Michael A. Millemann is a law professor who has overseen numerous environmental initiatives at the University of Maryland related to the Chesapeake Bay. Due to bipartisan efforts and funding since the 1970s to enact laws like the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act, the Chesapeake Bay's water quality and ecological recovery has improved. However, the Trump administration's rollbacks of regulations like the Clean Power Plan and fuel economy standards threaten to increase air pollution reaching the Bay, including from vehicle emissions and power plants, which could undermine the Bay's environmental recovery.

1. EPA Rollbacks Threaten
Chesapeake Bay’s Environmental
Recovery
By: Michael A. Millemann

2. EPA Rollbacks Threaten Chesapeake Bay’s
Environmental Recovery
A law professor with the University of Maryland, Michael A. Millemann is a respected presence in the
development of legal services programs. Over the decades, Michael A. Millemann has overseen the
creation of numerous campus initiatives. In the mid-1990s he initiated an interdisciplinary
Environmental Law Program in tandem with the Maryland governor’s office and the University of
Maryland’s Center for Environmental and Estuarine Studies.

3. EPA Rollbacks Threaten Chesapeake Bay’s
Environmental Recovery
As reported in the Washington Post, the work of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and other
organizations has had a profound impact in carrying out the mandate of The Clean Water Act of 1972
in decreasing industrial pollution in the nation’s largest estuary. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan
was integral in the push for special funding to initiate a coordinated Chesapeake Bay cleanup. As a
result of long term bipartisan Congressional support for this initiative, the estuary has recovered much
of its ecological integrity, with one vital benchmark being the quality of its water.

4. EPA Rollbacks Threaten Chesapeake Bay’s
Environmental Recovery
Unfortunately, the Trump administration’s ongoing deregulatory efforts include initiatives to replace the
Clean Power Plan. Currently held up in litigation preventing implementation, it promises to limit the
carbon pollutants from power plants. In addition, tailpipe emissions regulations set out by Corporate
Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards are being weakened.

5. EPA Rollbacks Threaten Chesapeake Bay’s
Environmental Recovery
These broad efforts will have serious impacts on the Chesapeake Bay, as the vast majority of airborne
nitrogen that reaches the estuary in the form of acid rain comes from vehicles and industrial sources
such as power plants. This issue is not geographically contained, as clouds of pollution often travel
hundreds of miles from their source.

6. EPA Rollbacks Threaten Chesapeake Bay’s
Environmental Recovery
With Clean Air Act amendments a major reason for basic safeguards such as the required
installation of pollution-control systems from coal-fired power plants, many are concerned that the
Environmental Protection Agency rollback could have a major negative impact on the health of the
region.