33 U.S.C. § 1267 — Chesapeake Bay

(a) Definitions. “Administrative cost” means salaries and fringe benefits for administering a grant under this section. “Chesapeake Bay Agreement” means the formal voluntary agreements, signed by the Chesapeake Executive Council, to restore and protect the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem and its living resources. “Chesapeake Bay ecosystem” means the Chesapeake Bay and watershed ecosystem. “Chesapeake Bay Program” means the program directed by the Council under the Agreement. “Chesapeake Executive Council” means the Agreement’s signatories. “Signatory jurisdiction” means a jurisdiction of an Agreement signatory. (b) The Administrator, as a Council member and in cooperation with it, must continue the Chesapeake Bay Program. The Administrator must maintain a Program Office in EPA. The Office must support the Council by coordinating science, research, modeling, support, monitoring, data collection, and related activities; providing information about ecosystem environmental quality and living resources; helping Federal, State, and local authorities develop and carry out signatories’ action plans; coordinating EPA with other agencies and governments to improve Bay water quality and living resources and obtain support for Agreement goals; and conducting public information, education, and participation programs that promote stewardship. (c) The Administrator may make interagency agreements with Federal agencies. (d) With the Council, the Administrator may provide technical assistance and grants to nonprofits, State and local governments, colleges, universities, and interstate agencies under appropriate terms. The Administrator sets the Federal share under guidance, except small-watershed implementing grants may cover no more than 75 percent of eligible costs. Non-Federal sources must pay the remainder. Administrative costs may not exceed 10 percent of the yearly award. (e) If a signatory jurisdiction has approved and committed to substantially all of the Agreement, the Administrator, on its chief executive’s request, must grant funds to implement its management mechanisms and may grant funds for ecosystem monitoring. The jurisdiction applies with a comprehensive yearly proposal describing committed actions and their time period, such as pollution reduction or water-quality standards, and estimated yearly costs. The Administrator may approve a proposal consistent with the Agreement and section 1251(a) national goals. The Federal share is no more than 50 percent; non-Federal sources pay the rest; administrative costs are capped at 10 percent. By October 1 each fiscal year, the Administrator must publicly provide a detailed list and description of funded projects and activities, prior-year goals and objectives, and prior-year net benefits. (f) A Federal agency owning or operating an Administrator-defined facility in the watershed must join regional and subwatershed planning and restoration. The head of each agency owning or occupying watershed real property must ensure the property and agency actions comply with the Agreement, the Federal Agencies Chesapeake Ecosystem Unified Plan, and later agreements and plans. Agencies with related projects or grants must report to the President with their annual budget submissions on planned spending and disclose the report to the Council as appropriate. (g) The Administrator and other Council members must ensure signatories develop and begin management plans to achieve nutrient goals for nitrogen and phosphorus, water quality needed to restore living resources, the toxins strategy goal of no toxic or bioaccumulative impact on living resources or human health, habitat goals for wetlands, riparian forests, and other Bay habitat, and living-resource restoration and protection goals. The Administrator and Council must establish a small-watershed grant program and offer assistance to governments, nonprofits, and individuals for cooperative tributary strategies and local watershed habitat protection and restoration that complement them. (h) By April 22, 2003, and every five years thereafter, the Administrator and Council must complete a study and send Congress a comprehensive report assessing ecosystem condition; comparing it with 1975, 1985, and 1995; assessing the effectiveness of strategies in place on November 7, 2000 and whether priority needs are met; recommending stronger or new strategies; and presenting the report in a form usable by other watershed programs. (i) Within 180 days after November 7, 2000, the Administrator must begin a five-year study with full Chesapeake scientific-community participation on living-resource responses to water-quality improvements funded through the Program. It must determine current status and trends of grasses, benthos, phytoplankton, zooplankton, fish, and shellfish; estimate recovery rates where practicable; assess species interactions, especially changes within and between trophic levels; and recommend management actions for a healthy, balanced ecosystem. The Administrator must survey Bay seagrasses annually. (j) Congress may appropriate $90,000,000 for fiscal year 2021; $90,500,000 for 2022; $91,000,000 for 2023; $91,500,000 for 2024; $92,000,000 for 2025; and $92,000,000 for each year 2026 through 2030.