Gleim Calls for State Compliance in Federal Stormwater Policy

September 23, 2026

HARRISBURG – Following the federal government’s action to rescind Executive Order 13508, Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration, Rep. Barbara Gleim (R-Cumberland) is calling on the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Shapiro administration to immediately halt and review Chesapeake Bay-related stormwater mandates.

“After 16 years, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stormwater guidelines in Pennsylvania that don’t mirror Washington, the federal government changed course and Harrisburg needs to as well,” Gleim stated. “The federal Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) program existed before the 2009 executive order; however, the years following Executive Order 13508 brought a significant expansion of Chesapeake Bay-specific pollution-reduction policies and compliance requirements.”

In 2010, the EPA established the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), setting pollution limits for nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment. Pennsylvania subsequently developed Watershed Implementation Plans to meet those targets, and Chesapeake Bay pollutant-reduction requirements were incorporated into the state’s MS4 permitting and compliance process.

Over time, municipalities were required to develop pollutant-reduction plans, calculate pollutant loads, identify projects and best management practices and meet specific reduction targets, which created substantial engineering, construction, reporting and compliance costs. For municipalities and property owners, those costs contribute to stormwater charges commonly referred to by residents as a “rain tax.”

Knowing that other states were not mandating fees or taxes, but just giving guidance, Gleim set out to prove that the stream modeling the state was using was faulty, and thus, so was the permitting and compliance process. She introduced House Bill 207 in 2023 and House Bill 958 in the current session, requiring the state to test the waterways and update the modeling, as to whether the stream was impaired or not, so municipalities were not fixing something that had already been remediated.

The modeling and assumptions in the state system need to accurately reflect conditions in Pennsylvania waterways.
“I was able to convince North Middleton Township that streams they were attempting to repair were not impaired using updated stream analysis performed locally,” added Gleim. “The tax they were imposing and liens on homes for those who couldn’t pay was unjust and burdensome, to say the least, especially for the elderly. I’m glad they eliminated it.”

Since 2019, York County has worked with the U.S. Geological Survey to conduct extensive in-stream monitoring in six major watersheds. The program measures actual nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended sediment concentrations and loads, providing real-world data that can be compared with the modeled estimates used in Chesapeake Bay planning. Gleim is calling on DEP to follow this best practice model throughout the entire state.

“Before we require municipalities and property owners to spend millions of dollars, we should compare the computer models against what we are measuring in the water,” Gleim commented. “If the model says one thing and actual water samples say another, we should follow the science and the actual measurements. Taxpayers should not be charged based on an assumption when we can test the water and determine what is there.”

Furthermore, municipalities and residents were also made aware that certain cities that dump into the Susquehanna, like the city of Harrisburg, were conveniently exempt from the stormwater mandates. According to Gleim, this type of exemption prevents cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay, and serves as a revenue source for some cities and municipalities, engineers and DEP.

Gleim agrees that Pennsylvania now has an obligation to separate what remains legally required from requirements that were imposed or expanded as part of the Chesapeake Bay strategy that followed Executive Order 13508.

“DEP should change course immediately because of the change in federal policy. Pennsylvania must now identify what the law requires, what was added to satisfy Chesapeake Bay policy and pollution-reduction goals and what Pennsylvania has the authority to change or eliminate,” Gleim said.

Gleim agrees with her colleague, Rep. Breanda Pugh (R-Luzerne) who testified the following at a recent hearing:

“You cannot call something a statewide environmental priority and then send the bill only to selected communities. If Pennsylvania decides these projects are necessary for the public good, then Pennsylvania should help pay for them.

“Our municipalities and residents should not be singled out to finance a benefit that extends far beyond their municipal boundaries.”

To highlight exemptions, Gleim also introduced House Bills 234 and 235 four years ago, which would have allowed farm exemptions from the MS4 tax (something the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau supports).

“The very businesses that are actually absorbing the water, and in some cases, mitigating water runoff, should not be taxed or forced to mitigate, when they are doing the very thing the EPA and the state are requiring,” Gleim added. “The requirements, again, were not implemented the same across the state.

“This is particularly important to the residents of the 199th Legislative District and communities across Cumberland County,” Gleim said. Our residents have been forced to shoulder enormous costs associated with mandates they never voted for and had virtually no control over.

“I am grateful to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin for making the well-being of our residents a priority, and for U.S. Small Business Association Administrator Kelly Loeffler and her staff for listening to the needs of small businesses in a meeting in Lancaster County with farmers last year.”

Representative Barb Gleim
199th Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Scott Little
717-260-6137
slittle@pahousegop.com
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