Congressman John P. Sarbanes | Wikimedia Commons
Congressman John P. Sarbanes | Wikimedia Commons
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Sarbanes (D-Md.) on May 11, 2023 warned of the potential damage to the Chesapeake Bay under the House Republican budget proposal, which proposes drastic funding cuts to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Fiscal Year 2024.
EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program is a unique regional partnership that coordinates the complex, cross-state effort to restore the Bay by 2025. While EPA has requested $92 million for the Chesapeake Bay Program in Fiscal Year 2024, House Republicans have proposed spending cuts that would threaten the Program’s critical work.
In an Energy and Commerce Committee Environment, Manufacturing and Critical Materials Subcommittee hearing, Congressman Sarbanes asked EPA Administrator Michael Regan about the challenges in meeting the shared goal of restoration by 2025 and the ways that slashing funding for the Program at this critical juncture would undermine progress.
“Over time, as the Bay’s health has been negatively impacted by locally produced nutrient runoff, rising sea levels due to climate change, the loss of coastal and marine habitat and other factors, EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program has been absolutely critical to facilitating the complex, cross-state effort that is imperative to restoring the Bay,” said Congressman Sarbanes.
He continued, “Republicans have proposed some limits on discretionary spending that would likely impact the Chesapeake Bay Program and its ability to support states in their coordinated effort to meet the 2025 deadline.”
Finally, he said, “Without the strong and continued investment that EPA has requested for the Chesapeake Bay Program in Fiscal Year 2024, the risk is we could jeopardize decades of work and collaboration toward the Bay’s restoration. This is absolutely not the moment to pull back – it’s got to be all hands on deck, full steam ahead, as you said. This is the moment to act and provide the resources necessary to achieve the full measure of the Bay’s restoration.”
See below for a video of the Congressman’s full remarks.
Original source can be found here.
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