October, 08 2009, 11:55am EDT
New Report: Chesapeake Bay's Health Threats Need Federal Remedy
Congressional Agenda Would Complement President’s Plan to Save the Bay
WASHINGTON
A report released today by the Natural
Resources Defense Council compiles the numerous threats facing the
Chesapeake Bay and examines federal solutions to save this national
treasure. This analysis comes on the heels of reports commissioned by
President Obama to clean up the Chesapeake Bay and a draft bill
circulated by Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-MD.).
"It's no
secret the Chesapeake Bay has been struggling for decades to recover
from a variety of threats to its health," said Nancy Stoner,
Co-Director of NRDC's Water Program and co-author of the report. "What
is less well known is that there are solutions -- many of which are
finally underway."
NRDC's new report, Seizing a Watershed Opportunity: NRDC's Plan to Clean Up the Chesapeake Bay and its Beaches,
zooms in on the range of water quality issues in the Chesapeake Bay,
including dangerous algal blooms, harmful bacteria in raw oysters,
plastic bags in tributaries, and economic blows to the crabbing
industry, and where they overlap. It also identifies key legislative
solutions that would help to curtail many of these threats.
The
legislative agenda outlined in the report would complement and support
Obama's recent Executive Order for the Bay that commissioned seven
recent reports -- including from the Environmental Protection Agency
and Departments of Interior and Agriculture -- on how the federal
government can help restore the health of the Chesapeake. By taking the
steps outlined in Seizing a Watershed Opportunity,
NRDC's Stoner said, Congress can help the Executive Branch make real
progress in cleaning up the historically troubled estuary.
"President
Obama and his Administration are showing historic federal leadership to
help clean up this national treasure," said Stoner. "This report gives
Congress a playbook so it could support efforts from the White House
and deliver the one-two punch we need to finally make a real difference
in saving the Bay."
Seizing a Watershed Opportunity -- from the authors of this summer's Testing the Waters,
NRDC's 19th annual nationwide beachwater quality report -- also
includes beachwater quality information for the Chesapeake Bay,
reporting that Bay beaches in 2008 had better water quality overall
than the national average, but were significantly more polluted than
their ocean counterparts on the Delmarva Peninsula. The report shows
that Bay beaches with the dirtiest water, or highest percentage of
water samples that exceeded health standards, included Fairview Beach
in King George Co., Va. (32 percent), Kurtz Beach in Anne Arundel Co.,
Md., and Red Point Beach in Cecil Co., Md. (17 percent). Though the Bay
beach with the dirtiest water was in Virginia, the 11 others in the
dozen dirtiest were in Maryland.
The legislative agenda outlined in the report to help clean up the Bay includes the following actions, including adoption of:
- Comprehensive climate change bill out of the Senate this year.
Climate change -- from increased temperatures and more intense storms,
to sea level rise - is expected to exacerbate a variety of problems in
the Bay -- including nutrient pollution, dead zones and disease-causing
pathogens. It threatens to change the Bay's geography and hurt its
shellfisheries. There is even concern it will lead to jellyfish blooms,
according to the report. - TheChesapeake Bay Ecosystem Restoration Act, which includes
an enforceable, cost-effective pollution banking program for nutrient
reductions in the Bay. This will help address dead zones and harmful
algal blooms, which are associated with fish kills and health problems
in people, and have devastating economic impacts to the region's
fishing industries, as the report details. - The Clean Coastal Environment and Public Health Act to
provide money for more beachwater sampling in coastal states and to
require faster testing methods for dangerous pathogens in the water
that can make them sick. When there are health violations at Bay
beaches, this bill will help swimmers find out before they dive in. - The Water Infrastructure Financing Act
to provide increased federal funding for water and wastewater
infrastructure needs, including incentives for green infrastructure
(which uses soil and vegetation to trap runoff). Stormwater runoff is
the fastest growing source of pollution in the Bay, and prevention is
the best way to address it. This bill will help do just that to keep
algae-causing nutrients, disease-causing pathogens, and toxins out of
our water and away from our seafood. - Controls on highway runoff in the Federal Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act.
Controls like vegetation buffers can help capture stormwater before it
flows off of impervious highways into waterways, helping to decrease
sediment, nutrients and other pollutants in the Bay that lead to beach
and shellfishery closures. With almost 100,000 miles of federally
funded highways contributing to this pollution in the Bay, this bill
can help reduce it.
In addition to this
Congressional agenda, the report identifies areas where the Obama
Administration can strengthen its proposals to fulfill the President's
Executive Order by combating stormwater runoff and pollution from
factory farms.These include calling on the EPA to increase controls on
stormwater runoff, and require more use of low impact development
techniques, which retain and filter rainwater where it falls, rather
than letting it run off into waterways (i.e. green roofs made of
absorbent vegetation and permeable pavement that allows water to
penetrate the material).
The report also calls for EPA
to revise the federal rule regulating manure pollution from factory
farms, a.k.a. Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), which
have dumped undocumented volumes of untreated animal waste into the
watershed for decades, without effective regulation. EPA has committed
to addressing this problem under the Executive Order, and the agency
should do this by requiring all CAFOs to obtain permits and create
manure management plans, according to the report.
NRDC works to safeguard the earth--its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. We combine the power of more than three million members and online activists with the expertise of some 700 scientists, lawyers, and policy advocates across the globe to ensure the rights of all people to the air, the water, and the wild.
(212) 727-2700LATEST NEWS
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday responded to U.S. President Joe Biden's threat to withhold shipments of arms used by the Israel Defense Forces to kill thousands of Palestinian civilians by declaring that his far-right government would continue its assault on Gaza with or without American help.
"If we are forced to stand alone, we will stand alone," Netanyahu said in a video ahead of next week's anniversary of Israel's establishment in 1948, largely via the ethnic cleansing of Palestine's Arabs. "I have already said that if we have to, we will fight with our nails."
Echoing Netanyahu, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the IDF already has the "necessary weapons" to wage war, "including in Rafah," where over 1 million people forcibly displaced from other parts of Gaza are sheltering alongside around 280,000 local residents, all of them bracing for a full-scale Israeli invasion.
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Once Biden threatened to cut off weapons to Israel on Wednesday, reporter Emma Vigeland predicted responses along the lines of, "Biden is an antisemite who loves Hamas." After Ben-Gvir's post on X, formerly Twitter, she said, "Update: This is not even a parody tweet anymore."
Journalist Mehdi Hasan also seemed unsurprised by the news, writing: "Yep, now Biden is Hamas too. Can't make this stuff up."
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"It's Bisan from Gaza and I'm still alive."
The line has become familiar to social media users and viewers of the Al Jazeera Media Network's show of the same name, hosted by Palestinian journalist and activist Bisan Owda. On Thursday the show was lauded by the Peabody Awards Board of Jurors as it awarded Owda one of journalism's highest honors.
"Despite a lack of clean water and the increasing scarcity of food, she draws on her indomitable spirit to keep the world informed," said the board. "For showing bravery and persistence in the midst of imminent danger, and for carrying a heavy journalistic burden as the entire world looks on, It's Bisan from Gaza and I'm Still Alive is honored with a Peabody Award."
Since Owda first broadcast from her bombarded home of Gaza in early November, less than a month into the Israeli onslaught that has now killed at least 34,904 Palestinians, she has given viewers a glimpse into how civilians across the enclave are impacted by air and ground attacks.
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On Thursday, Save the Children International featured Owda's reporting on Israel's takeover of the Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border as it invaded the city of Rafah this week.
"No people can evacuate to a safe place, no humanitarian aid trucks entering," she said in the video. "Now I am in the middle of Rafah, and these people behind me are trying to gather their stuff. Their mattresses, some food. And they're taking now their stuff again to be displaced again after living [here] for months."
The situation in #Gaza is devastating.
The takeover by Israeli forces of the #Rafah crossing means no aid can enter.
Due to the rise in violence & evacuation orders, families are fleeing again, despite there being nowhere safe to go.
Bisan reports from Rafah👇#CeasefireNOW pic.twitter.com/5vISDNweOl
— Save the Children International (@save_children) May 9, 2024
Accepting the Peabody, Owda said she and other journalists in Gaza "rise simply to document the genocide happening to our people."
"The victory of the Palestinian cause was never just for Palestinians," she said. "It is rather a victory for humanity."
She dedicated the award to people around the world who are helping to defeat "one of the [Israeli] occupation's strongest tools": dividing people "so we can never support one another."
"I dedicate this award to all the college students who are protesting," she said. "To all the people who took to the streets. To all the people at home who are participating in boycotts. To all the people worldwide, regardless of their religion, color, and ethnicity. Regardless of what makes them different, they're united in one mission: in their demands for a free Palestine. You deserve this award. And so do we."
Bisan Owda has just won one of broadcast journalism’s highest honors – the Peabody Award – for her work with AJ+.
Bisan is currently facing intense Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the occupied Gaza Strip. This is her message to the world: pic.twitter.com/rFTV7jjBIN
— AJ+ (@ajplus) May 9, 2024
"And one day, this genocide will end," she continued. "And Palestine will be free. And we will welcome you here on Gazan soil. All of you... Thank you so much for this award and for always supporting us, standing by us, and for continuing to do so until we reach our demands: an end to the genocide, a cease-fire, and a free Palestine."
Tony Karon, editorial lead at AJ+, which has collaborated with Owda since Israel's onslaught began, applauded Owda's "heroic storytelling."
"We strive to tell the human story from where the missiles land, to elevate the human spirit and the hope that it brings for better days, to shine a light on places and stories those in power would rather keep shrouded in darkness," he said.
Zahira Jaher, a professor at University of Sussex in the U.K., said Owda and other journalists in Gaza "are rewriting how reporting is done... She is the future of Palestine."
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