Navy vow to aid Chesapeake Bay cleanup

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Military leaders pledged Wednesday to do their part in using more hybrid vehicles and reduce polluting runoff from big bases near the Chesapeake Bay, vowing to lead by example on a federally mandated cleanup of the waterway.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, and Gov. Martin O'Malley joined commanders of Bay area bases at the Naval Academy on Wednesday to brainstorm on a call for federal government entities to play a prominent role in the cleanup.

President Barack Obama issued a sweeping executive order last year mandating a restoration strategy that calls for cutting nitrogen, phosphorus and other runoff contaminants that spur the growth of oxygen-robbing algae blooms.

The strategy also orders the federal government to lead by example and the military as a major area landowner is tasked to do its part.

Military commanders discussed wide-ranging ideas Wednesday from increasing the use of electric and hybrid vehicles to implementing ways big base parking lots can be changed to avoid stormwater runoff that sweeps pollutants into the watershed.

"And as you know, parking lots abound on military bases," Mabus said.

The federal government owns 5.3 percent of the land in the six-state bay watershed, making it the second largest landowner in the watershed behind the state of Pennsylvania. The Department of Defense, which has 68 installations in the watershed, owns about 16 percent of that land, according to a November DOD report.

"What we do on each of them matters and makes a difference," Mabus told the commanders.

Obama's strategy also calls for reducing the sediments that run off from construction sites, farms and other developed areas and bury bay grasses.

New porous paving materials, for example, would allow stormwater to filter into the ground where pollutants could gradually break down instead of flushing directly into the waterways, Mabus said.

Rain gardens around buildings and parking areas also could help trap stormwater runoff. The military also is looking at reducing shoreline erosion, improving sewage systems and building greener buildings.

When asked why the environment should be a priority for the military, whose mission is to defend the country, the Navy secretary noted it is a large consumer of foreign fuel.

"We buy too many fossil fuels and we buy them from potentially volatile places," Mabus said. He also added that climate change has profound implications for stability around the world.

O'Malley gave the gathering a presentation of the BayStat computerized database that's being used to track restoration efforts.

"We've got our work cut out for us but fortunately for us we've never had better science; we've never had better technology," O'Malley said.

Jackson said the EPA was working aggressively to implement stringent new stormwater standards requiring 95 of all stormwater to be contained on site.

Jackson also announced a new Green Streets-Green Jobs initiative for the Anacostia River watershed in Washington and suburban Maryland. Local governments and non-governmental agencies are being offered $250,000 in grants to help create green streets that reduce stormwater runoff.

The initiative is modeled on a beautification project in Edmonston, a Prince George's County town near the Anacostia, that has been designed to cut pollution and also encourage walking, bicycling and other recreation.