Bay goals downgraded

The federal government is putting the Chesapeake Bay on a pollution diet, but officials say it can be a little less strict than in the past.

Instead of counting calories, officials count pounds of harmful nutrients that cause the bay's infamous, oxygen-deprived "dead zone."

Federal officials announced yesterday that the bay can be allowed to have 200 million pounds of nitrogen pollution and 15 million pounds of phosphorus per year. Those are more generous limits than the last set of goals: 175 million pounds of nitrogen and 12.7 million pounds of phosphorus.

In 2008, the bay absorbed 283 million pounds of...