BALTIMORE (AP) — The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is defending the model used by the Environmental Protection Agency to create the federal agency’s restoration strategy for the bay.

The bay foundation said Monday it is asking a federal judge to rule in the EPA’s favor and toss out a court challenge by the American Farm Bureau Federation and other groups. Opponents have asked a federal judge in Pennsylvania to rule in their favor before the lawsuit goes to trial. Opponents say the model is flawed and the EPA has overstepped its authority, burdening states with a costly plan.

The foundation says the model used to set pollution limits is constantly being improved and that tossing out the strategy would diminish the efforts of those who have worked for decades to restore the waterway.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)