The attorneys general of D.C., Maryland and Virginia say other states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed are not doing their part to clean up the bay. They plan to file a lawsuit to make the Environmental Protection Agency require states that are lagging behind catch up.

In a formal notice of intent to sue filed on Monday, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine and Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring argue that the agency is in violation of the Clean Water Act by not requiring Pennsylvania and New York to revise their cleanup plans.

Since 1983, the states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed have been working together to clean up the polluted estuary. Now, they’re closing in on a final deadline: Under a binding agreement with the EPA, the six states and D.C. are supposed to have pollution controls in place by 2025 that will lead to a fully-restored bay.

In 2018, the states submitted final plans for how they will meet that requirement. According to the EPA’s evaluation of those plans, Pennsylvania and New York fall short. Pennsylvania’s plan would achieve just 75% of the required nitrogen pollution reduction, while New York’s plan would achieve just 66% of the required nitrogen reduction.

“The plans submitted by Pennsylvania and New York do not even purport to make the pollution reductions necessary to meet the requirements of the Bay Agreement and the EPA has done nothing,” said Frosh during a video press conference. He was joined by Racine, Herring and Will Baker, president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

“I’ve been working for CBF for over 40 years,” said Baker, “and I have never seen such a concerted effort to require the federal government to do its job to reduce bay pollution.”

Herring noted that the bay cleanup has been making good progress in recent years.

“The waters are healthier today than they have been in decades, but we still have a lot of work to do before we can declare victory,” said Herring. “The Trump EPA is rubber stamping plans that are plainly inadequate, and allowing some watershed states to do less than they are supposed to,” Herring said.

Racine said that under previous administrations, the EPA played an essential role in bay cleanup. “Without EPA’s oversight, it will be impossible for the bay and all the states in its watershed to reach the objectives that we’ve been working for, for decades,” said Racine.

The EPA now has 60 days to respond to the letter before the states can sue.