Note: This is reproduced from the Chesapeake Bay Program
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Public Comment Preamble We are releasing this draft document to solicit your comments. It has been developed by the Chesapeake Bay Program partners with the assistance of thousands of citizens, scientists and policy makers from throughout the Chesapeake Bay region. It contains commitments that are far reaching and that address issues of the waters and living resources of the Bay and its rivers, and the land and air that surround them. It is intended to take us well into the next decade and beyond. For the most part, the document represents issues that the signatories believe must be addressed. In order to finalize our decisions, we must hear from you. Have we addressed your concerns? Will the Bay and its rivers be better off as a result of the commitments proposed? We need to hear from you. Public comment will be received through March 31, 2000. If you would like to assist us in our consideration of this document, please send us your comments online at www.chesapeakebay.net or write to: Chesapeake Bay Program Office |
CHESAPEAKE 2000
A Watershed Partnership
Preamble
The Chesapeake Bay is North America's largest and most biologically diverse estuary, home to more than 3,600 species of plants, fish and animals. For more than 300 years, the Bay and its tributaries have sustained the region's economy and defined its traditions and culture. It is a resource of extraordinary productivity, worthy of the highest levels of protection and restoration.
Accordingly, in 1983 and 1987, the states of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay Commission and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency signed historic agreements that established the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay's ecosystem.
For almost two decades, we, the signatories to these agreements, have worked together as stewards to ensure the public's right to clean water and a healthy and productive resource. We have sought to protect the health of the public that uses the Bay and consumes its bounty. The initiatives we have pursued have been deliberate and have produced significant results in the health and productivity of the Bay's main stem, the tributaries, and the natural land and water ecosystems that compose the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
While the individual and collective accomplishments of our efforts have been significant, even greater effort will be required to address the enormous challenges that lie ahead. Increased population and expanded development within the watershed have created ever-greater challenges for us in the Bay's restoration. These challenges are further complicated by the dynamic nature of the Bay and the ever-changing global ecosystem within which it interacts.
In order to achieve our existing goals and meet the challenges that lie ahead, we must reaffirm our partnership and recommit to fulfilling the public responsibility we undertook almost two decades ago. We must manage for the future. We must have a vision for our desired destiny and put programs into place that will secure it.
To do this, there can be no greater goal in this recommitment than to engage everyone -- individuals, businesses, communities and governments -- in our effort; to commit all citizens of the Chesapeake Bay watershed in a shared vision -- a system with abundant, diverse populations of living resources, fed by healthy streams and rivers, sustaining strong local and regional economies, and our unique quality of life.
In affirming our recommitment through this new Chesapeake 2000, we recognize the importance of viewing this document in its entirety with no single part taken in isolation of the others. This Agreement reflects the Bay's complexity in that each action we take, like the elements of the Bay itself, is connected to all the others. This Agreement responds to the problems facing this magnificent ecosystem in a comprehensive, multi-faceted way.
By this Agreement, we commit ourselves to nurture and sustain a Chesapeake Bay Watershed Partnership and to achieve the goals set forth in the subsequent sections. Without such a partnership, future challenges will not be met. With it, the restoration and protection of the Chesapeake Bay will be ensured for generations to come.
WE COMMIT TO:
LIVING RESOURCE PROTECTION AND RESTORATION
The health and vitality of the Chesapeake Bay's living resources provide the ultimate indicator of our success in the restoration and protection effort. The Bay's fisheries and the other living resources that sustain them and provide habitat for them are central to the initiatives we undertake in this Agreement.
We recognize the interconnectedness of the Bay's living resources and the importance of protecting the entire natural system and therefore, commit to identify the essential elements of habitat and environmental quality necessary to support the living resources of the Bay. In protecting commercially valuable species, we will manage harvest levels through practices that maintain their health and stability and protect the ecosystem as a whole. We will restore passage for migratory fish and work to ensure that suitable water quality conditions exist in the upstream spawning habitats upon which they depend.
Our actions must be conducted in an integrated and coordinated manner. They must be continually monitored, evaluated and revised to adjust to the dynamic nature and complexities of the Chesapeake Bay and changes in global ecosystems. To advance this ecosystem approach, we will broaden our management perspective from single-system to ecosystem functions and will expand our protection efforts from single-species to multi-species management. We will also undertake efforts to determine how future conditions and changes in the chemical, physical and biological attributes of the Bay will affect living resources over time.
GOAL: RESTORE, ENHANCE AND PROTECT THE FINFISH, SHELLFISH AND OTHER LIVING RESOURCES, THEIR HABITATS AND ECOLOGICAL RELATIONSHIPS TO SUSTAIN ALL FISHERIES AND PROVIDE FOR A BALANCED ECOSYSTEM.
Oysters
- By 2010, achieve, at a minimum, a tenfold increase in oysters in the Chesapeake Bay, based upon a 1994 baseline. By 2002, develop and implement a strategy to achieve this increase by using sanctuaries sufficient in size and distribution, aquaculture and other management approaches necessary to achieve this objective.
Exotic Species
- By 2002, identify exotic species which are producing significant negative impacts to the Bay's aquatic ecosystem or have the potential to yield such impacts. By 2004, develop and implement management plans for those exotic species that are deemed problematic to the restoration and integrity of the Bay's ecosystem.
In 2000, establish a Chesapeake Bay Program Task Force to:
- Work cooperatively with the U.S. Coast Guard, the ports, the shipping industry and environmental interests at the national level to help establish and implement a national program designed to substantially reduce and, where possible, eliminate the introduction of exotic species carried in ballast water; and
- By 2002, develop and implement an interim voluntary ballast water management program for the waters of the Bay and its tributaries.
Fish Passage and Migratory Fish and Resident Fish
- By June 2002, identify the final initiatives necessary to achieve our existing goal of restoring fish passage for migratory fish to more than 1,357 miles of blocked river by 2003
- By 2004, set a new goal with implementation schedules to achieve restoration of additional passage for migratory and resident fish.
- For priority migratory fish species, by 2002, assess trends in populations, determine tributary-specific target population sizes based on projected fish passage and available habitat, and provide recommendations to achieve those targets.
- By 2003, revise fish management plans to include strategies to achieve tributary- specific migratory fish target population sizes.
Multi-species Management
- By 2005, develop multi-species management plans for targeted species.
- By 2007, revise and implement existing fisheries management plans to incorporate ecological, social and economic considerations, multi-species fisheries management and ecosystem approaches.
Crabs
- Manage the blue crab population to restore a healthy spawning biomass, size and age structure. By 2001, establish a harvest target and implement state fisheries management strategies that are complementary Baywide.
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VITAL HABITAT PROTECTION AND RESTORATION
The Chesapeake Bay's natural infrastructure is an intricate system of terrestrial and aquatic habitats, linked to the landscapes and the environmental quality of the watershed. It is composed of the thousands of miles of river and stream habitat that interconnect the land, water, living resources and human communities of the Bay watershed. These vital habitats -- including open water, underwater grasses, marshes, wetlands, streams and forests -- support living resource abundance by providing key food and habitat for a variety of species. Submerged aquatic vegetation reduces shoreline erosion while forests and wetlands protect water quality by naturally processing the pollutants before they enter the water. Long-term protection of this natural infrastructure is essential.
In managing the Bay as a whole ecosystem, we recognize the need to focus on the individuality of each river, stream and creek and to secure their protection in concert with the communities and individuals that reside within these small watersheds. We also recognize that we must continue to refine and share information regarding the importance of these vital habitats to the Bay's fish, shellfish and waterfowl. Our efforts to preserve the integrity of this natural infrastructure will protect the Bay's waters and living resources and will ensure the viability of human economies and communities that are dependent upon those resources for sustenance, reverence and posterity.
GOAL: PRESERVE, PROTECT AND RESTORE THOSE HABITATS AND NATURAL AREAS VITAL TO THE SURVIVAL AND DIVERSITY OF THE LIVING RESOURCES OF THE BAY AND ITS RIVERS.
Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (SAV)
- Recommit to the existing SAV Restoration Goal of 114,000 acres.
- By 2002, revise SAV restoration goals to reflect historic abundance, measured as acreage and density from 1930s to present. The revised goals will include specific levels of water clarity which are to be met in 2010. Strategies to achieve these goals will address water clarity, water quality and bottom disturbance.
- By 2002, implement a strategy to accelerate restoration of SAV beds in areas of critical importance to the Bay's living resources.
Wetlands
- Achieve a no-net loss of jurisdictional wetlands acreage and function through regulatory programs.
- Achieve a net resource gain by restoring 25,000 acres of tidal and non-tidal wetlands by 2010. To do this, we commit to achieve and maintain an average restoration rate of 2,500 acres per year basin wide by 2005 and beyond. We will evaluate our success in 2005.
- Provide information and assistance to local governments and communities groups for the development and implementation of locally generated community or watershed-based wetlands preservation plans. The goal is to have such plans implemented in 25 percent of the land area of each state's Bay watershed by 2010. The plans would preserve key wetlands that are locally identified and address surrounding land use so as to preserve wetland functions.
- Continue to evaluate the potential impact of climate change on the Chesapeake Bay watershed, particularly its wetlands.
Forests
- By 2003, ensure that measures are in place to meet our riparian forest buffer restoration goal of 2,010 miles by 2010 and determine the potential to significantly expand this goal.
- Promote the expansion and further linking of contiguous forests through conservation easements, greenways, fee simple purchase and other land conservation mechanisms.
- Work in partnership with local governments and communities to encourage the adoption of local stream corridor protection plans that include provisions for riparian forest conservation and restoration, with a goal of 50 percent local government and community participation by 2010.
Stream Corridors
- By 2001, each jurisdiction will work with local governments and communities to select pilot projects that promote stream corridor protection, restoration and the maintenance of minimum flows.
- By 2003, include in the "State of the Bay Report" and make available to the public, local governments and communities information concerning the aquatic health of stream corridors in the watershed, including the minimum freshwater stream flows needed to maintain or restore aquatic health.
- Work with watershed organizations and local governments to develop a watershed management plan, that addresses, among other things, the protection of forest buffers and local stream corridors with a goal of 50 percent local government participation by 2010.
- Continually improve monitoring programs for evaluating the aquatic health of stream corridors and the success of protection and restoration efforts. Ensure that the monitoring networks address the critical impact of ground water on surface water flow and quality.
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WATER QUALITY RESTORATION AND PROTECTION
Improving water quality is the most critical element in the overall restoration and protection of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. In 1987, we committed to achieving a 40 percent reduction in controllable nutrient loads to the Bay. In 1992, we committed to tributary-specific reduction strategies to achieve this reduction and agreed to stay at or below these nutrient loads once attained. We have made measurable reductions in pollution loading despite continuing growth and development. Still, more will have to be done.
Recent actions taken under the Clean Water Act resulted in listing portions of the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal rivers as "impaired waters." These actions have emphasized the regulatory framework of the Act along with the ongoing cooperative efforts of the Bay Program as the means to address the nutrient enrichment problems within the Bay and its rivers. In response, we have developed, and are implementing, a process for integrating the cooperative and statutory programs of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. We have agreed to the goal of improving water quality in the Bay and its tributaries so that these waters may be removed from the impaired waters list prior to the time when regulatory mechanisms under Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act would be applied.
We commit to achieve the water quality conditions necessary to support living resources throughout the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. In addition, we will make the prevention of pollution a central theme in the protection of water quality. Where we have failed to achieve established water quality goals, we will take actions necessary to reach and maintain those goals. We will complement these efforts with actions that are protective of freshwater flow regimes for riverine and estuarine habitats. In pursuing the restoration of vital habitats, we will work to improve water clarity in order to meet light requirements necessary to support SAV. We will develop and implement improved plans and strategies necessary to reach and maintain those goals. We will also expand our efforts to reduce sediments and airborne pollution, and ensure that the Bay is free from the effects of toxics on living resources and human health. We will continue our cooperative intergovernmental approach to achieve and maintain water quality goals through cost-effective and equitable means within the framework of federal and state law. We will evaluate the potential impacts of emerging issues, including airborne ammonia and nonpoint sources of chemical contaminants. Finally, we will continue to monitor water quality conditions and adjust our strategies accordingly.
GOAL: ACHIEVE AND MAINTAIN THE WATER QUALITY NECESSARY TO SUPPORT THE AQUATIC LIVING RESOURCES OF THE BAY AND ITS TRIBUTARIES AND TO PROTECT HUMAN HEALTH.
Nutrients
- Continue efforts to achieve and maintain the 40 percent nutrient reduction goal agreed to in 1987, as well as the goals being adopted for the tributaries south of the Potomac River.
- By 2010, correct all nutrient-related problems in the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries sufficient to remove the Bay and the tidal portions of its tributaries from the list of impaired waters under the Clean Water Act. In order to achieve this:
- By 2001, define the water quality conditions necessary to protect aquatic living resources; and then, assign load reductions for nitrogen and phosphorus to each major tributary;
- By 2002, complete a public process to develop and begin implementation of revised Tributary Strategies to achieve and maintain the assigned loading goals; and,
- By 2003, the jurisdictions with tidal waters will use their best efforts to adopt new or revised water quality standards consistent with the defined water quality conditions. Once adopted by the jurisdictions, the EPA will work expeditiously to review the new or revised standards, which will then be used as the basis for removing the Bay and its tidal rivers from the list of impaired waters.
Sediment
- By 2010, correct all sediment-related problems in the Chesapeake Bay and the tidal portion of its tributaries sufficient to remove the Bay and the tidal portions of its tributaries from the list of impaired waters under the Clean Water Act. In order achieve this:
- Using a process parallel to that established for nutrients, determine the load reductions to achieve the water quality conditions necessary to protect aquatic living resources and assign load reductions for sediment to each major tributary by 2001; complete tributary strategies to achieve the reductions by 2002; integrate sediment reductions in order to develop water quality standards for tidal waters by 2003, based upon the defined water quality conditions; and
- By 2003, work with the Susquehanna River Basin Commission and others to adopt and begin implementing strategies that prevent the loss of the sediment retention capabilities of the lower Susquehanna River dams.
Chemical Contaminants
- We commit to fulfilling the 1994 goal of a Chesapeake Bay free of toxics by reducing or eliminating the input of chemical contaminants from all controllable sources to levels that result in no toxic or bioaccumulative impact on the living resources that inhabit the Bay or on human health.
- By Fall of 2000, reevaluate and revise, as necessary, the Chesapeake Bay Basinwide Toxics Reduction and Prevention Strategy, focusing on:
- Complementing state and federal regulatory programs to go beyond traditional point source controls, including nonpoint sources such as groundwater discharge and atmospheric deposition by using a watershed-based approach.
- Understanding the effects and impacts of chemical contaminants to increase the effectiveness of management actions.
- Through continual improvement, strive for zero release of chemical contaminants from point sources (including air sources) using voluntary pollution prevention measures, with particular emphasis on problem chemicals in regions identified to have probable or potential toxic impacts to living resources.
- Reduce the potential risk of pesticides to the Bay by targeting education, outreach and implementation of Integrated Pest Management and specific Best Management Practices on agricultural, urban, suburban and resource lands that have higher potential for contributing pesticide loads to the Bay.
Priority Urban Waters
- Support the restoration of the Anacostia River, Baltimore Harbor, and Elizabeth River and their watersheds as models for urban river restoration in the Bay basin.
- By 2010, the District of Columbia, working with its watershed partners, will reduce pollution loads to the Anacostia River in order to eliminate public health concerns and achieve the living resource, water quality and habitat goals of this and past Agreements.
Air Pollution
- By 2003, assess the effects of airborne nitrogen compounds and chemical contaminants on the Bay ecosystem and develop a plan for strengthening air emission pollution prevention programs throughout the airshed.
Boat Discharge
- By 2003, establish appropriate areas within the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries as "no discharge zones" for human waste from boats. By 2010, expand by 50 percent the number and availability of waste pump-out facilities.
- By 2006, reassess our progress in reducing the impact of boat waste on the Bay and its tributaries.
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SOUND LAND USE
In 1987, the signatories agreed that "there is a clear correlation between population growth and associated development and environmental degradation in the Chesapeake Bay system." This Agreement reaffirms that concept and recognizes that more must be done.
Enhancing, or even maintaining, the quality of the Bay while accommodating growth will frequently involve difficult choices. It will require a renewed commitment to appropriate development standards. The states and the federal government will assert the full measure of their authority to mitigate the potential adverse effects of continued growth. Local jurisdictions have been delegated authority over many decisions regarding growth and development which have both direct and indirect effects on the Chesapeake Bay system and its living resources. The role of local governments in the Bay's restoration and protection effort will be given proper recognition and support through state and federal resources. States will also engage in active partnerships with local governments in managing growth and development in ways that support the following goal.
We acknowledge that future development will be sustainable only if we protect our natural and rural resource land, limit impervious surfaces and concentrate new growth in existing population centers or suitable areas served by appropriate infrastructure. We will work to integrate environmental, community and economic goals by promoting more concentrated forms of development, consistent with our historic urban, village and rural settlement patterns. We will also strive to coordinate land-use, transportation and infrastructure planning so that funding and policies at all levels of government do not contribute to poorly planned growth and development or degrade local habitat. We will advance these policies by creating partnerships with local governments to protect our communities and to discharge our duties as trustees in the stewardship of the Chesapeake Bay. Finally, we will report on our progress in achieving our commitments to promote sound land use every two years.
GOAL: DEVELOP, PROMOTE AND ACHIEVE SOUND LAND USE PRACTICES WHICH PROTECT AND RESTORE WATERSHED RESOURCES AND WATER QUALITY, MAINTAIN REDUCED POLLUTANT LOADINGS FOR THE BAY AND ITS TRIBUTARIES, AND RESTORE AND PRESERVE AQUATIC LIVING RESOURCES.
Land Conservation
- By 2002, expand the use of voluntary and market-based mechanisms such as easements, purchase or transfer of development rights and other approaches to protect and preserve natural resource
slands.- Strengthen programs for land acquisition and preservation within each state that are supported by funding and target the most valued lands for protection.
- By 2001, complete an assessment of the Bay's resource lands including forests and farms, emphasizing their role in the protection of water quality and critical habitats, as well as cultural and economic viability.
- Provide technical and financial assistance to local governments to plan for or revise plans, ordinances and subdivision regulations to provide for the conservation and sustainable use of the forest and agriculture lands.
- Develop and maintain in each jurisdiction a strong GIS system fully accessible to local governments to promote sound land use practices.
Public Access
- By 2010, expand the system of public access points to the Bay, its tributaries and related resource sites by 30 percent by working with state and federal agencies, local governments and stakeholder organizations.
- Encourage and support localities in their effort to enhance public access to the Bay and its tributaries.
- By 2005, increase the number of designated water trails in the Chesapeake Bay region by 500 miles.
- Enhance outreach materials and opportunities that promote public access to natural, recreational, historical and cultural resources within the Chesapeake Bay while also conveying its value.
Development, Redevelopment and Revitalization
- * By 2010, reduce in each state the rate of conversion of forest and agricultural lands to development by at least 30 percent, with progress reported regularly to the Chesapeake Executive Council.
* Five of the six Bay Program Partnership signatories agree that this commitment should be part of the Chesapeake 2000 Agreement
- Identify and remove state and local impediments to low impact development designs to encourage the use of such approaches to minimize water quality impacts.
- Work with communities and local governments to encourage sound land use planning and practices that address the impacts of growth, development and transportation on the watershed.
- Review current tax policies to identify elements which discourage sustainable development practices or encourage undesirable growth patterns. Promote the modification of such policies and the creation of new tax incentives which encourage investments consistent with sound growth management principles.
- The jurisdictions will promote redevelopment and remove barriers to investment in underutilized urban, suburban and rural communities by working with localities and development interests.
- Provide analytical tools to local governments and communities for watershed-based assessment of the impacts of growth, development and transportation decisions. Make available information to encourage the development community and others to champion the application of sound use practices.
- By 2002, develop information and guidelines to assist local governments and communities to limit impervious cover on undeveloped and moderately watersheds and reduce the impact in highly developed watersheds.
By 2003, work with local governments and communities to develop land-use management and water resource protection approaches that encourage the concentration of new residential development in areas supported by adequate water resources and infrastructure to minimize impacts on water quality.
Transportation
- By 2002, the signatory jurisdictions will promote coordination of transportation and land use planning to encourage compact development patterns, revitalization in existing communities and transportation strategies that minimize adverse effects on the Bay and its tributaries.
- By 2002, each state will coordinate its transportation policies and programs to reduce the dependence on automobiles by incorporating travel alternatives such as telework, pedestrian, bicycle and transit options, as appropriate, in the design of projects so as to increase the availability of alternative modes of travel as measured by increased use of those alternatives.
- Establish policies and incentives which encourage the use of clean vehicle technologies.
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INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
The Chesapeake Bay is dependent upon the actions of every citizen in the watershed, both today and in the future. We recognize that the cumulative benefit derived from community-based watershed programs is essential for continued progress toward a healthier Chesapeake Bay. Therefore, we commit ourselves to engage our citizens by promoting a broad conservation ethic throughout the fabric of community life, and foster within all citizens a deeper understanding of their roles as trustees of their own local environments. Through their actions, each individual can contribute to the health and well-being of their neighborhood streams, rivers and the land that surrounds them, not only as ecological stewards of the Bay but also as members of watershed-wide communities. By focusing individuals on local resources, we will advance Baywide restoration as well.
We recognize that the future of the Bay also depends on the actions of generations to follow. Therefore, we commit to provide opportunities for cooperative learning and action so that communities can promote local environmental quality for the benefit and enjoyment of residents and visitors. We will assist communities throughout the watershed in improving quality of life, thereby strengthening local economies and connecting individuals to the Bay through their shared sense of responsibility. We will seek to increase the financial and human resources available to localities to meet the challenges of restoring the Chesapeake Bay.
GOAL: PROMOTE INDIVIDUAL STEWARDSHIP AND ASSIST INDIVIDUALS, COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS, LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AND SCHOOLS TO UNDERTAKE INITIATIVES TO ACHIEVE THE GOALS AND COMMITMENTS OF THIS AGREEMENT.
Public Outreach and Education
- Make public outreach and citizen interaction a priority in order to achieve public awareness and personal involvement on behalf of the Bay and local watersheds.
- Use the latest communication
stechnologies to provide a comprehensive and interactive source of information on the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed for use by public and technical audiences.- Continue to forge a partnership with the Departments of Education in each jurisdiction to integrate core messages about the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed into school curricula.
- Provide students and teachers alike with opportunities to directly participate in local restoration and protection projects, and to recognize stewardship efforts in schools and on school property.
- By 2002, expand citizen outreach efforts to incorporate minority populations by highlighting their cultural and historical ties to the Bay. Emphasis will be placed on providing multi-lingual educational materials on stewardship activities and Bay information.
Community Engagement
- Jurisdictions will identify small watersheds where community-based actions are essential to meeting Bay restoration goals - in particular wetlands, forested buffers, stream corridors and public access and work with local governments and community organizations to bring the appropriate range of Bay Program resources to these communities.
- Seek to enhance funding for community-based programs that pursue restoration and protection projects that will assist in the achievement of the goals of this and past agreements.
- By 2001, develop and maintain a clearing house for information on local watershed restoration efforts, including financial and technical assistance.
- By 2002, each signatory jurisdiction will offer easily-accessible information suitable for analyzing environmental conditions at a small watershed scale.
- By 2002, complete a reevaluation of the Local Government Participation Action Plan and make necessary changes in Bay Program and jurisdictional functions based upon the reevaluation.
- Improve methods of communications with and among local governments on Bay issues and provide adequate opportunities for discussion of key issues.
Government by Example
- Ensure that all properties owned, managed or leased by the signatories are developed and used in a manner consistent with all relevant goals, commitments and guidance of this Agreement.
- Ensure that the development, redevelopment, lease and use of signatory jurisdictional properties and structures are consistent with this Agreement's goals.
- Ensure that the design and construction of signatory-funded development and redevelopment projects are consistent with all relevant goals, commitments and guidance of this Agreement.
- Expand the use of clean vehicle technologies and fuels on the basis of emission reductions, so that a significantly greater percentage of each signatory government's fleet of vehicles use some form of clean technology.
- Build partnerships with Delaware, New York and West Virginia by promoting communication and by seeking agreements on issues of mutual concern.
BY THIS AGREEMENT, we rededicate ourselves to the restoration and protection of the ecological integrity, productivity and beneficial uses of the Chesapeake Bay system. We reaffirm our commitment to previously-adopted Chesapeake Bay Agreements and their supporting policies. We agree to report annually to the citizens on the state of the Bay and consider any additional actions necessary.
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(Date)
FOR THE CHESAPEAKE BAY COMMISSION _________________________________________
FOR THE STATE OF MARYLAND _________________________________________
FOR THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA _________________________________________
FOR THE COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA _________________________________________
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA _________________________________________
FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA _________________________________________
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