Republican Robert McDonnell's election as governor of Virginia on Tuesday has some worrying it could spell trouble for cooperation among states and federal government to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.

Mark Rozell, a professor of public policy at George Mason University in Northern Virginia, was quoted in a story by the Capital News Service suggesting that a conservative Republican administration in Richmond could undo Virginia's recent cooperation with Democrat-controlled Annapolis and the Obama administration in Washington on adopting stronger environmental regulations and spending more to restore the bay.

Neither McDonnell nor his Democratic opponent Creigh Deeds spoke much about the bay during the campaign, it seems. But the Capital News Service reports that McDonnell mentioned the watermen's plight in his victory speech Tuesday night, though he didn't elaborate.

McDonnell's campaign Web site portrays him as a strong supporter of the bay and the environment. It says he supported several bay initiatives, including a tax refund for contributions toward restoring the Chesapeake and a ban on ban on phosphate diswasher detergent.

"Bob McDonnell is committed to working with the other Chesapeake Bay states to continue responsible policies to protect and improve the health of the Bay," his campaign site says, "including making every effort to meet the goals for the nutrient reduction outlined in the Chesapeake Bay agreement signed in 2000."

There's no mention, though, of going beyond the 2000 agreement, which all states now acknowledge they won't fulfill by next year's deadline.

(Associated Press photo)