Today, Congressman Tim Holden of Pennsylvania, Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy, and Research, held a hearing to review regulatory and legislative proposals to improve the condition of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.
The Subcommittee heard testimony from officials representing the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, as well as from agriculture groups working to improve the watershed.
The 2008 Farm Bill included significant resources to help farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay by reducing runoff and improving water quality and quantity.
“It is clear that the people who live and work in the Chesapeake Bay watershed care greatly for the Bay's health and are actively working to improve water quality and wildlife habitat. Moving forward, it is essential that everyone involved in these efforts, on a federal, state and local level must open the lines of communication and find common ground to ensure that the Chesapeake Bay conservation efforts are implemented as efficiently and effectively as possible." Subcommittee Chairman Holden said.
“This committee worked very hard in establishing a mechanism and a funding source in the 2008 Farm Bill for addressing issues related to protecting the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The Farm Bill provides unprecedented incentive-based funding to help farmers and ranchers improve management practices, which would directly result in improving water quality in the Bay. This effort is barely underway and it should be fully supported before we move in a different direction," Subcommittee Ranking Member Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) said.
Written testimony provided by the witnesses is available on the Committee website: http://democrats-agriculture.house.gov/hearings/index.html. A full transcript of the hearing will be posted on the Committee website at a later date.
Panel I
* Ms. Ann Mills, Deputy Under Secretary for National Resources and Environment, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.
* Mr. J. Charles Fox, Senior Advisor to the Administrator, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C.
* Mr. Russell C. Redding, Acting Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Panel II
* Mr. Wilmer Stoneman, Associate Director of Governmental Relations, Virginia Farm Bureau, Richmond, Virginia
* Mr. Steve Schwalb, Vice President of Environmental Sustainability, Perdue, Salisbury, Maryland
* Mr. Jim Curatolo, Watershed Coordinator, Upper Susquehanna Coalition, Burdett, New York
http://democrats-agriculture.house.gov
Source: House Committee on Agriculture
