Farmers in the Valley say the Environmental Protection Agency and states have worked as a "team" to voluntarily protect the environment in the past, but they fear that's changing.

"It seems like there is something coming down the pipe that seems like it wants to bypass what we've currently been doing to where it's more mandatory rather than voluntary," says Steve Saufley, a farmer from Port Republic.

Last May, President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order expanding role of the EPA and its resources in cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay.

On Wednesday night, the EPA had a public hearing at Spotswood High School in Penn Laird to discuss its plans to clean up the bay.

The plan calls for a Total Maximum Daily Load, or in other words, a pollution diet.

"If you enjoy the Shenandoah River, if when you turn the faucet on you want to have some good clean water coming out of there, you need to be concerned about this pollution diet that will also help protect your local streams and rivers," says Rich Batiuk, the Associate Director for Science at the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Protection Agency Office.

The pollution diet would hold 92 separate regions from New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia and Washington D.C. responsible for cutting back the amount of pollution in the waterways.

"We're adding a lot more accountability than we have in the past, adding more specificity, so that folks in the Valley understand, 'Hey, here's our expectation,'" says Batiuk.

The EPA says this is important for drinking water and local waterways, as well as the Chesapeake Bay.

Saufley understands that protecting the bay is important but fears what it could mean for some farmers.

"It will bring down things that your force to pay for on their time and on their time tables that makes it very difficult. I'm afraid that we're going to lose a lot more farmers," says Saufley.

The EPA recognizes there have been improvements but points out that more can and needs to be done.

"Are a number of our rivers and streams running cleaner? Yes. Are they healthy? No. Is the bay healthy? No," says Batiuk.