Pugh Calls on Pennsylvania to Immediately Halt, Review Chesapeake Stormwater Mandates Following Federal Action

September 17, 2026

HARRISBURG - Following the federal government's action to rescind Executive Order 13508, Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration, Rep. Brenda Pugh (R-Luzerne) today called on the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Shapiro administration to immediately halt and review Chesapeake Bay-related stormwater mandates.

"Washington has changed course, and Harrisburg needs to respond immediately," Pugh said. "Pennsylvania should not continue enforcing Chesapeake-specific mandates simply because government has become accustomed to passing the cost down to our municipalities and property owners."

The federal Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) program existed before the 2009 executive order. However, the years following Executive Order 13508 brought a significant expansion of Chesapeake Bay-specific pollution-reduction policies and compliance requirements.

In 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency established the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), setting pollution limits for nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment. Pennsylvania subsequently developed Watershed Implementation Plans to meet those targets, and Chesapeake Bay pollutant-reduction requirements were incorporated into Pennsylvania's MS4 permitting and compliance process.

Over time, municipalities were required to develop pollutant-reduction plans, calculate pollutant loads, identify projects and best management practices, and meet specific reduction targets, which created substantial engineering, construction, reporting, and compliance costs. For municipalities and property owners in Luzerne County, those costs have contributed to stormwater charges commonly referred to by residents as the "rain tax."
In Pennsylvania, DEP administers the state's MS4 permitting and compliance program under the federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) framework. While portions of the program remain independently required under federal and state environmental law, Pennsylvania's Chesapeake Bay compliance structure was significantly expanded after 2009 through the Chesapeake Bay TMDL, Watershed Implementation Plans, subsequent EPA Chesapeake Bay policies, and Chesapeake-specific pollutant-reduction requirements incorporated into the MS4 program.

Pugh said Pennsylvania now has an obligation to separate what remains legally required from requirements that were imposed or expanded as part of the Chesapeake Bay strategy that followed Executive Order 13508.

"DEP cannot simply treat every requirement developed during the last 17 years as untouchable," Pugh said. "The federal policy has changed. Pennsylvania must now identify what the law requires, what was added to satisfy Chesapeake Bay policy and pollution-reduction goals and what Pennsylvania has the authority to change or eliminate.

"The question is not whether every MS4 requirement disappears because an executive order was rescinded. It does not. The question is which additional mandates, pollution-reduction requirements and costs were layered onto municipalities under the Chesapeake Bay strategy that followed that order, and whether Pennsylvania should continue imposing them now that the federal government has changed course."

Pugh also said Pennsylvania should use actual water-quality monitoring to determine whether the modeling and assumptions underlying costly Chesapeake Bay requirements accurately reflect conditions in Pennsylvania waterways.

Since 2019, York County has worked with the U.S. Geological Survey to conduct extensive in-stream monitoring in six major watersheds. The program measures actual nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended sediment concentrations and loads, providing real-world data that can be compared with the modeled estimates used in Chesapeake Bay planning.

"That kind of work is exactly what government should be doing," Pugh said. "Before we require municipalities and property owners to spend millions of dollars, we should compare the computer models against what we are measuring in the water.

"If the model says one thing and actual water samples say another, we should follow the science and the actual measurements. Taxpayers should not be charged based on an assumption when we can test the water and determine what is there."

Pugh said Pennsylvania should expand direct water-quality monitoring, validate the assumptions and pollutant loads used to establish compliance requirements and make future decisions based on the best available science.

"Test the water," Pugh said. "Establish the actual conditions. Compare those results with the models. Then make decisions based on the best available science."

Pugh also questioned the fairness of requiring certain Pennsylvania communities to shoulder the cost of Chesapeake Bay compliance measures when the resulting environmental benefits extend beyond those municipal boundaries.

"You cannot call something a statewide environmental priority and then send the bill only to selected communities," Pugh said. "If Pennsylvania decides these projects are necessary for the public good, then Pennsylvania should help pay for them. Our municipalities and residents should not be singled out to finance a benefit that extends far beyond their municipal boundaries."

Pugh is calling on DEP to conduct a comprehensive review of Pennsylvania's MS4 requirements, including those arising from the 2010 Chesapeake Bay TMDL, Watershed Implementation Plans, Chesapeake Bay Pollutant Reduction Plans, EPA Chesapeake Bay policies, and later MS4 permit requirements involving pollutant-load calculations and reduction obligations.

The review should determine which requirements existed independently of Executive Order 13508 and remain required under federal or state law; which were added or expanded as part of the Chesapeake Bay strategy; which remain independently enforceable; and whether the pollution estimates and reduction targets being used to justify compliance costs are supported by actual monitoring data.

Pugh is also calling for DEP to review the York County-USGS monitoring program, expand direct monitoring where appropriate, prevent additional unfunded compliance costs while requirements are under review, and work with the General Assembly to eliminate unnecessary state mandates and properly fund requirements Pennsylvania determines should remain.

Pugh has introduced legislation addressing the financial burden caused by MS4 mandates and has consistently argued that when state or federal governments require municipalities to undertake costly stormwater projects, the government imposing the mandate should provide the funding.

"Clean water matters. Protecting our streams matters," Pugh said. "But environmental protection does not justify an endless unfunded mandate. When federal policy changes, when we have years of actual water-quality data available, and when families are being charged hundreds of dollars because of where they happen to live, government has an obligation to stop and determine what is necessary.

"This is particularly important to the residents of the 120th Legislative District and communities across Luzerne County. Our residents have been forced to shoulder enormous costs associated with mandates they never voted for and had virtually no control over.

"Residents in Luzerne County should not continue paying a rain tax based on today's federal policy without Pennsylvania first determining what the law actually requires," she continued. "Washington changed the policy. Harrisburg now has a responsibility to separate what is legally required from what was added through years of Chesapeake Bay policy and regulation.

"Follow the actual science. Test the water. Show us the results. Identify what the law actually requires. And stop forcing Pennsylvania families to pay for mandates that no longer have sufficient legal or policy justification.

Lastly, Pugh concludes, "I want to personally thank Congressman Rob Bresnahan for the significant work he has put into this issue and for continuing to advocate for the families, businesses, and municipalities of the 120th Legislative District. "I also want to thank U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin for making the well-being of our residents a priority. Congressman Bresnahan has worked to make sure Washington understands what these mandates are actually costing the people and communities we represent."

Representative Brenda Pugh
120th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Melissa Fox
717.260.6522
[email protected]
RepPugh.com / Facebook.com/RepBrendaPugh