Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network Continuing Authorization Act

CHESAPEAKE BAY GATEWAYS AND WATERTRAILS NETWORK CONTINUING AUTHORIZATION ACT -- (House of Representatives - June 05, 2008)

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Mr. WITTMAN of Virginia. I'd like to thank the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Bishop) for yielding time to me on this important issue.

I rise in support of H.R. 5540, legislation to reauthorize the Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network. I represent Virginia's First Congressional District, which is largely defined by the Chesapeake Bay. My constituents live, work, and play in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. My district also includes many components of the Gateways Network, including historic Yorktown, Colonial Williamsburg, historic Jamestown, all the way to Washington's birthplace in Westmoreland County.

This is a fantastic effort here that, as you have heard, was spawned by lots of great ideas and leaders in the past, and one of those that was part of this effort was the late Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis. She did a tremendous amount of work to put together the ideas to help in creating this network. She had a passion for the Chesapeake Bay and all the assets that are there in the Chesapeake Bay and passion to make sure people knew about those so they could appreciate the bay, they could appreciate the culture that it brings to our region, that folks could appreciate the natural resources there, and that they could understand how all of those parts are interrelated to understand the importance of the bay to our region.

The Gateways Network links together over 100 parks, museums, wildlife refuges, and other cultural and historic sites into a comprehensive system so that people can understand it and so that they realize the parts of the things that make the Chesapeake Bay important.

This Gateways program connects visitors with the natural beauty, rich history, and the recreational opportunities there within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. That's extraordinarily important so that folks can make the effort to understand the bay and be part of the effort to preserve and protect the bay.

Mr. Speaker, as you know, my constituents, like everybody else, are dealing with the cost of rising prices for gasoline. These increasing cost are impacting their budgets and cutting into their planned summer vacations. I am strongly in support of this bill. But I do join Mr. Bishop and many of my colleagues to call on Congress to take action on a comprehensive plan to rein in gas prices.

We should take a number of steps to promote American-made energy. We need to encourage next-generation technologies, we need to promote conservation, we need to look at bridging from the present and the use of fossil fuels to the future. But, let's face it folks, fossil fuels is going to be part of that bridge to the future. So we need to make sure that we have them available for us to get to this next generation of energy.

We need to make sure that we, as part of that, look at our dependence on foreign oil, while keeping in mind the environment that we must protect in all parts of that puzzle in creating a comprehensive energy policy.

Unfortunately, unless gas prices come down soon, I am concerned that families that may want to come to the Chesapeake Bay and enjoy the Chesapeake Bay watershed and enjoy the Chesapeake Bay network may not have the opportunity to do so. That means it's incumbent upon us to put together a responsible, comprehensive energy policy the make sure that folks can indeed enjoy the Chesapeake Bay, enjoy the network that this program provides so they can understand the importance of the different cultural and environmental and economic aspects of the Chesapeake Bay.

So let's not miss this opportunity as we work to extend this particular network system to make sure that we also use this as a conduit to talk about energy policy, energy issues that are important to this Nation and to the Chesapeake Bay. Let's face it, the bay these days is being affected by the impact of man, and energy is part of that. So let's make sure that across the board we address these particular issues and make sure that we provide some relief to our hardworking American families that are dealing with these high energy prices. Again, it needs to be a long-term energy solution to make sure that we are able to address this in a way that is important for our future.

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