EPA’s inspector general says agency should have done more to lead faltering Chesapeake Bay cleanup effort

The federal Environmental Protection Agency “did not fully embrace its leadership role” in the 2025 Chesapeake Bay cleanup effort, contributing to its failure, according to a report released Tuesday by the agency’s inspector general. The report comes in the wake of a painful consensus on the bay cleanup: The states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed won’t meet their promised goals to reduce pollution by 2025.