Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - June 10, 2009)

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By Mr. WARNER (for himself, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mr. CARDIN, and Mr. WEBB):

S. 1224. A bill to reauthorize the Chesapeake Bay Office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, today I am introducing legislation to reauthorize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's important programs to restore the Chesapeake Bay and its aquatic resources. This measure is a companion to H.R. 1771, a bill recently introduced in the House by Representatives SARBANES, WITTMAN and KRATOVIL. Joining me in sponsoring this legislation are my colleagues Senator WEBB from Virginia and Senators MIKULSKI and CARDIN from neighboring Maryland.

Throughout my public career, I have been a strong advocate for protecting our natural resources. One of the most important efforts in Virginia's environmental history has been preservation of the Chesapeake Bay, the nation's most important estuary. I am proud that we brought record funding to efforts related to cleaning the Chesapeake Bay and the toughest regulations for water quality yet. The Commonwealth's 3,300 miles of coastal resources provide significant economic contributions to tourism, recreation, commercial and sport fisheries, and wildlife enjoyment within our State. Yet the safety of the Bay is still in great jeopardy; pollution, habitat loss and other factors have taken their toll.

NOAA has been a principal partner with the Bay region states and other Federal agencies in efforts to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem since 1984. Its mission is focusing NOAA capabilities in science, service, and stewardship to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay. Congress formally authorized NOAA's participation in the Bay in Public Law 98-210 enacted in 1992 and reauthorized the program in 2002, Public Law 107-372. That authority expired 3 years ago, in 2006, and must be reauthorized.

Over the years, NOAA's work in the Chesapeake Bay has focused on three critical and interrelated areas--ecosystem science, coastal and living resources management, and environmental education--all part of an ecosystem approach for Bay restoration and management. The agency's science and research programs, conducted in collaboration with major academic institutions, are helping decision-makers survey and assess trends in living resources, understand and evaluate the responses of these resources to changes in their environment, and establish management goals and progress indicators. Through the Chesapeake Bay Observing System and the next-generation Chesapeake Bay Integrated Buoy System, NOAA is providing monitoring data on environmental conditions and water quality in the Bay necessary to track Bay restoration progress. The NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office's fish, shellfish and habitat restoration programs are helping to restore native oysters, blue crabs, and bay grasses throughout the watershed. And NOAA's pioneering Bay Watershed Education and Training program, B-WET, is making hands-on watershed education and training available to students and teachers throughout the watershed, bringing marine and weather sciences into the classroom and helping to foster stewardship of the Bay.

NOAA administers its work throughout the 64,000 square mile, 6 State watershed from offices in Maryland and Virginia, which collaborate with State and other Federal agencies, academic institutions, and nongovernmental organizations to support Bay protection and restoration goals. In Norfolk, Virginia, the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office's science and education programs are incorporated into exhibits at Nauticus, our State's premier maritime center, which receives more than 350,000 visitors annually, and helps inform the public about NOAA's programs and activities. At the College of William and Mary's Virginia Institute of Marine Science, VIMS,

NOAA is collaborating with a major academic partner to improve understanding of Bay fisheries and support improved oyster restoration. At Stingray Point, Norfolk and Jamestown, NOAA has deployed first-of-its-kind CBIBS interpretive buoys that are not only providing critical real-time data streams for scientists, but multidisciplinary education tools to users of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Water Trail. Throughout the Virginia and Maryland waters of the Chesapeake Bay, NOAA is assisting watermen impacted by reductions in blue-crab harvests.

But NOAA's work and responsibilities to the Chesapeake Bay restoration effort are far from complete. The partners in the Bay restoration need the agency's continued help and support. Throughout the Bay, ecologically important fish species are in decline or at risk due to disease, habitat loss, and other factors. Underwater grasses that once provided habitat to sustain these fisheries are at a fraction of their historic levels. As advanced as our science is, Chesapeake Bay managers still do not have adequate information about the estuary and its habitats to manage its living resources or mitigate diseases in fish and shellfish.

The legislation I am introducing today builds upon previous authorizations of the NOAA Bay Program and addresses several urgent, continuing or unmet needs in the watershed. The bill seeks to achieve five main objectives.

Increasing collaboration between the various programs and activities at NOAA to further NOAA's coastal resource stewardship mission.

Improving Bay monitoring capabilities and the coordination and organization of the substantial amounts of data collected and compiled by Federal, State, and local government agencies and academic institutions through further development of an integrated observations system and the Chesapeake Bay Interpretative Buoy System.

Strengthening the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Education and Training Program, B-WET, the competitively based program which provides students with meaningful Chesapeake Bay or stream outdoor experiences and teachers with professional development opportunities for Bay-related environmental education.

Supporting and encouraging public-private partnerships to restore finfish and shellfish populations, submerged aquatic vegetation and other critical coastal habitat through aquaculture, stock enhancements, propagation and other programs.

Ensuring that Federal funds are spent wisely and effectively on projects that have scientific and technical merit and are peer reviewed.

This legislation enhances NOAA's commitment to further scientific data collection, develops fishery management practices and habitat restoration, and strengthens Chesapeake Bay environmental education programs. Mr. President, the Bay is a national treasure and its restoration should be a national priority.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that letters of support be printed in the RECORD.

There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:

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