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Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Agency stepped up efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay. Officials introduced new penalties for underperforming states, but bay advocates are far from satisfied with the proposal and Wednesday they sent President Obama a message: enough is enough.

Wednesday morning, a group of former governors, state legislators, and life-long advocates unveiled a 24-point plan for the Chesapeake Bay. The pervasive tone was one of desperation: time is running out.

Former state senator Bernie Fowler said, "I grew up on the river, my parents grew up on the river, my great grandparents grew up on the river, and that was their livelihood."

The waters of the Chesapeake Bay and his beloved Patuxent River run through Bernie Fowler's veins. Its oyster farms kept his ancestors afloat, its shores provided recreation for generations, but recently, Fowler reached the height of desperation.

"The bay is dying there's no question about it. It's on death row and we can take it off death row but only if we move now," stated Fowler.

Wednesday, Fowler and other advocates for the bay sent a 24-point plan to President Obama. The overarching request was for regulations that polluters take seriously.

Bill Dennison with the UMD Center for Environmental Science said, "We're gonna have to go from volunteer to mandatory controls. It's time to enact not just carrots but also the stick."

The proposal's highlights include restrictions on deforestation and chicken manure that runs into the bay. The Environmental Protection Agency outlined punishments for violations like these earlier this week, but the co-signees of this proposal say they didn't go nearly far enough.

Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Will Baker shared, "We are worried and unconvinced that they are serious because they refuse to hold the states accountable to milestones, deadlines, plans that were only announced six months ago."

Meanwhile, as Bernie Fowler rounds off 85 years of age and decades of failed pleas for conservation he's resorted to prayer.

"We're the custodian. God created the heaven and the Earth and all therein and put us in charge," said Fowler. "We've done a lousy job. It's time we turn that around."

Many of these points are included in a bill that's currently before Congress, the Cardin/Cummings legislation, but the future of that bill is uncertain. A former U.S. senator told us Wednesday that the agriculture lobby has made defeating it their top priority.

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