Sen. McDougle, Del. Hugo & Mike Rolband at today's press conference

Two veteran members of the Virginia General Assembly and co-chairs of the Joint Republican Business Caucus, Delegate Tim Hugo of Clifton, Virginia and Senator Ryan McDougle of Mechanicsville, Virginia announced the release of a letter today to Governor Bob McDonnell, which noted that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – Chesapeake Bay Program has been using faulty data in their efforts to encourage the six (6) Bay states and the District of Columbia to strengthen their stormwater management regulations. 

Delegate Hugo and Senator McDougle stated their strong support for a clean Chesapeake Bay and cited their Patronage of legislation during the 2010 session of the Virginia General Assembly to require Virginian’s stormwater regulations to be updated not later than December 1, 2010. 

Both state legislators, however, called on the EPA to use sound science and accurate data, research and analysis in the development 5.3 Chesapeake Bay model. 

The basis for much of the encouragement of the Bay states, including Virginia and the District of Columbia by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency – Chesapeake Bay Program has been a widely cited and widely published sound-bite as follows: “From 1990 to 2000, impervious surfaces increased by 41% -a rate of 5 times greater than the 8% of population growth during that time.”  

The 5 to 1 ratio sound bite was presented in testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure by J. Charles Fox, Senior Advisor to the EPA on September 22, 2009.  The 5 to 1 ratio was also presented to a joint meeting of the Virginia House of Delegates Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources and Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources during the 2010 General Assembly session. 

NOW, a private firm based in Prince William County, Virginia, Wetland Studies and Solutions, Inc. (WSSI), one of the region’s most respected environmental consulting firms, has analyzed the EPA’s Phase 5.2 watershed model and reached a very different conclusion.  WSSI’s lengthy analysis determined that, between 1990 and 2000, population increased by 10.3% and impervious surface increased by 14.2%, not by a 5-to-1 ratio claimed by the EPA, and only by a 1.1-to-1 ratio in Virginia during that period.  Delegate Hugo and Senator McDougle noted that the WSSI analysis has been shared with the EPA and was not refuted by the federal agency.

Hugo and McDougle stated, “The accuracy of this data is very important.  It will be a major factor in the development of future state stormwater management requirements”. 

Both Veteran State Legislators encouraged Governor McDonnell to ask the EPA how long they have known about the inaccuracy of the 5 to 1 ratio, especially since the EPA website indicates the population had been recalculated in February, 2009.  They also ask the governor to ask about the purpose of the EPA in continuing to promote the 5 to 1 ratio in the Stormwater debate.  And finally Hugo and McDougle urged the governor to insist that all state agencies and the EPA use sound science in the 5.3 Chesapeake Bay model and state stormwater regulations that will follow.    

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