In an effort to reduce pollution and restore the Chesapeake Bay, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation provided its first federal blueprint for the next president to follow to reach their goals.

Eight years ago, state and federal agencies agreed to the cleanup effort for the Chesapeake Bay. The goal was to have work completed by 2010, but with two years left, the Bush administration admits the agencies won't meet their goal.

The foundation lists 16 specific actions the next administration can take to reduce pollution and meet the requirements of the clean water act. Chesapeake Bay Foundation president William Baker says there have been talks of pushing back the deadline another ten years, but says the next president needs to make the bay a national priority because our waterways can't afford to wait that long.

"The delay is costly, both for the economy and our environment. We got to get progress accelerated immediately," said Baker.

The bay's watershed covers 64,000 square miles and supports nearly 17 million people, but after years of harmful pollutants and lack of federal help the Chesapeake Bay Foundation identified seven critical needs. From reducing pollution from farms to enforcing the clean water act, it wants the next president to address the problems.

"If you can't save Chesapeake Bay, where in the world can you generate the political will and the political leadership to address complex environmental problems?" Congressman Rob Wittman represented the John McCain (web|news|bio) campaign by saying the republican presidential candidate wants to enhance and provide leadership for cleaning up the bay.

"They look at making sure the bay is restored so that it can get back to the economic value that it once had and also its cultural value. If they focus on those two things I think they can come up with great policies to restore the bay and make it a focus of their administration on the environmental front," said Wittman.

Barack Obama (web|news|bio) campaign representative Chuck Fox says Obama recognizes the importance of reducing pollution as he recently announced a Great Lakes clean-up program and welcomes these bay initiatives. "Senator Obama has laid out a very impressive plan to do this for climate change and air pollution and we can use some of these creative tools to solve some of our water pollution problems here in Chesapeake Bay."

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation also wants to see the next president support no child left inside. It's new legislation the house passed with bipartisan support which provides incentives for states to develop environmental literacy plans for students.