Rock the Bay Boat

 
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to hear what citizens think about the pollution “diet” EPA has proposed to restore the Chesapeake Bay. So, EPA is holding a series of public meetings around the Bay watershed, starting next week in Virginia.

Attention Virginians: the meetings in the Old Dominion are a two-for. Not only does EPA want to hear from you; Virginia officials also want to know what Commonwealth citizens think about Virginia’s plan to comply with EPA’s pollution diet.

Recall that EPA is establishing the diet numbers – how much pollution the Bay must lose to become healthy – and Virginia and the other Bay states must come up with state-specific plans on how to achieve the diet. The diet and the state plans are complementary; both are critical for success.

If you like the status quo – a polluted Chesapeake Bay, massive “dead zones,” 80 percent of Virginia rivers tested found unfit for fishing or swimming, annual fish kills, beach closures, and politicians who continue to allow polluters to get away with it – then don’t come to the meetings.
  
But if you have ever cared about clean water, healthy rivers, and a restored Bay, these meetings are the place to be. Change seldom occurs unless someone rocks the boat. It’s time to rock the Bay boat. Tell Governor McDonnell you expect his administration to produce a cleanup plan that ensures clean streams, clean rivers, and a clean Bay for all. Tell EPA that if Virginia officials are too timid to make the tough decisions that provide clean water, you expect EPA to hold the state accountable as required by the Clean Water Act. 

Don’t be distracted by claims EPA is forcing unreasonable federal mandates upon Virginia. That’s baloney. Clean water has been a homegrown Virginia priority for years. See Article XI of the Virginia Constitution, Virginia’s Water Control law, or read the Water Quality Monitoring, Information, and Restoration Act passed by the Virginia General Assembly in 1997. Clean streams, clean rivers, and a healthy Bay are not exclusively federal priorities; they’ve been the law of the land in Virginia for years.

And don’t be hoodwinked by doomsayers who say Virginia cannot afford clean waterways. That’s code for “polluters don’t want to stop business as usual.” In fact, a vigorous economy and a healthy environment go hand in hand. Independent studies show cleaning up the Bay will be an economic stimulus and create more jobs, not kill them.

And dirty water has been slowly shrinking Virginia’s economy for the past two decades, when because of a degraded Chesapeake Bay the value of Virginia’s seafood harvest decreased 30 percent and the number of watermen on the Bay declined from 14,000 to 1,500. The loss of the Bay’s once robust oyster industry has cost Virginia and Maryland more than $4 billion. The question isn’t can we afford to clean up the Bay; the question is, can we afford not to?

Here’s the lineup of Virginia meetings; for the schedule for the rest of the watershed, click here.

• Monday, Oct. 4, 6-8 p.m., Grafton Theater, James Madison University, 281 Warren Service Drive, Harrisonburg, Va.
• Tuesday, Oct. 5, 6-8 p.m., Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale Campus, Ernst Community Cultural Center, 8333 Little River Turnpike, Annandale, Va.
• Wednesday, Oct. 6, 6-8 p.m., Robins Pavilion Jepson Alumni Center, University of Richmond, 28 Westhampton Way, Richmond, Va.
• Thursday, Oct. 7, 6-8 p.m., Crowne Plaza Hampton Marina Hotel, 700 Settlers Landing Road, Hampton, Va.
• Thursday, Oct. 7, 1-3 p.m., webinar. Registar here.

Go to the meetings. Ask questions. State your views. And follow up with a written note to EPA by going here. 

Dirty water kills crabs, fish, and jobs. Don’t sit this one out.

* * *

If you like great music and good fun, check out The Festy Experience in Roseland (Nelson County), Va., Oct. 9-10. The Festy is a two-day “lifestyle experience of music, outdoors, wellness and raging good times.” Bands scheduled to play include Railroad Earth, The Infamous Stringdusters, Toubab Krewe, Josh Ritter and the Love Canon String Band, Old School Freight Train, Larry Keel and Natural Bridge, and many more.
 
Between sets, stop by CBF's tent in the Kids' Zone and learn how you can help Save the Bay. CBF educators will lead hands-on opportunities for kids to collect and observe critters in nearby Reid’s Creek to understand the health of the creek, a Chesapeake Bay tributary.
 
For more information about The Festy Experience, click here.

By Chuck Epes

Comments

[Yacht Charter Alaska]

Wow! How to get there?