On Chesapeake Bay, We Have Met the Enemy, and...

I couldn't agree more with the Baltimore Sun's editorial this morning on the much ballyooed pledge by Tim Kaine, Martin O'Malley and EPA administrator Lisa P. Jackson "to clean up the bay no later than 2025" and to set "two-year goals for reducing levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, key pollutants harming the bay." Here's what the Sun has to say about all of this:

Not to mock Gov. Martin O'Malley, Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine, Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty or the other officials who traipsed to Mount Vernon Tuesday to announce plans to "accelerate bay restoration efforts," but watching the event without healthy skepticism is to ignore too many years of experience.

While there are some signs of progress in efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay (a patch of bay grass or a revival of an aquatic species), too many recent scientific report cards portray it as failing overall, and in many cases badly so, for the palest spirit of optimism to prevail.

So, if 10-year goals won't save the Bay, what about 2-year goals? 1 year and 9 month goals? 3 month and 2 week goals? Zzzzzzzz.

In all seriousness, there's a much more fundamental problem here, and that is, as the Sun says: "What the Virginia and Maryland politicians have demonstrated time and time again is that they are unwilling to tackle the serious polluters."

So what do we need to do? In short, we need to look in the mirror for a change and get serious - personally and politically.

...To start, a much more ambitious (or at least enforceable) smart growth policy that curbs sprawl in favor of growth in established urban areas. It would mean an end to state budgets that shortchange regulators and conservation efforts. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would need to take a far more aggressive approach to regional enforcement to ensure all jurisdictions complied.

Finally, it would require heightened public outrage so that feet are truly held to the fire and a greater sense of urgency prevails. It's one thing to put a bumper sticker on your car; it's another to demand action, especially at the ballot box. Voters must be willing to eradicate any species of politician who talks big but acts small in defense of our state's most treasured natural resource.

Personally, I'd broaden that last point out from the Bay to include ALL important environmental issues (from water pollution to sprawl to global warming). If politicians, "D" or "R," aren't willing to take bold actions, then we should toss them out and try other politicians. But the bottom line is that politicians will only be as courageous as we force them to be. In politics, as in life, occasionally there's a "profile in courage," but if we hold our breaths waiting for those rare situations, the bay will turn algae-green while we turn asphyxiated-blue. I don't know about you, but I suggest that we might want to try a different approach.