(ANNAPOLIS, MD)—Today, Chesapeake Bay states called with one voice for continued federal partnership in the Bay cleanup. The Governors who make up the Chesapeake Bay Executive Council took bipartisan action to lead the fight against the Trump Administration's proposal to eliminate the Chesapeake Bay Program in the next fiscal year. Chesapeake Bay Foundation President William C. Baker issued this statement in response.
"CBF applauds the Executive Council's strong, bipartisan action to protect the successful Bay Partnership. Unless we want this to be the last Executive Council meeting and the end of this historic collaboration, we need to continue to resist actions from the Trump Administration that would undermine state efforts to save the Bay and our rivers and streams.
"After all the progress made over the last 30 years, under the Trump Administration's budget recommendation the Bay would revert to a national disgrace with deteriorating water quality, unhealthy fish and shellfish, and water borne diseases that pose a real threat to human health. The same proposal for FY 2017 was resoundingly rejected by Congress earlier this year, and it can be defeated again with the kind of leadership the Executive Council is demonstrating.
"Today's resolution was an important step to protect the Bay partnership. Now we need to generate similar bipartisan support in Congress to counter the Administration's efforts and ensure that the success we have seen in recent years continues. We call on Governor Hogan, as the new chairman of the Bay Program's Executive Council, to lead the fight for clean water, both in the State House and on Capitol Hill.
"We urge the Trump Administration and EPA to either restore funding to the Chesapeake Bay Program or explain why they won't continue investing in the federal/state cleanup effort that is saving the Bay."
