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ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Leaders from five states whose rivers feed into the Chesapeake Bay convened Monday to address the region’s lagging efforts to curb pollution in the nation’s largest estuary.
The Chesapeake Bay Program’s current 10-year plan to reduce key pollutants by 2025 has fallen significantly short of its goals, prompting calls for a revised strategy.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore hosted the meeting of the Chesapeake Executive Council, which included Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who participated remotely due to weather-related travel issues.
Together, these states bear responsibility for the majority of pollution flowing into the bay from its vast 64,000-square-mile watershed, fed by 150 rivers.
“It is a shared responsibility, and the reason we’ve been able to make the progress we’ve been able to …