Trump administration repeals order coordinating Chesapeake Bay cleanup and restoration
The Trump administration has repealed an executive order that sought to coordinate the efforts of federal, state and local governments to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay.
President Trump issued an executive order Wednesday to repeal a previous executive order that was established under the Obama administration back on May 12, 2009.
The original measure, known as Executive Order 13508, was designed to improve protection and restoration efforts for the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States.
According to a statement announcing the repeal, Executive Order 13508 "instituted a broad mandate for states and municipalities to contribute to improving the environmental health of the Chesapeake Bay, without providing clarity on how to implement that order's requirements."
In some instances, "this lack of clarity has led to harmful economic impacts on affected Americans," the statement added.
One example cited by the Trump administration is that the original order resulted in many localities having to implement stormwater management fees, commonly referred to as "rain taxes."
These fees sometimes reached hundreds of dollars in annual financial burdens imposed on residents and small businesses, even though nothing in the order required or explicitly justified such measures, the administration said, "with little to no measurable benefits to Chesapeake Bay or to those residents."
Administration says other programs have improved Chesapeake
Since Executive Order 13508 was signed, numerous other federal, state and local government initiatives and programs have resulted in significant improvements in the Chesapeake Bay, the administration noted.
Examples cited of this progress involved multiple jurisdictions of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, which includes New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia, Delaware and West Virginia. These areas have collectively met 100% of their goal for sediment reduction, 90% of their goal for phosphorus reduction, and 57% of their goal for nitrogen reduction, according to Wednesday's statement.
These results are improving Chesapeake Bay health and have resulted "in thousands of acres of restored reefs and remain consistent with commitments made in the 2025 revised Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement," the administration said.
It was also noted that in 2026, scientists from the College of William & Mary, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, FlowWest and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science reported that the Chesapeake Bay's annual dead zone was projected to be among the smallest since 1985, or about 31% below the long-term average.
"Given this significant progress, and the need to provide clarity on how to continue improving the environmental health of the Chesapeake Bay, it is appropriate to revoke Executive Order 13508, which relevant jurisdictions have erroneously relied on to impose rain taxes, and to implement new actions and best practices that promote the economic health and wellbeing of the communities the Chesapeake Bay serves," the statement said.
Chesapeake Bay Foundation disappointed in new order
In response to the latest executive order, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation said the move "is jeopardizing decades of Bay restoration progress."
"For more than 40 years, the federal government has worked in partnership with the states across the watershed to reduce pollution to the Chesapeake Bay. That partnership was strengthened in 2009 when EO 13508 established a new framework for federal leadership, coordination, and accountability. Water does not respect state or political boundaries. What happens upstream affects people downstream," the foundation added.
The statement noted that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently recorded significant progress toward reducing pollution and restoring the Chesapeake Bay, however the new executive order "dismantles a key part of the federal-state framework that helped drive that progress."
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore also issued a statement condemning the move, as did Annapolis Mayor Jared Littmann.
"Trump's decision to slash federal support for the Chesapeake Bay is yet another attack against Maryland — this time on our farmers, fishers, and millions of people who rely on the watershed to filter their drinking water. The Bay is our jewel moving Maryland's economy forward, and we will protect it at all costs," Moore said on social media.
"Today we learned that environmental policies put in place 15 years ago to protect the Chesapeake Bay were revoked by the Trump Administration. The environmental health of the Chesapeake Bay, and local tributaries that feed the Bay, is not open for debate; it is not a policy preference that can be dialed back by Executive Order," said Littmann. "For Annapolis, protecting our waterways is a core duty to our residents, the local economy, and the future that we hand to the next generation."
