The latest iteration of the Chesapeake Bay Agreement was signed in June 2014 by the Governors of Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, the Mayor of Washington, D.C., the Chair of the Chesapeake Bay Commission and the Administrator of the EPA. This agreement guides the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay, the nation's largest estuary.
The agreement contains ten goals and twenty-nine measurable, time-bound outcomes that will help create a healthy watershed that protects both Pennsylvania Waters and the Chesapeake Bay. The outcomes will lower nutrient and sediment pollution; help ensure our waters are free of toxic contaminants; sustain fisheries, blue crabs, oysters and forage fish; restore wetlands, underwater grass beds and other habitats; conserve farmland and forests; boost public access to and education about the Bay and its tributaries; and increase the climate resiliency of the watershed's resources, habitats and communities.
This is the fourth agreement over the program's 30-year history. The first Chesapeake Bay Agreement was signed in 1983 by Governor Thornburgh. Governor Casey signed the second agreement in 1987, and Governor Ridge signed the third agreement in 2000.