Obama Orders Chesapeake Bay Cleanup

Earlier in May of this year, President Barack Obama ordered the federal government to enforce his executive order to clean up the Chesapeake Bay. At that time, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also said it would impose "strict" pollution caps by the end of 2010 and aim for "sharp reductions" in air pollutants that affect the bay.

According to Wikipedia, "The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's watershed covers 64,299 square miles (166,534 km2) in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. More than 150 rivers and streams drain into the Bay.

The Chesapeake Bay is approximately 200 miles (300 km) long, from the Susquehanna River in the north to the Atlantic Ocean in the south."

This is where some of the problems stem from. The Susquehanna River is one of the largest watersheds, dumping huge amounts of water into the Chesapeake Bay. Agricultural and animal run-off create harmful algae blooms due to excess nutrients. In the 1970s, the water was so oxygen deprived, it resulted in massive fish kills.

Kristen Saacke Blunk, senior extension associate and director of the university’s Agriculture and Environment Science and Policy Center noted, "It is a sensitive and complex subject — someone must pay for solutions, such as technologies that will ensure nutrients are not released into the air or water.”

Saacke Blunk concludes, “We don’t want to drive animal agriculture out of Pennsylvania or drive animal agriculture offshore. Interestingly, the executive order’s inclusion of the Department of Homeland Security is an indication that the federal government views Chesapeake Bay health, agriculture and food security as a matter of national security.”

Written by Donna Diegel
Exclusive to HULIQ