Chamber Environmental Initiatives
The increasing degradation of the Chesapeake Bay has generated well-founded concerns over the environmental impact of past land development activities and future land development plans in jurisdictions bordering this important body of water. Some advocates supporting restoration of the Chesapeake Bay, and protection of its coastal land and wildlife habitats, defend their concerns with well documented scientific studies, while others are no growth advocates who mask their intentions with the cloak of environmentalism and diminish the credibility of well intended groups seeking solutions to the Bay’s present predicament.
The environmental stress on the Chesapeake Bay has its origins from use and misuse over many decades, and even centuries. Recently, the Bay’s health has focused on new development and redevelopment around the Bay and its tributaries, and on nitrogen content and discharge concerns. Business and industry have stepped forward to assist in this effort and are actively a part of the solution to improving the quality of the Chesapeake Bay and not the source of its stress. Our quality of life in Anne Arundel County is dependent upon a healthy Bay, and our ability to retain and attract new business to the area is dependent upon our quality of life.
Recently, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, along with several other groups, filed suit in federal court accusing the federal government of avoiding its legal responsibilities to clean up the Bay. The suit contends that the Environmental Protection Agency has failed to comply with the Clean Water Act and with multiple interstate agreements the agency has signed over the past 25 years aimed at restoring the Chesapeake Bay. The decision to file suit followed acknowledgment by Maryland state leaders that they did not expect to achieve the 2010 goals established in the Clean Water Act.
Restoration of the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed is everyone’s responsibility in Maryland and our home county of Anne Arundel. Businesses and residential communities have joint accountability in protecting the environmental health of our Bay. Failure to address the existing environmental stress on the Chesapeake Bay from past residential and agricultural development is ignoring a large contributor to the Chesapeake Bay’s unhealthy condition. Imposing excessive fees and restrictions on new development and redevelopment projects in an effort to restore the quality of the Bay, while ignoring past inequities, is engaging in a fruitless effort that will lead to disappointing results.
Below is a link to the Chamber of Commerce Environmental Committee:
Chamber of Commerce Environmental Committee
