Several supporters this week filed friend-of-the-court briefs, joining the American Farm Bureau Federation in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear arguments on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Chesapeake Bay water quality “blueprint.” Filers included 92 members of Congress, 22 states, forestry groups represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Federation of Independent Business. AFBF President Bob Stallman said “we have faith that the nation’s highest court will see this for what it is and hold EPA accountable to stay within its statutory authority.”
Despite aggressive new commitments and water quality achievements by the six states in the Bay watershed in the mid-2000s, the EPA asserted federal control over the Chesapeake Bay recovery in its 2010 “blueprint.” The new federal plan, according to Farm Bureau, effectively gives EPA the ability to function as a super zoning authority over local and state governments—dictating where homes can be built, where land can be farmed, and where commercial development can occur.