Calling it “a national treasure,” President Barack Obama on Tuesday issued an executive order to bring the full weight of the federal government behind cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay. The executive order calls for the Environmental Protection Agency and six other federal agencies to coordinate the scattered federal tools and resources to help the neighboring states speed cleanup of the nation’s largest estuary.

Standing in front of the Potomac River, EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson presented the executive order, which creates the Federal Leadership Committee for the Chesapeake Bay and institutes a bay-wide set of strict pollution caps backed by state action plans and federal consequences to assure progress.

The caps include sharp reductions in pollutants that impact the bay; robust use of existing authorities; increased funding support, and unrivaled scientific and technical assistance.

Calling it “An historic day for an historic river,” the EPA marked the start of dredging of the Upper Hudson River to remove PCB-contaminated sediment on Friday.

A river’s edge ceremony launched the beginning of the first phase of the six-year dredging project near Roger’s Island in Fort Edward, NY.

“The start of Hudson River dredging is a symbol of victory for the environment and for its river communities,” said George Pavlou, Acting EPA Regional Administrator. “Dredging will help restore the health of the river, and will one day allow people to eat fish that are caught between Fort Edward and Albany.”