President Donald Trump’s executive order to end the federal “rain tax” mandate, signed last week as U.S. Rep Rob Bresnahan Jr. watched, does not actually end a stormwater management fee some Luzerne County communities pay to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
That’s according to the agency that levies the fee.
“At this time, President Trump’s recent executive order does not eliminate WVSA’s [Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority] stormwater fee or change the requirements currently in place for participating municipalities,” the authority said in a statement. “State law still requires municipalities to manage stormwater runoff and reduce pollution entering local streams and waterways.”
Communities are required by the federal Clean Water Act to manage their stormwater to help clean up not only the bay but also the network of waterways that eventually flow into the estuary.
The spine of many of those waterways in Northeast Pennsylvania is the Susquehanna River, the longest river on the East Coast and the largest tributary and source of freshwater for the bay.
In Luzerne County, 32 municipalities voted to meet those Chesapeake Bay obligations through stormwater fees collected by the WVSA.
The authority says most property owners pay $14.40 per quarter or $57.60 per year for regional stormwater services.
The Chesapeake Bay Watershed includes Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C.
Trump's order says the watershed states must "take measures to encourage the repeal or rescission of stormwater management fees imposed by states or localities and funded by their respective residents."
A complex issue
Rain, snow, sleet — any precipitation that falls on impervious surfaces, like concrete parking lots and roofs — collects pollutants including sediment, fertilizers and trash. Federal laws regulate the discharge of pollutants into water across the country and set quality standards for surface waters.
"These local fees help improve local communities across the whole watershed, including Pennsylvania," said Kristin Reilly, Executive Director of the Choose Clean Water Coalition. "They go to things like mitigating dangerous flooding. They're ensuring safe and healthy neighborhoods, and they're protecting folks' drinking water."
Bresnahan said Trump’s order directs the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to work with states to eliminate the fee. The order ends also an Obama-era order that charged the federal government to “ramp up” enforcement for cleanup efforts in the bay or face fines.
"When that enforcement pressure came down, our local municipalities from small towns and boroughs were suddenly on the hook for a very strict new requirement," Bresnahan said. "And we have heard some towns in Northeastern Pennsylvania facing fines of up to $10,000 a day for non-compliance.”
The May 2009 Obama order says that despite efforts by those in the bay’s watershed the goals of the Clean Water Act were not being met.
“Progress in restoring the Chesapeake Bay also will depend on the support of state and local governments, the enterprise of the private sector, and the stewardship provided to the Chesapeake Bay by all the people who make this region their home,” the Obama order says.
Who’s required to adhere to the mandates comes down to who maintains Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems, called MS4s. The systems are governed under the Clean Water Act, which was passed in 1972.
Bresnahan called the Obama order an “unfunded mandate.”
"Congress did not appropriate any dollars to this initiative, so our local communities needed to find a way to work within compliance," Bresnahan said.
A fee is one way that authorities, like WVSA, can help municipalities with MS4 systems meet those regulations, but it's not the only option.
The WVSA says municipalities who hold the MS4 permits could still be fined by Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) if they are not compliant.
Ending the rain tax -- which is not actually a tax -- was one of Bresnahan’s campaign promises. The Republican congressman is seeking a second term against Democratic challenger Paige Cognetti. Some of his reelection ads now focus on how he ended the “rain tax” mandate.
"Instead of those funds going to fix roads or support our local police and fire departments, that money goes to meet a pollution requirement aimed at cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay more than 200 miles away," Bresnahan said.
WVSA says the stormwater fees do go towards many local initiatives, including street sweeping and removing roadway debris, municipal catch basin replacement, repair, cleaning and maintenance; and storm sewer piping replacement, system cleaning, flushing and maintenance, among other projects.
The authority also says $1 million per year is reimbursed to the 32 municipalities to invest in their stormwater infrastructure.
A call for action
Trump’s order states that nothing in Obama’s directive “required or explicitly justified such measures.”
Reilly said the 2009 Obama order simply directed federal agencies to take action to clean up the bay.
“There's no mention of stormwater fees. That is not something that was ever mentioned in the executive order, and I have personally never heard anyone referencing the executive order as a reason for a stormwater fee,” she said.
The coalition is made up of more than 320 nonprofit organizations across the bay’s watershed. They focus on ensuring that state and federal agencies have the funding, resources and capacity to clean up water.
Shapiro responds
Pennsylvania in 2025 re-signed the Chesapeake Bay Watershed agreement, which was first implemented in 1983.
"The president signing an executive order does not take away the local authority of a mayor, of a city council, of a county council,” Gov. Josh Shapiro said while in Scranton on Friday. “So the president can sign whatever ... he wants in the Oval Office. These decisions are going to continue to be made by local communities.”
Shapiro, who serves as chair of the Chesapeake Bay Executive Council, said the executive order was a "photo op."
“We've worked closely with local communities, and as a result of their important work, we've been able to clean up the bay at a better rate than Pennsylvania has ever done,” he said.
Bresnahan said ending Obama’s 2009 order allows Pennsylvania to find different ways to meet the clean water requirements.
State Rep. Brenda Pugh, R-Luzerne County, has been working on the issue at the state level. She introduced House Bill 2360 in April.
"I want clean water just like everybody else does. You know, I want our environment and everything protected," Pugh said. "But this bill takes this burden off the backs of our homeowners, our businesses, our small businesses, and our nonprofits, and puts it into a grant-based program.”
She said if her bill is signed into the law, the state will have to ask the legislature to put money in the budget for projects that align with cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay.
"Now we can actually do something that's going to make a difference. Let's go in and replace the drainage pipes. Let's go in and replace the culverts and the grates that sit on top of them. Let's actually do something that's going to control water because I have streets that still go underwater in this district, so it's unfair in every aspect of life," she said.
'We need more tools'
The Trump order also argues that the 2009 order “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.”
Riley said the water infrastructure in the country is beyond failing. It’s aged.
"We need more tools, right? We need more resources. We need strong partnerships to be able to sustain our success here, and so I think taking away or trying to take away a local government's ability to implement these these projects through these fees is going to hinder not only ... the bay restoration effort, but the needs of the citizens and the things that need to happen on the ground in these local communities," she said.
