From the Chickens to the Crabs - The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Freshwater in the Twenty-First Century - page 76

the human fear of and resistance to change, which was encouraged by entrenched finan-
cial interests and abetted by a lack of political will. The bay states have different fishing
regulations, their officials do not coordinate well, and their legislators are reluctant to
get tough on small farmers and commercial fishermen (about one thousand watermen
ply the bay, and many other jobs depend on them), especially during a recession or in
an election year. Environmental groups, such as the Coastal Conservation Association
(CCA), have pushed for capping fish catches and lobbied politicians to list oysters as an
endangered species. But so far that has not happened.
On September 11, 2009, President Obama declared Chesapeake Bay a “national
treasure” and unveiled sweeping plans for the federal government to take over efforts to
restore its waters, including proposals to strictly regulate agricultural runoff, curtail de-
velopment, and protect crab and oyster fisheries. It appeared to be one of the few high-
profile victories for the EPA, and its new administrator, Lisa P. Jackson, during Obama's
first year as president. But Washington has a reputation for making bold statements
that aren't translated into meaningful action. Those working to protect the bay know its
problems are complex and resistant to quick fixes.
In 2009, a pair of Maryland lawmakers introduced the Chesapeake Clean Water
Ecosystem Recovery Act, which would funnel some $2.25 billion over six years into
cleaning up the estuary. The bill languished for months, taking a backseat to debates
over health care and the war in Afghanistan, until the spring of 2010, when BP's Gulf of
Mexico oil spill generated wide interest in environmental cleanup programs. The new
bill would fund the EPA's efforts to cut the amount of nitrogen entering the bay by 30
percent by 2025; states that do not meet their goals could lose millions of dollars in
Clean Water Act grants, which, in Virginia alone, for example, amount to some $24 mil-
lion.
But concerns over state and federal debts have undermined the bill, and agricultural
and builders' associations have pushed back. The American Farm Bureau, in particular,
has opposed it, saying that provisions of the bill requiring farmers to fence of cattle,
cover manure pits, and install vegetation that slows storm-water runoff would be too
expensive for its members.
Dick Brame , a CCA fisheries scientist, described the Chesapeake's ecosystem as “a
patient that is dying of arterial bleeding, but he also has cancer. he arterial bleeding in
this case is overexploitation of species. The cancer underneath is the continuing decline
of water quality. If you can't stop the bleeding, the cancer doesn't matter. But if you do,
you still have to deal with the cancer.”