Thread: Trump Revokes 2009 EO for Protecting & Restoring Chesapeake Bay

Trump revokes 2009 executive order geared towards protecting and restoring the Chesapeake Bay

https://www.wavy.com/news/local-news...hesapeake-bay/

by: Cheyenne Pagan
Posted: Sep 18, 2026 / 02:56 AM EDT
Updated: Sep 18, 2026 / 02:56 AM EDT

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) – President Donald Trump recently revoked a nearly 20-year-old executive order that was geared towards at restoring and protecting the Chesapeake Bay.

Seventeen years ago, then-President Barack Obama signed the Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration executive order.

Trump signed a new executive order on Wednesday revoking this prior order, stating it was a broad mandate that jurisdictions could use to improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay, but didn’t provide clarity on how to do it.

Now, Trump’s order is calling on federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, to focus on supporting water quality improvements in the highest areas of need across the Chesapeake Bay.

“The Trump administration has repeatedly and unsuccessfully tried to slash funding for Chesapeake Bay restoration,” said Hilary Harp Falk, president and CEO of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. “Now they are trying to destroy key pillars of Bay restoration by executive order.”

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is sounding the alarm on the recent move, stating that the 2009 order directed Bay restoration, science-based strategies to clean up the Bay and strengthened federal leadership across the watershed.

Now, the nonprofit worries Trump’s new order is putting decades of Bay restoration in jeopardy.

“We’re most concerned about the loss of federal leadership, accountability and cross-agency coordination that were flagships of the original executive order,” Falk said. “Also, it seems that the new executive order unfairly focuses on stormwater fees.”

The nonprofit says that stormwater is one of the fastest growing pollution sources to local rivers and streams, and localities are addressing it with stormwater management fees, or so-called “rain taxes.”

Trump’s order states the 2009 order allowed jurisdictions to implement these fees that they say raise costs for American households.

In Virginia Beach, property owners pay around $15 dollars per month.

“When you think about nuisance flooding, or as we’re having increased rainstorms, it is the very fees that are allowing communities to build resilience in the face of those challenges,” said Alison Hooper Prost, senior vice president for programs at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. “The [new] executive order does pinpoint them as a negative, but [stormwater fees] are showing results, and it’s a time that we need more resources for these communities and not less.”

Multiple lawmakers have reacted to the new executive order.

Read their statements below:

"Yesterday, President Trump revoked an executive order by President Obama that directed federal agencies to support the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay. The federal government has a responsibility to be a partner in protecting and restoring the Bay, and walking away from that responsibility jeopardizes the hard-fought progress we have made. President Trump is making it more difficult for us to meet the goals outlined in the bipartisan 2025 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement and to secure a healthier bay for the millions of people who live throughout the watershed. As co-chairs of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Task Force, we urge President Trump to immediately reverse course and reinstate the executive order. We cannot afford to turn back the clock on decades of bipartisan work to restore this national treasure."
— Reps. Bobby Scott (D-Va.-03) and Sarah Elfreth (D-Md.), co-chairs of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Task Force

As a member of the House Committee on Natural Resources and the representative of a coastal district, I understand the importance of protecting the environmental assets that define our communities, including the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Yesterday’s Executive Order eliminates outdated, vague regulations that have allowed local officials to hinder economic development. Virginians need to know that with commonsense, responsible reforms, they don’t have to choose between environmental stewardship and economic prosperity. While I appreciate the administration shifting its focus to measurable solutions that build on decade-long cleanup efforts, I will be closely monitoring the next steps and working with EPA Administrator Zeldin to ensure any action taken is done with the economic and recreational opportunities the Bay provides and the complex Bay ecosystem in mind.

"The Chesapeake Bay is a natural treasure and environmental lifeline for families, visitors, and native species to the Commonwealth of Virginia and Maryland, and it must be preserved for future generations. I look forward to continuing work with the Environmental Protection Agency, our state and local partners, and communities to direct resources where they can have the greatest impact, advance our nation’s economic goals while safeguarding the natural resources that are so important to Coastal Virginia,”
— Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.-02)