Washington, D.C.; September 16th, 2026.
President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order Wednesday revoking a 17-year-old federal directive governing the Chesapeake Bay watershed, directing federal environmental regulators to encourage the repeal of municipal and state stormwater fees, and ordering 6 cabinet-level departments to restrict restoration grants to projects with measurable physical results.
The directive, titled “Providing Meaningful Water Quality Improvements Through Collaboration and Oversight of Federal Support,” formally rescinds Executive Order 13508, which was signed by President Barack Obama on May 12th, 2009. The administration text states that the 2009 order established a broad mandate across states and municipalities without providing operational clarity on implementation.
The order identifies local stormwater management assessments, commonly referred to as “rain taxes,” as an economic burden:
“In some instances, this lack of clarity has led to harmful economic impacts on affected Americans. For example, many localities have implemented stormwater management fees, commonly referred to as ‘rain taxes,’ that impose hundreds of dollars in annual financial burdens on residents and small businesses in the name of implementing Executive Order 13508, though nothing in that order required or explicitly justified such measures, with little to no measurable benefits to Chesapeake Bay or to those residents. States use these rain taxes to pay for their stormwater infrastructure, whether or not it contributes to the environmental health of the Chesapeake Bay.”
Under Section 3 of the presidential directive, the Environmental Protection Agency is instructed to coordinate with 7 regional jurisdictions: the states of Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, and West Virginia, along with the District of Columbia. The agency is tasked with evaluating the household cost of stormwater fees, exploring restoration practices that avoid consumer expense, and taking active measures to encourage the repeal or rescission of those local fees.
The executive order additionally establishes binding operational instructions for 6 cabinet-level agencies: the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of the Interior, the Department of War, and the Environmental Protection Agency. The leadership of those departments must review existing allocations and redirect funding away from administrative programs that do not produce measurable progress, focusing resources on direct projects that reduce nutrient and sediment runoff. The order specifies that all future projects must document outcomes through empirical metrics, including verified reductions in sediment, nitrogen, and phosphorus loads.
In justifying the revocation, the executive order documents water quality progress achieved across the watershed as of 2025:
- Member jurisdictions have met 100 percent of their target for sediment reduction.
- Member jurisdictions have met 90 percent of their target for phosphorus reduction.
- Member jurisdictions have met 57 percent of their target for nitrogen reduction.
The document cites scientific projections from the College of William and Mary, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, FlowWest, and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, which state that the 2026 annual dead zone within the estuary is projected to measure approximately 31 percent below the long-term baseline, ranking among the smallest recorded since 1985.
Sources
Primary First Hand Sources
- The White House, Executive Order: Providing Meaningful Water Quality Improvements Through Collaboration and Oversight of Federal Support, signed September 16th, 2026
- The White House, Official Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Provides Meaningful Water Quality Improvements Through Collaboration and Oversight of Federal Support, issued September 16th, 2026
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