I rise today to introduce the "Chesapeake’s Healthy and Environmentally Sound Stewardship of Energy and Agriculture Act of 2007’’ - CHESSEA. This bill will have a major beneficial impact on the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay and many of its 150 tributary streams and rivers. We invite and encourage you to join us as original cosponsors.
Like many of America's natural resources, the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers continue to be plagued by pollution. Unfortunately, agriculture accounts for a significant part of the nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment running to the Bay. The House will soon take up the 2007 farm bill which will provide billions of dollars a year for farm conservation programs and, therefore, provides an unparalleled opportunity for our region to address its critical conservation needs
CHESSEA would bring significant new federal technical and financial assistance to farmers and landowners in the Bay watershed states to help them in their efforts to reduce nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment runoff into the streams and rivers that run to the Chesapeake Bay. It would also provide additional incentives for the region's farmers to produce new sources of renewable energy that will simultaneously improve water quality and reduce the impact of fossil fuel consumption on the atmosphere.
Over the past five years, several Chesapeake Bay states have committed significant new funding to try to reach the goals of the federal-state Chesapeake 2000 agreement, which set specific pollution reduction goals for 2010. In spite of those commitments, we are far from meeting the 2010 goals. The experts have estimated that in order to meet our clean-up pledge, the federal Government will have to provide $200 million a year. This legislation would help to fulfill the federal government's Chesapeake 2000 commitment to reduce nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment pollution to the Bay while at the same time helping the region's agricultural and rural areas.
The Chesapeake Bay and several of the major rivers that feed it, including the Susquehanna, the Potomac, and the James, are among America's most stunning natural features. Approximately 400 years ago, Captain John Smith and the Jamestown settlers sailed into a Chesapeake Bay that was healthy, balanced, and among the world's most biologically productive places. Today, the Bay and its rivers are sadly diminished. The CHESSEA Act of 2007 would make significant progress toward restoring the Bay's balance and biological productivity to support generations to come.