(ANNAPOLIS, MD)—Chesapeake Bay Foundation President William C. Baker issued this statement concerning the rollback of the Clean Power Plan.
"Ignoring the impacts of climate change is short-sighted and will damage the health of the Chesapeake Bay. The Bay's trophy rockfish are struggling to find oxygen as the water gets hotter. Species like soft shelled clams and eelgrass are being stressed by warmer waters that eventually could eliminate them from the Chesapeake Bay. Sea-level rise is threatening coastal marshes and low-lying lands like Tangier Island.
"The air pollution reductions we would get from the CPP would go a long way to improving the health of people living in the Bay Region—including children, the elderly, and the poor—as well as meeting the nitrogen limit set in the Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Blueprint.
"Climate change is not a future threat for the Chesapeake Bay. We are already experiencing impacts that will harm the communities and economies that depend on clean water and make finishing the job of saving the Bay all that much harder. It is time to charge forward, not retreat."
