The Battle for the Chesapeake Bay: Communications Confusion Between Stakeholders

Abstract

In 2010, President Obama issued a Total Maximum Daily Load requirement for the states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. A TMDL sets a limit on how much of a particular substance can be released into a water body. My thesis examined how this new requirement was communicated by the EPA to the states, and how different stakeholders responded to the change. In general, a communications breakdown occurs between local farmers and Washington bureaucrats, who typically do not have the same concerns or ways of thinking about the environment. I found that the greatest successes occurred when the EPA worked with farmers to create change, rather than telling them what to do, and tried to accommodate a more spiritual way of thinking about the Bay rather than simply pushing a set agenda.