A February 9 Virginia  Daily Press article discusses a recent decision by the Virginia House of Delegates to kill a proposal for bond funding to help the State meet its nutrient reduction goals under the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL).  The decision will require local governments to find ways to raises the revenues for sewer upgrades.

Virginia lawmakers declined to back a $300 million bond package that would fund wastewater treatment plant improvements in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.  …

The decision is a setback for environment groups, localities, sewer authorities and others that want to use bonds to help pay for upgrades that would reduce nitrogen and phosphorus discharges in the bay and its tributaries.

Ann Jennings, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s executive director in Virginia, said by not issuing the bond the state is essentially putting the onus on local governments to raise hundreds of millions of dollars.