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Cardin Bill Undermines Clean Water Act
September 3, 2010
Over the past several months, environmentalists in the Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Bays region have been closely watching the Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act of 2009, introduced by Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland. The Cardin bill, as it is commonly known, is being offered as a way to clean up the Chesapeake Bay watershed, which has suffered for decades from industrial abuse and political ineptitude. It is being touted by some as the last great chance to save the bay.
Unfortunately, in its current form, this bill will end up doing more harm than good and could impact the health of our Coastal Bays watershed.
As written, the bill weakens the Clean Water Act, the one tool that we know can help us clean up our impaired waterways. Indeed, several of the bill's provisions undermine the act's very foundations. For example, for the first time since the Clean Water Act was passed in 1972, states would be allowed to exempt point source polluters from permitting requirements. The bill also creates a shield against the act's enforcement for the agriculture industry, the biggest single pollution source in the bay watershed.
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the bill is a market-based trading scheme that allows polluters to generate and sell nutrient and sediment pollution credits to other polluters. This pollution trading system will, according to its supporters, bring a much-needed level of "flexibility" to pollution control and result in a cleaner bay by 2025.
But is "flexibility" really what's driving this market approach? The Delmarva Poultry Institute's June 2010 newsletter, Timely Topics, applauds nutrient trading as "a program [that] has been created to help farmers earn money while providing polluters with the opportunity to increase their pollution to the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries." Finally, some honesty about what nutrient trading is really all about — some polluters making more money while other polluters get to make more pollution. It's a win-win ... for polluters.
- Read this opinion piece in the Baltimore Sun by two Chesapeake region Riverkeepers.
- Read a Fact Sheet about our concerns.
- Look at a Chart that helps explain how the Clean Water Act is still the best tool to clean up our waterways!
- Take Action Now! This link will redirect you to the Waterkeeper Alliance website, where you can send (and edit) a pre-written message to your appropriate state Senators and Congressmen. If you live in Maryland, keep in mind your message is going to Senator Cardin and possibly Congressman Cummings, both sponsors of the bill. So please feel free to edit the message accordingly.
Copyright 2012, Assateague Coastal Trust
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