Groups to sue U.S. over bay

EPA accused of ignoring obligation to Chesapeake

EPA officials have said they share others' frustration with the lack of progress restoring the bay, but they stressed that they favor cooperative efforts to reduce pollution over "legal confrontation."

"EPA wants a cleaner and healthier bay and is committed to holding polluters accountable and to working with our partners to speed up the cleanup," Benjamin H. Grumbles, the EPA's assistant administrator for water, said in a written statement yesterday. Grumbles said he hoped the lawsuit doesn't "divert energy" away from the cleanup to the courtroom.

An environmental law expert called the bay foundation's action "a bold move" but warned that it could face an uphill battle in the courts.

"EPA may have been slow and incompetent, but it's hard to see where it has violated any nondiscretionary duty," said Patrick Parenteau, a Vermont Law School professor who reviewed the foundation's formal warning to EPA.

Baker said the foundation's lawyers think they have a good case but that he also hopes it will prompt the incoming Obama administration to change what he called a "laissez faire" opposition to regulation by the Bush administration.

"What this case will do is put the situation regarding the Chesapeake Bay squarely on the new administration's desk," he said.