Chesapeake Bay Program Partnership's Principal's Staff Committee Approved on January 24, 2020 Recommendation regarding the development of numeric 2-year milestones under the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership Accountability Framework EPA conducts annual progress and verification assessments based on the jurisdictions' submission of BMP implementation and wastewater data. This information represents the BMPs and control technologies that are tracked, verified, and reported as implemented each year. EPA reviews all BMP data that are submitted and provides these assessments1 to the jurisdictions annually. In addition to these annual progress and verification assessments, EPA conducts biennial evaluations of the jurisdictions' 2-year milestones. Jurisdictions and federal agencies will be held accountable to their 2-year estimated numeric load reductions through a biennial evaluation of progress compared to the straight-line trajectory of necessary reductions to the 2025 Phase III planning targets or federal agency planning goals. EPA will provide the jurisdictions and federal agencies with the straight-line trajectory projection (including sector growth projections) at the beginning of each 2-year milestone period. Alternatively, jurisdictions and federal agencies could develop a non-straight-line trajectory to 2025, which would then be used in the biennial evaluation of progress. See Figure 7-1 (below) of the TMDL document. Jurisdictions and federal agencies will have two alternatives for the development of numeric 2-year water quality milestones: 1. Develop a Chesapeake Assessment Scenario Tool or "CAST" scenario based on planned BMP implementation over the two year period. 2. Develop 2-year projections for BMP implementation guided by EPA's evaluations of Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan (WIPs), milestones and annual progress, milestone period jurisdictional initiatives and other lines of evidence (E.g., potential for co-benefits, cost effectiveness, monitoring data, jurisdictional priorities, stakeholder input, etc.). In its evaluation of the Phase III WIPs, EPA identified concerns with jurisdictions that have significant gaps in meeting their planning targets or have committed to high rates of BMP implementation in their WIPs. When choosing this option, jurisdictions and federal agencies should develop specific and detailed numeric BMP implementation targets as part of their programmatic milestones for those BMPs that are key to achieving the 2025 Phase III planning targets or federal agency planning goals. Additional measurable metrics like dollars committed and number of staff hired could also be included. The partnership's expectation that jurisdictions and federal agencies develop programmatic milestones will remain. 1 Sector-scale numeric progress information will continue to be made available by the CBP partnership through established accounting metrics (e.g., annual progress evaluation) and may be used by EPA as another measure of progress toward the 2025 goals. ------- Chesapeake Bay Program Partnership's Principal's Staff Committee Approved on January 24, 2020 Basinwide Interim Target Load Assumes Upfront Program-Building and Future Reductions Assumes Constant Reduction Over Time Assumes Upfront Low-Hanging Fruit and More Difficult Future Reductions Source: USEPA 2009c Figure 7-1. Relationship between WIPs and 2-year milestones. ------- ------- |