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I was remiss earlier in not mentioning that, in addition to the river report card, the Chesapeake Bay Program (EPA, NOAA, states and other feds) put out its health assessment today.
I will be blogging more about this later, but in case anyone wants to read the report, it's here.
Rona Kobell reports on the Chesapeake Bay, and in her seven years with The Sun, she's visited clam farms in Virginia, a peeler pen on Taylors Island and a small market on Smith Island that serves what many people consider the best crab cake in the world (to judge for yourself, head to the Drum Point Market in Tylerton). Rona enjoys hanging out with her husband and daughter.
Tom Pelton writes about the environment and has been at The Sun for 10 years. He lives in the city with his wife, two daughters, and an exotic ecosystem that involves a cat, hamsters, hermit crabs, cacti, running shoes, drums, guitar, violins, mild cheeses and strong opinions.
Listen in: Tom Pelton's "The Environment in Focus"
Tim Wheeler writes about growth and base-realignment for The Sun. A reporter and editor here since 1985, the West Virginia native has spent most of his adult life around the bay. He lives in Catonsville, one of Baltimore's older, walkable suburbs.
Comments
HENRY IMMANUEL
2250 Elliott Island Rd
Elliott, MD 21869
The Chesapeake Bay needs a restoration program that will work, and that will be taking
the politics out of the clean up. The Chesapeake Bay watershed has six states that affect
its quality of life: Maryland, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West
Virginia, and the District of Columbia. But it is not just a watershed problem, it also must
take into consideration all the Fish that swim in and out of the Bay and to wherever,
along the Atlantic, and that would be the 13 States along the coast.
It is my belief that local and State politics of each of the States that in some way affect
the Bay is over powering any effort in effectually cleaning up the Bay.
Idea #1: The effort that I contend needs to be taken is that the Bay needs to be placed into
a receivership status protection program that would take charge on a Federal level in
initiating a massive cleanup. This receivership status would go in ten year increments,
until the Bay.s status is up graded to being cleaned up, and verified by an independent
group of Bay scientists.
#2: That the Bay would be turned into a National Park...I do not know if this is really
worth the time, because I am not convinced that the National Park Service actually has
the experience in keeping any waterways clean.
#3: To have the National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries Service), might be
the best program that already exists today, and might be able to do the job.
No matter what Congress will debate the who and how the Chesapeake Bay would be
cleaned up if and when.
But, with the US concerned with .HomeLand. Security the reality is that America should
be willing to spend the money to clean up the Bay, for the simple reason that if anything
would truly happen in the US the question must arise .How do we feed America., it is
my belief that the Chesapeake Bay is not only a National Treasure but that it is truly a
National Treasury of food, but only if we as a Nation are able to breath life back into it,
and if we really care. Dollars spent here for cleanup means that we also are managing a
natural resource that will benefit the future commercial fisheries industry.
Also, we need to have the DoD clean up their mess on the north part of the Bay, their
belief in the Fifty year clean up method is really out of this world, forcing them into fast
tracking this cleanup is more than important, and it would seem that the DoD would want
to be good stewards of our waterways.
Posted by: Henry Immanuel | April 3, 2008 5:32 PM