Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network Continuing Authorization Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker and ladies and gentlemen of the House, I had the great privilege of being elected to the Maryland State Senate in 1966. There were two other individuals--there were a lot of other individuals, but there were two other individuals who were elected with me. The other two were elected to the House of Delegates. One of those was BENJAMIN CARDIN, who is now Maryland's junior United States Senator. The other individual elected that had same year was Paul Sarbanes.

Paul Sarbanes served for 4 years, then was elected to the House in 1970, served in the House for 6 years, and in 1976 was elected to the United States Senate. I was in the State Senate and had the privilege of working hard for his election that year. He served longer than any other individual representing our State, and one of the programs that he fostered was the program that we are reauthorizing today.

He can swell with pride not only on the substance of this legislation but also on the fact that his extraordinary son, who now represents a district that he used to represent, the Third Congressional District of our State, is now sponsoring and shepherding this legislation through the House of Representatives.

My colleagues have spoken about the substance of this legislation. John Smith in 1607 came up a bay that was pristine and essentially unspoiled. In the next 400 years, man, in his somewhat irresponsibility, has not husbanded that asset that God gave us as he should or as she should.

This legislation, sponsored by Senator Sarbanes many years ago, now shepherded by his son, Congressman JOHN SARBANES, was an effort to ensure that we understood what Congressman Gilchrest talked about and the importance of this asset we call the Chesapeake Bay, not just to Maryland, not just to Pennsylvania or Delaware or Virginia, but to our country. An extraordinary ecological resource.

So I rise simply not to recite what my colleagues have already recited but to congratulate JOHN SARBANES, to say how proud we are, as I know he is as well, of the extraordinary service given to our State by his father, Senator Paul Sarbanes, the original author of this legislation, and to thank him for carrying this torch forward on behalf of a resource that is priceless, as the ad says.

So I thank him for yielding this time, congratulate him for his efforts, and urge my colleagues to strongly support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong support for H.R. 5540, legislation introduced by Representative John Sarbanes which seeks to permanently reauthorize the National Park Service's Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network Program.

Those of us fortunate to live in this region have been blessed with a multitude of magnificent natural resources, not the least of which is our Nation's largest estuary--the Chesapeake Bay, a body of water that has played such an important role in shaping the cultural, economic, political, and social history of our region.

Unfortunately, the Chesapeake Bay of 2008 is not the pristine body that Captain John Smith first charted on his expeditions some 400 years ago. Indeed, earlier this year, the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program released the Chesapeake Bay 2007 Health and Restoration Assessment which found the overall health of the bay remains significantly impaired.

In the 110th Congress, I have joined with my colleagues in successfully advocating legislation to improve the health of the bay.

We've strengthened the ability of the Army Corps of Engineers to undertake bay oyster restoration, water pollution control, and environmental infrastructure projects in the 2007 WRDA bill. And, we've included approximately $438 million in mandatory funding to help Chesapeake Bay watershed farmers in their ongoing efforts to implement practices to prevent runoff and control shoreline erosion.

H.R. 5540, the legislation we consider today, takes another important step forward in our efforts by permanently authorizing a program that has already done so much to raise awareness of the fragile health of the bay and directly engage our region's citizens and visitors to take an active role in fulfilling our shared goal of restoring the Chesapeake.

The Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network, which includes more than 156 museums, State parks, wildlife refuges and other sites in 6 States and the District of Columbia, was established to link together these wonderful places in the hopes of enabling visitors to better understand and appreciate the role they can play in the bay's survival.

The program enables sites to compete for grant funding--which must be fully matched--for projects that will help conserve, restore and interpret their roles in the bay's natural, cultural, and social history.

The Gateways Program is a critical component to fostering a commitment among our citizens to restore the bay and I encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation.

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