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We All Live Downstream—Our Responsibility to Restore the Chesapeake Bay
December 10, 2004
Op-ed for the Scranton Times Tribune
Contact: Christine Shott, (202) 224-0610
We All Live Downstream—Our Responsibility to Restore the Chesapeake Bay
by Senator Rick Santorum(R-PA)
I appreciate the recent editorial “Costly to save bay, but worth it” (12-04-04) regarding the importance of the Chesapeake Bay. I agree that it is our duty as residents of Pennsylvania and as responsible stewards of our natural resources to take an active approach toward ensuring the health and quality of the waters that feed the Chesapeake. In so doing, we improve the fate of the Bay, as well as the state of our own crucial waterways and recreational areas.
During my tenure as your Senator, a common theme among Pennsylvanians who are concerned about the environment has been that “we all live downstream.” Therefore, it is important to examine what materials we are allowing to flow into Pennsylvania’s creeks, streams, and rivers, as many of these bodies of water are tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay. A major tributary of the Bay is the Susquehanna River, which flows a total of 444 miles and drains 27,500 square miles across the Commonwealth. The Susquehanna is also the largest river lying entirely within the United States that drains into the Atlantic Ocean.
Understanding the ecological importance of preserving the Chesapeake Bay, I have cosponsored several pieces of legislation in the Senate that also make great strides in cleaning up waterways in Pennsylvania. Specifically, I cosponsored the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Nutrient Removal Assistance Act, which would allow for the improvement of wastewater treatment plants, with nutrient removal technologies, located within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Other legislation that I have supported would reauthorize and improve the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Restoration and Protection Program.
In addition, we need a Commission to oversee the development of a comprehensive implementation plan to address nutrient pollution and funding for the Bay. To that end, I cosponsored the Special Blue Ribbon Commission on Chesapeake Bay Nutrient Pollution Control Financing Act.
The editorial also mentioned that Pennsylvania’s elected representatives should support increased funding for the revival of the Chesapeake Bay. I have written my colleagues and the President on numerous occasions to express my support for funding Chesapeake Bay restoration and preservation programs. Most recently, in a letter to the Senate Committee on Appropriations, I advocated increased funding for the Chesapeake Bay, specifically for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to meet its responsibilities as a partner in the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay. Examples of the worthwhile projects that I have supported are: an environmental education program focusing on watershed and ecosystem health; a sewage treatment plant upgrade to enhance nutrient removal technologies; a portal and gateway program that links access areas and seaports; and a USDA pilot program to reduce agricultural nutrient pollution from farm fields.
Increasing funds for the Chesapeake Bay is a worthy effort, and we should all do our part as residents of Pennsylvania to defend the valuable Chesapeake Bay ecosystem.
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