By Authority: Cummings for Congress, Ron Thompson, Treasurer
STRENGTHENED FEDERAL EFFORTS
TO SAVE THE CHESAPEAKE BAY
For the Bay Watershed – the Future is Now
Ladies and gentlemen, we have gathered here at St. John’s so that you can review your key legislative priorities for this year’s General Assembly session.
I served in the Maryland House of Delegates for 14 years – and I know that this year’s budget issues are among the most challenging that we have faced in decades.
Still, for the Chesapeake Bay, we are the emergency medical technicians with a precious life to save.
Our Bay cannot wait. Regardless of the budget, if pollutants continue to flow into the Bay, its water quality – and our quality of life - will decline. It’s that simple.
The longer we put off the serious steps that are needed to reduce the flow of pollution into the Bay, the harder the effort to clean the Bay up will become – and, frankly, the more expensive it will become.
That, my friends, is why strengthened federal support and oversight is so essential.
President Obama is with us - and nearly the entire Maryland Delegation is pushing for the water quality measures that the Bay needs.
For us – and for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed – the future is now.
***
The President’s Executive Order
Earlier this year, as many here are aware, President Obama issued an executive order to push for a renewed and reinvigorated federal effort to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.
This order embodies President Obama’s commitment to the Chesapeake Bay – and to making comprehensive environmental restoration a national priority.
The order instructs federal agencies to utilize the full extent of existing legal authority to reinvigorate the effort to save the Bay.
And it requires federal agencies to base their interventions on new assessments of the Bay’s water quality.
***
The Challenges We Face
These assessments clearly lay out the challenge we face when they declare this: “[T]o meet water quality goals for the [Chesapeake] Bay, nitrogen and phosphorus pollution must be reduced by 44 percent and 27 percent respectively, despite expected population increases of 30 percent between 2000 and 2030.”
Over the past decades, the effort to restore the Chesapeake Bay has been largely based on voluntary agreements within and among the states.
Recent assessments of the Bay developed by the Obama Administration show us that past agreements enforced only by good will have only achieved water quality in the Bay that is still rated “very poor” – even though billions of dollars have been spent.
We Need Enforcement with “Teeth”
To meet the challenges we face, we must begin implementing more formal, legally enforceable structures to control pollutant loadings.
However, current law does not provide sufficient legal authority to establish, implement, and assess the results of the pollutant controls that the Bay needs.
We need restoration laws with real teeth.
That is why Senator Cardin and our Delegation are determined to step up and provide the legal authority that can restore the Chesapeake Bay.
Strengthening the Chesapeake Bay Program
This is our watch. We have the best opportunity in more than a generation to clean up our nation’s waterways.
And, as the Representative of Maryland’s 7th Congressional District, I am proud to be working closely at the federal level with Maryland Senator Ben Cardin to lead the effort to reauthorize the federal Chesapeake Bay Program.
On October 20, 2009, I introduced the Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act of 2009, H.R. 3852 - and Senator Cardin introduced comparable legislation in the Senate.
In the House, this legislation has 16 bi-partisan co-sponsors from throughout the Bay watershed and around the nation - including Maryland Representatives Edwards, Hoyer, Ruppersberger, Sarbanes, and Van Hollen. Senator Cardin, Senator Mikulski and I commend them for their vision.
***
Here is a summary of the key provisions of our proposed legislation.
1.
First, H.R. 3852 will require the EPA to complete its determination of (judicially ordered and scientifically derived) the maximum tolerable levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment in the Bay.
First, H.R. 3852 will require the EPA to complete its determination of (judicially ordered and scientifically derived) the maximum tolerable levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment in the Bay. 2.Second, the legislation would require each of the Bay’s watershed states and the District of Columbia to contribute to reducing in nutrient flows into the Bay until these levels are reached.
Second, the legislation would require each of the Bay’s watershed states and the District of Columbia to contribute to reducing in nutrient flows into the Bay until these levels are reached. 3.Third, H.R. 3852 would require equitable reductions in pollution from all sources, including wastewater treatment plants, storm water run-off, and run-off generated from agricultural activities.
Third, H.R. 3852 would require equitable reductions in pollution from all sources, including wastewater treatment plants, storm water run-off, and run-off generated from agricultural activities. Each jurisdiction will have the flexibility and discretion to develop its own detailed plan outlining how it would reduce its pollutant load. However, states that do not develop or implement their plans will face penalties.
Importantly, H.R. 3852 will support the Obama Administration’s effort to re-develop the partnerships among Federal, state, and local governments, and between public and private interests that will be essential to the success of the Bay restoration effort.
For our part at the federal level, H.R. 3852 would authorize more than $5 billion in federal expenditures. That amount will include $1.5 billion to support initiatives that will control storm water run-off and $500 million annually for 5 years to support the Section 319 programs that help farmers implement non-point source management initiatives.
Nutrient Credit Trading Program
To provide additional assistance to farmers located in the Bay’s watershed – who I know are struggling in the midst of this prolonged economic crisis –H.R. 3852 would also establish an innovative interstate nitrogen and phosphorus credit trading program. It would builds on successful programs already implemented in Pennsylvania and Virginia.
And I want you to know that a study issued by the World Resources Institute has determined that:
“ . . . the potential annual revenue to farmers from selling credits in a Bay-wide nitrogen trading program could be of a similar scale or greater than current annual government agriculture conservation funding in the Chesapeake Bay.”
Coming to Terms with Agriculture
Now, even with a strongly supportive President, we know that moving this legislation to the President’s desk is going to require muscle and will.
To be frank, the agricultural community is concerned about the potential impact of this new approach to restoring the Bay – especially in the current economic climate.
I should emphasize, however, that specific decisions about how nutrient reductions will be achieved are left to the states.
Further, I also believe that the programs supported by H.R. 3852 will complement existing initiatives – including the extensive new aid programs approved as part of the last farm bill.
I also note that the Total Maximum Daily Load process mandated by H.R. 3852 is already judicially required.
Our legislation would provide funding to implement the process that the courts have not.
We understand the concerns that have been raised, and I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Agriculture Committee to address these issues.
***
A Tough Fight
We are in a tough fight for the Bay down in Washington.
Still, I am convinced that, finally, we have the science, the political will and the public support to Save the Bay.
Take Action
