On September 16, 2026, Trump signed an executive order titled “Providing Meaningful Water Quality Improvements Through Collaboration and Oversight of Federal Support.” Its second section is one sentence: “Executive Order 13508 is hereby revoked.”
Executive Order 13508 was signed by President Obama on May 12, 2009 and established the federal framework coordinating Chesapeake Bay protection and restoration across agencies and the six watershed states. The new order says it “instituted a broad mandate for States and municipalities to contribute to improving the environmental health of the Chesapeake Bay, without providing clarity on how to implement that order's requirements.”
The stated grievance is local fees. The order says “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.” It directs the EPA to work with the watershed jurisdictions to assess those fees and “take measures to encourage the repeal or rescission of stormwater management fees imposed by States or localities and funded by their respective residents,” and directs six agencies to redirect Chesapeake funding toward direct on-the-ground projects.
By its own account, the order rests on the argument that the job is largely done: it states that as of 2025 the watershed jurisdictions “have collectively met 100 percent of their goal for sediment reduction, 90 percent of their goal for phosphorus reduction, and 57 percent of their goal for nitrogen reduction.” Those are the administration's figures, presented in its own document.
On its face the order revokes a coordination framework and redirects agency priorities rather than cutting appropriated money. The objections were immediate, and they were not confined to one party. Maryland's entire congressional delegation, including its lone Republican, Rep. Andy Harris, signed a joint statement: “The 2009 Executive Order that the Trump administration just revoked provided vital federal resources that support state-led efforts to improve the health and productivity of the Chesapeake Bay and its surrounding area. This decision is shortsighted and harmful to our communities.”
The timing puzzled state officials, who had joined federal officials in December to renew the restoration pledge. Maryland Natural Resources Secretary Josh Kurtz said the order's arrival “is a little bit bizarre,” adding, “We just saw strong support from all of the partners involved to continuing the work that we've been doing.”
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation said the move “is jeopardizing decades of Bay restoration progress” and “dismantles a key part of the federal-state framework that helped drive that progress,” adding, “Water does not respect state or political boundaries. What happens upstream affects people downstream.” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore called it “yet another attack against Maryland, this time on our farmers, fishers, and millions of people who rely on the watershed to filter their drinking water.” Annapolis Mayor Jared Littmann said, “The environmental health of the Chesapeake Bay, and local tributaries that feed the Bay, is not open for debate; it is not a policy preference that can be dialed back by Executive Order.”