Bay cleanup bills will help troubled waters

Date published: 11/20/2009

Bay cleanup bills will help troubled waters

I write this to all who share my concern about the declining quality of the water in our streams and rivers and the Chesapeake Bay into which they ultimately flow. We must stem the tide of pollution.

A new way for a cleaner bay is promised in two bills now before Congress that I support and urge you to support.

On Oct. 20, Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland introduced Senate Bill 1816, and on the same day, a nearly identical bill, House Bill 3852, was introduced to the House by Rep. Elijah Cummings, also of Maryland.

These bills are titled the Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act of 2009.

In a nutshell, they ensure that all seven bay judicatories (the six contiguous states and the District of Columbia) develop and implement detailed plans to reduce nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment pollution to healthy levels by 2025.

They call upon states to create their cleanup plans by May 2011, to submit two-year increment reports, and to complete their cleanup actions by 2025.

They allow $1.51 billion to assist local governments in reducing stormwater pollution. They continue and increase federal assistance to states, which would amount to $29 million for Virginia.

For the first time, there are consequences if the judicatories don't meet their reduction levels, including withholding Clean Water Act funds or having the EPA develop and administer the cleanup plan itself within a state.

I am convinced this legislation offers great progress for a cleaner bay. I urge readers to contact their congressmen and senators asking for their support of these two bills, or even better, that they become co-sponsors, as Sen. Jim Moran has already done.

Charles R. Sydnor Jr.

Westmoreland

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Date published: 11/20/2009