The Post reports on Virginia’s move to ban the sale of dishwasher detergents that contain phosphates. Phosphorus has been found to be a major source of pollution in the struggling Chesapeake Bay.

The ban won’t go into effect until 2010, however. The Soap and Detergent Association successfully lobbied several states, including Virginia and Maryland, the latter of which which already passed a similar ban, to wait two more years to put their bans in place in order to give the industry more time to develop alternatives to phosphates in dishwashing detergents. The Post’s money quote is from Kristen Skowronski, an eighth-grader from Herndon who pushed her local delegate to get behind a bill to ban phosphates: “My family uses the phosphate-free kind. Our dishes are just as clean.” In other words, the Soap and Detergent lobby is full of crap in saying they need two more years to develop phosphate-free detergents.

D.C. Council member Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) introduced a bill earlier this year that would ban dishwashing detergents with 5 percent or more phosphate content from being sold in the District. At the time, our commenters were skeptical of the bill, saying nothing would stop District residents from buying detergents with phosphates in Virginia and bringing them home to D.C. With this latest news, it appears that by 2010, both Virginia and Maryland will no longer allow the sale of dishwashing detergents with phosphates. Cheh’s bill is now waiting on action by the Committee on Public Works and the Environment, chaired by Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham.