapeake Bay , which contain a range of proposed strategies for accelerating cleanup of the nation's largest estuary and its vast watershed.
Focus is on increased accountability and performance
The draft reports collectively call for increased accountability and performance from pollution control, habitat protection and land conservation programs at all levels of government, including an expanded use of regulatory authorities to address pollution control and additional voluntary and market-based solutions - particularly when it comes to habitat protection and land conservation programs. Federal agencies are also proposing new ways to harness the latest innovations in science and technology. The proposed actions are in response to overwhelming scientific evidence that the health of the Chesapeake Bay remains exceptionally poor, despite the concerted restoration efforts of the past 25 years.
"We need bold new leadership, collective accountability by all contributors to the bay's problems, and dramatic changes in policies using all the tools at hand if we are to fulfill President Obama's goal for clean water throughout the region. These reports bring us a step closer to achieving the vision we all share for the future of the Chesapeake Bay ," said U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, chairperson of the Federal Leadership Committee and the federal representative to the Chesapeake Executive Council.
The draft reports are the first step in the creation of a new strategy for restoring and protecting the Chesapeake Bay and waterways in the region, as defined by the executive order.
The reports include a variety of strategies and options for addressing issues such as
- water quality,
- public access,
- landscape conservation,
- climate change,
- scientific monitoring and
- protection of living resources
The draft reports were also submitted to the Federal Leadership Committee that is coordinating work on the executive order. The draft reports are available at http://executiveorder.chesapeakebay.net .
Executive Order 13508 on Chesapeake Bay Restoration and Protection
On May 12, 2009 President Obama issued Executive Order 13508 on Chesapeake Bay Restoration and Protection, the first-ever presidential directive on the bay and the first environmental executive order by President Obama.
Multidisciplinary Federal Leadership Committee
The order established a Federal Leadership Committee, chaired by EPA, and with senior representatives from the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Interior and Transportation.
Over 120 days, 10 federal agencies collaborated to develop the draft reports. The recommendations in the reports were shaped by consultations with the six states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and the District of Columbia , as well as suggestions from stakeholders and the public. Successful restoration of the Chesapeake Bay depends on the involvement of federal, state and local governments; the private sector; nonprofit organizations; and the watershed's 17 million residents. The draft reports were released to engage the public in the process outlined in the executive order.
The draft report on water quality includes some of the more significant potential changes to existing programs.
In this report, EPA proposes to develop new regulations for the Chesapeake Bay to significantly reduce runoff pollution from urban, suburban and agricultural sources.
The report also relays EPA's intention to hold the states in the watershed more accountable for controlling pollution, through increased oversight, enforcement activities and new policies.
Urban and suburban runoff pollution is the fastest growing source of pollution to the Chesapeake Bay , while agricultural runoff is the largest.
The Federal Leadership Committee will evaluate the proposals in the draft reports and consult with bay jurisdictions to refine the recommendations for meeting key challenges to the Chesapeake Bay 's health. However, the agencies will be moving forward in a number of areas before the strategy becomes final.
"We have an urgent obligation to citizens of today and generations of tomorrow to restore the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed, and this executive order puts new weight behind our work," Jackson said. "We're moving quickly and transparently on a comprehensive strategy that will get real results for the bay."
More information on the executive order: http://executiveorder.chesapeakebay.net