As if it isn't hot enough already, environmentalists want to turn the heat up on federal officials to be bold in trying to jump-start the hit-or-miss restoration of the Chesapeake Bay. Green groups have scheduled a "town hall" style meeting Tuesday night in Annapolis to push for enforceable limits on pollution and tough consequences if cleanup goals aren't met.

Federal environmental agencies are under orders from President Obama to come up with ideas by Sept. 9 for accelerating government efforts to clean up the bay.   With less than a month to go before those recommendations are due, environmental leaders want to light a fire under the feds so they don't produce a bunch of warmed-over proposals of the type that have yielded only lackluster results over the past 26 years. 

Speakers include Chuck Fox, senior bay advisor to the Environmental Protection Agency administrator; Don Boesch, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, the Rev. Rick Edmund, Methodist pastor on Smith Island, and the heads of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Environment Maryland.  (The graphic here is UM's recent report card giving the bay's health a C-minus overall.)

But since it's billed as a town hall, I assume there'll be chances to question or even talk back to the speakers.  So here's your chance to hear and be heard about what it'll take to get the bay cleanup on track.

The meeting is from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at St. Philip's Episcopal Church, 730 Bestgate Road in Annapolis. It's open to the public, but if you're planning to go, please RSVP online here so organizers can ensure there'll be enough seating. 

And you won't have long to wait to see if your voice was heard -- a spokesman for the EPA's Chesapeake Bay office says all the federal bay cleanup ideas will be made public promptly, even though they'll officially be considered "draft" recommendations that are subject to revision until they're released as a proposed strategy in November. 

Some had worried that the feds would keep a lid on their initial proposals while they hammered them into some sort of cohesive plan.  The president's executive order issued back in May had directed the agencies to publish a "draft strategy" within 180 days for public review and comment, meaning in November.

But Travis Loop, spokesman for the EPA bay program, says they "absolutely" will be released and available for public review by Sept. 9. 

So mark your calendars, and meanwhile, get in the conversation.  What do you think the federal government needs to do to get the bay restoration on a faster track?