The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) published a fact sheet explaining how local governments can subject federal facilities to their stormwater management fees. The fact sheet briefly covers the history of stormwater fees in Maryland and adjoining states and then analyzes the federal Clean Water Act and the holding of a 2012 federal District Court case, U.S. v. City of Renton. The fact sheet concludes:
CBF urges counties and municipalities to review assessments of stormwater fees on federal facilities in light of this important court case and the federal law’s legislative history. Both indicate that, under the federal Clean Water Act, local jurisdictions across the Bay watershed that have local stormwater fee systems may charge the same reasonable fees to federal agencies with facilities within their jurisdictions as to nongovernmental entities there, and federal agencies are obligated to pay such fees in the same manner and to the same extent as nongovernmental entities. Such fair share contributions can be very helpful in assisting local governments pay for local polluted runoff abatement programs.