Cardin, O'Malley, Cummings, Van Hollen and Regional Partners Detail New Legislation to Restore the Chesapeake Watershed
Amendment to Clean Water Act bolsters clean-up efforts with $1.5 billion in new grant authority and strong enforcement
ANNAPOLIS, MD (October 19, 2009) –Standing steps from the shore of the Chesapeake Bay at Sandy Point State Park, U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), joined with Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, Congressman Elijah Cummings (MD-7), Congressman Chris Van Hollen (MD-8), and Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources L. Preston Bryant who represented Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine, Chair of the Bay Program’s Executive Council, to outline the details of federal legislation to greatly expand federal resources available for restoring the health of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Also participating in today’s announcement were National Wildlife Federation’s Tony Caligiuri, a co-chair of the 103-group strong Chesapeake Bay Watershed Coalition, and Luke Brubaker, owner of Brubaker Farms of Mt. Joy, PA.
The Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Act of 2009, which will be introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senator Cardin with original co-sponsor Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD), reauthorizes the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Chesapeake Bay Program and gives state and local governments of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed expanded authority, $1.5 billion in new grant authorization, and strong new enforcement tools, to help restore the Bay’s health. Congressman Cummings plans to introduce companion legislation in the House of Representatives later this week.
“Today we take a major step forward in writing the next chapter in the history of one of America’s most cherished and celebrated bodies of water – the Chesapeake Bay. In developing this important legislation, we listened carefully to our watershed partners, our watermen, our farmers, and others whose livelihood depends on a viable Chesapeake. The result is a robust plan that will put us on a realistic but aggressive path to restoring the Bay to a healthy state that can sustain native fish, wildlife, farmland, and our regional economy,” said Senator Cardin, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Water and Wildlife Subcommittee.
“We must do all we can to protect our natural resources, particularly Maryland’s treasured Chesapeake Bay,” said Governor O’Malley. “Senator Cardin’s leadership on this issue is exemplary, and this bill will bring a new level of accountability and efficiency to our clean-up efforts in order to restore the Bay for future generations of Marylanders.”
“It is my pleasure to sponsor the bill complementing Senator Cardin’s in the House. The Chesapeake Bay is the dominant natural feature and natural resource in our area and every effort we can put forth, toward cleaning and restoring the waters of the Bay, is critical. The efforts in this bill to create an equitable reduction of pollution will help achieve that goal by our target date of 2025,” said Congressman Cummings. “I often say that our children are the living messages we send to a future we will never see. This cleanup effort will be our message to those children. We cared enough about their future to ensure a cleaner, more pristine environment in which they could live.”
“The Chesapeake Bay is the most studied body of water in the world. As a result, we know what the problem is, where it comes from, and what we need to do to correct it. Yet we continue to devise restoration plans and consistently fail to adhere to them. To really have a meaningful impact on the Bay we must have the resolve to take aggressive action. This legislation provides both the carrots and the sticks that will enable us to meet our goals, and I strongly endorse it and applaud my colleagues for their work,” said Congressman Chris Van Hollen.
“The Chesapeake Bay is a national treasure - and Maryland’s greatest natural resource. For 20 years, I’ve been fighting to restore the health of the Bay. This legislation will ensure accountability and efficiency as we speed Bay clean-up, and help bring us closer to all we’ve worked for - a brighter day for the Bay. I will always fight for the Bay and the lives and livelihoods that depend on it,” Senator Mikulski said.
“I'm proud of what the Chesapeake Bay Program partners have accomplished in the past year -- including setting aggressive two-year milestones to accelerate our progress in improving the health of Bay waters and committing to completing our restoration efforts by no later than 2025,” said Governor Kaine. “I applaud Senator Cardin’s leadership on this legislation and his willingness to work so closely with the Commonwealth. This bill will take our collective Bay restoration effort to the next level by holding states accountable for progress -- while providing new tools to accomplish our clean-up goals in the process."
With generous federal assistance, states will have the ability to set and meet enforceable targets of success by 2025. The bill also establishes a flexible pollution trading program that is designed to lower compliance costs while also providing Bay watershed farmers with added financial incentives to implement conservation practices on their lands. In addition, the bill puts the force of law behind a recent Executive Order from President Obama that requires every federal department to work toward Bay restoration.
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in North America, with a length of 200 miles and 11,684 miles of tidal shoreline, more than the entire U.S. West Coast. About 100,000 streams and rivers thread through the Chesapeake’s 64,000-square-mile watershed, which is home to almost 17 million people across Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. The Chesapeake Bay supports more than 3,600 species of plants, fish and animals.
