A revised agreement to restore the Chesapeake Bay is speeding toward final passage, after a key committee rejected Maryland attempts to strengthen parts of the plan and voted Tuesday to forward it to bay-area leaders for their OK.
The agreement approved by the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Principals’ Staff Committee will chart the future for the multiyear, multibillion-dollar effort to improve the bay. Final approval by bay leaders at their Dec. 2 meeting at the National Aquarium in Baltimore is considered a formality, since the principals’ staff committee includes representatives of the governors and other signatories of the agreement, including the federal government.
The document unanimously approved Tuesday looks a bit different than the proposal that was released for public comment earlier this year. That plan drew considerable criticism for rolling deadlines and weak goals…