Get Serious About the Bay

WITH A FEDERALLY mandated deadline hanging over their heads, Virginia environmental officials have presented lawmakers with a jaw-dropping price tag for the state's share of cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay: $10 billion. In fact, that figure includes far more than anyone is talking realistically -- or cost-effectively -- about doing anytime soon. But even when you strip the bay cleanup down to its essentials, it faces long odds in a state legislature dominated by Republicans loath to contemplate new dedicated sources of funding.

First, the numbers: The scary $10 billion figure is inflated by including the estimated cost of rebuilding city and suburban stormwater infrastructure, a wildly expensive endeavor that experts consider a secondary priority for cleaning up the bay. Far more efficient, and relatively affordable, are measures to curb pollutants from sewage treatment plants and the runoff from agricultural land. And whatever the ultimate cost, it would be borne not only by the state but also by the federal and local governments, as well as developers.

Still, even if $2 billion to $3 billion is closer to the amount Virginia will need to join forces with Maryland and Pennsylvania to repair and revive the bay, it is hard to see the state mustering the political will to do so in the current political climate. The words "environment," let alone "Chesapeake Bay," don't appear on the campaign Web site of the likely Republican nominee and current front-runner for governor, former attorney general Jerry W. Kilgore. The Democratic candidate, Lt. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, does address the problem but is vague about how to pay for fixing it. Meanwhile, a proposal that would follow Maryland's lead by imposing a small ($5) monthly "flush tax" on households using toilets was so unpopular in Richmond this year that no legislator bothered introducing it as a bill in the General Assembly. To the extent that any lawmakers are talking about new taxes or fees -- and most aren't -- it is to address the state's badly neglected road system and other transportation needs.

The reality is that Virginia has little choice but to get serious about cleaning up the bay. The Environmental Protection Agency has told the commonwealth that it must meet certain goals for reducing the flow of nutrients into the bay by 2010 or face unspecified action, a threat some officials say could mean sticking Virginia with an even larger bill later than it would face now.

Some Republican lawmakers, including Del. Vincent F. Callahan Jr. (R-Fairfax), have recognized the gravity of the problem; Mr. Callahan leads a panel of legislative heavyweights looking into funding options. In the state legislature's session this year, lawmakers pledged an extra $50 million annually for the bay for the next decade, taken from the state's general fund. But that amount is subject to annual appropriations, and to competition from other priorities, including transportation. What the bay needs, as Mr. Callahan has said, is a dedicated and secure source of funding. Better to deal with it sooner rather than later.