HARRISBURG, PA —Today, in response to recent Baltimore Sun and PennLive articles, Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania (CVPA) and the Maryland League of Conservation Voters (MDLCV) called for Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, the Pennsylvania General Assembly, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, and the Maryland General Assembly to deliver funds and action for a multi-state plan to restore the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Both CVPA and MDLCV have long supported the multi-state effort to restore the Chesapeake Bay and urge both states to avoid legal action through fully funding those efforts.
"Maryland is making strides in reducing pollution in the Chesapeake Bay, and we urge Pennsylvania's legislature and governor to accelerate their efforts," said Chuck Porcari, Interim Executive Director of the Maryland League of Conservation Voters. "As we wrote in our 2019 Governor's Report Card, we give credit to Governor Hogan for taking proactive steps to address the challenge of dangerous sediment build up behind the Conowingo Dam. That said, it's past time for those steps to include real multi-partner plans to remove the sediment. Public servants should not need to be reminded that the Susquehanna River watershed and the Chesapeake Bay are not bound by political or state lines."
“We need to hold Governor Wolf and the legislature accountable to follow through on providing the funding they promised to clean up the Chesapeake Bay watershed by 2025,” said Conservation Voters of PA Political Director, Katie Blume. “Every state in the Bay watershed is culpable, but Pennsylvania is the biggest contributor of pollutants, and efforts made to date have been inadequate. Downstream states are not the only ones that will benefit from a cleaner Bay - Pennsylvania also stands to see increased recreation and tourism revenue by fulfilling Bay requirements. According to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s 2014 Economic Report, the value of these natural benefits in Pennsylvania is estimated to be over $6 billion (1).” Blume went on to add, “Recent legislation in Pennsylvania provides only a 2.3% bump to the annual funds needed to address the Commonwealth’s responsibility to protect and restore the Bay. That’s just a drop in the Susquehanna.”
Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania can be reached at info@conservationpa.org and the Maryland League of Conservation Voters can be reached at info@mdlcv.org.
1) “The Economic Benefits of Implementing the Blueprint in Pennsylvania”. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation. 2014.