Concern about the increasing discoveries of bay pollution problems, and of the institutional challenges of organizing bay restoration programs over a large geographical area, led to Congress directing the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take a greater role in studying the scientific and technical aspects of the problems beginning in the late 1970s. The agency conducted its research over a seven-year period and published a major report in 1983. The report stated that the bay was an "ecosystem in decline" and cited numerous instances of declines in the populations of oysters, crabs, freshwater fish and other wildlife.
The growing concerns about pollution also prompted the legislatures of Maryland and Virginia to establish the Chesapeake Bay Commission, an advisory body, in 1980. The commission consults with the state legislatures and executive agencies, as well as Congress, about environmental, economic and social issues related to the bay.
As an initial follow-up to the EPA report, the Chesapeake Bay Commission and EPA developed the Chesapeake Bay Agreement in 1983. The agreement was signed by the governors of Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania; the Mayor of the District of Columbia; and the EPA Administrator. The parties agreed to:
* Creation of an "Executive Council" consisting of cabinet-level appointees from each state and Washington, D.C., and the EPA Regional Administrator
* The council's creation of an implementation committee to coordinate technical issues and development management plans for bay restoration
* The establishment of the Chesapeake Bay Program as a liaison office for all of the participating organizations. The program's office, based in Annapolis, is partially funded by EPA and staffed by experts from the member states, EPA and other federal agencies, and academic institutions.
Concurrent with the 1983 agreement EPA began providing matching grants to the bay states for research and restoration projects.
In 1987 the parties agreed to set a goal of reducing the amount of nutrients that enter the bay by 40 percent by 2000. In 1992, the bay program partners agreed to continue the 40 percent reduction goal beyond 2000 and to attack nutrients at their source: upstream, in the bay tributaries.