More than forty years ago, the Environmental Protection Agency along with Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the District of Columbia signed the first Chesapeake Bay Agreement – a simple one-page document acknowledging the decline of living resources in the nation’s largest estuary, and a shared responsibility to do something about it.  This document established the Chesapeake Bay Program, a state-federal partnership tasked with tackling clean-up.  Since then, efforts to clean up the Bay have centered largely on a simple premise: reduce pollution, restore the Chesapeake.  But after decades of work and billions of dollars spent, one fact has become painfully clear – the path to progress will be a lot more difficult than most initially thought, especially as population growth and climate change complicate the equation.

So far, we have set and missed two restoration deadlines.  A third fast approaches in 2025.  And once again, we will fail to meet goals ranging from water quality to tree cover to the diversity of voices in the clean-up conversation.  What's more, a recent report has called both our current course – and expectations about restoration – into question. 

Why has progress been slower than expected? What new approaches and technologies are needed for better results? What does a healthier Bay of tomorrow look like? And how do we course correct? Join Maryland Public Television host Frank Sesno* and some of the world's foremost experts on the Chesapeake Bay in a provocative forum as they explore and dissect these complex questions in front of a studio audience.

The Chesapeake Bay Summit provides a deep dive into the ongoing serious issues facing the health of the Chesapeake Bay, North America’s largest and most-studied estuary.

*Frank Sesno is a former CNN correspondent, anchor and Washington bureau chief. He spent 11 years as Director of Media and  Public Affairs at the George Washington University and is currently Executive Director of the George Washington University Alliance for a Sustainable Future and Founding Director of Planet Forward.

How are we doing on the 2025 goals?

Chesapeake Bay cleanup faces difficult trade-offs with agriculture | Policy & Politics  (bayjournal.com)

The heat is on: Warming water threatens aquatic life in Chesapeake Bay region | Climate Change  (bayjournal.com)

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