"Baltimore, Other Big Cities Back EPA in Bay Cleanup Dispute"

"Baltimore has joined with other major U.S. cities in defending the federal government's authority to impose a "pollution diet" on the Chesapeake Bay.

New York City, with sign-ons from Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and San Francisco, filed a "friend-of-the-court" brief Monday in federal appeals court in a case challenging the Environmental Protection Agency's imposition of bay cleanup goals on Maryland and the other five states in the Chesapeake watershed.

Agriculture and building industry groups are appealing a lower court's ruling last year upholding EPA's actions in seeking to restore the bay. They argue the agency has exceeded its legal authority in trying to make states curb farm and development runoff."

Tim Wheeler reports for the Baltimore Sun April 22, 2014.