Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 2 · column 1 of 4 · from the scan, no model involved
From Staff and Wire Reports
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency has approved a plan by Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, the nation’s largest estuary.
Halting the bay’s decline and restoring its living resources will cost millions of dollars, said EPA administrator Lee M. Thomas.
“This is the culmination of long years of effort and the beginning of long years of effort. It won’t be an overnight success,” Mr. Thomas said Friday at a news conference.
The bay, fed by 150 rivers, creeks and streams, drains a 64,000-square mile watershed. Its fish, shellfish and waterfowl habitat have been a major economic resource since prehistoric times.
But heavy human settlement and industrialization have poured tons of pollutants into the bay, ranging from farm pesticides and human sewage to toxic chemicals from factories.
The “Chesapeake Bay Restoration and Protection Plan” incorporates the plans of the four jurisdictions and “renews a federal commitment that some people thought might be disappearing,” said Lou Panos, press secretary of Maryland Gov. Harry Hughes.
The plan provides specific objectives for each of the states, the District of Columbia, and the federal government, often specifying how much should be spent each year on projects.
Stemming the decline will be difficult and restoration will be difficult, the report warned. “Nevertheless,” it concluded, “it is very likely that we can restore the Chesapeake Bay to the conditions that existed in midcentury.”
Hughes and Virginia Gov. Charles Robb took a three-state helicopter tour Friday to publicize the cleanup.
88.6%