ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- Maryland's plan for restoring the Chesapeake Bay is now available for public comment.

The state presented the plan to the Environmental Protection Agency last month as part of a new federally led effort to restore the bay. The EPA asked all six states in the bay watershed to present their plans for complying with its so-called "pollution diet" for restoring the nation's largest estuary.

The Maryland Department of the Environment is also holding public meetings statewide during the public comment period, which ends March 9.

Public meetings will be held in Chestertown, College Park, Hagerstown, Baltimore County and Baltimore.

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