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Here we go again.

For the umpteenth time since Chesapeake Bay cleanup efforts began 25 years ago, officials from the Environmental Protection Agency sent out a dire warning on the watershed's declining health.

If urgent restoration goals aren't met, the EPA warned last week, the economic and environmental consequences will be harsh for Virginia, Maryland and four other states that sit in the Chesapeake's footprint.

That warning may have meant more if the EPA had a history of setting goals and deadlines that were actually clear, attainable and enforceable. One has to look awfully hard to find someone who knows what the penalty is for falling short of next year's reduction targets. Also, how badly does a jurisdiction have to miss its cleanup goal before the EPA takes action?

Everyone agrees that a clean, vibrant Chesapeake Bay is critical to the 17 million people who call the mid-Atlantic region home. Agreeing on how to improve the watershed's health, however, has proven a lot more difficult. After 25 years, $6 billion and countless blown deadlines, the cleanup effort still lacks direction and leadership.

Agricultural waste and unchecked development are most responsible for the Bay's poor health. The most glaring consequence of that pollution is the Bay's blue crab population, which has plummeted from nearly 800 million in 1990 to 260 million a year ago. In addition to reversing that onerous trend, cleaning up the Bay would reduce threats to public health and improves access to clean rivers and streams.

Unfortunately, limiting runoff from urban, suburban and rural areas doesn't happen with the snap of fingers. It requires greater cooperation from states, local municipalities, land developers and agricultural interests from Newport News to New York City.

It also requires mustering the kind of political will that's been lacking for decades.

A flicker of hope comes from a pair of Maryland-based legislators, Sen. Ben Cardin (D) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Dist. 7), who recently introduced a bill that would give states a clear set of rules and hit them in the pocketbook for falling short. The bill, called "The Chesapeake Bay Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act," requires all states to bring the pollution they dump into the Bay under acceptable levels, called the Total Maximum Daily Load, by 2025. Anyone falling short would be subject to substantial penalties, not just furrowed brows and empty words.

Cardin's bill is also big on accountability. Rather than allowing states to go with a "we've got it covered" response to every federal inquiry, they would be required to submit a "watershed implementation plan" and update progress every year. If they hit, they get rewarded. If they miss, they pay the piper.

None of this is rocket science. For years, EPA officials have been going to battle with a squirt gun in their pocket. Giving them the tools to penalize states and municipalities for inaction would be a win for the Chesapeake Bay and the millions of people who count on it every day.