President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that puts an end to a 17-year-old Chesapeake Bay mandate. Federal Cabinet departments, under the order, are to shift support to projects that demonstrate the ability to reduce runoff.
Dated Sept. 16, the order cancels Executive Order 13508 from May 12, 2009, which the White House says told states and cities to help restore the bay but without providing details on how to do so. Local governments used that order as a basis for levying stormwater fees, often called rain taxes, that the new order says can run to hundreds of dollars a year for households and small businesses….