Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman released the following statement today, after learning through media reports of the Environmental Protection Agency Chesapeake Bay Program Director’s remarks walking back the federal commitment to the Bay cleanup effort:
On Friday, I spoke to the Chesapeake Bay Commission about Anne Arundel County’s efforts to help achieve a clean Chesapeake Bay. Later in the day, the Director of the EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program told legislators from Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania that the Chesapeake Bay clean up plan is an “aspirational document” that is not enforceable. That statement was surprising and disappointing on many levels.
This is a time when we should be strengthening our commitment to our natural environment, not abandoning it. We must commit as a partnership of states and local governments to reduce pollution enough to guarantee clean water for our children and future generations to come.
If the federal government won’t lead this effort, then state and local governments must.
In Anne Arundel County, we are still in. And I invite the Chesapeake Bay governors and other local leaders to join us.
Together, we will send a message back to the EPA that we will not sacrifice our Bay-dependent local economies or our children’s environment when we have already come this far.
