Senator Stuart a Real Bay Advocate - We need more like him
NEWS FOR RELEASE: On Receipt [August 15, 2008]
Non-Partisan, Public-Private Task Force
STATE SEN. RICHARD STUART IS FORMING GROUP TO RESTORE CHESAPEAKE BAY
State Sen. Richard H. Stuart (R., 28th District) is launching a public-private Virginia task force of various local, state and federal officials, environmental and conservation groups and interested individuals for an all-out attack on Chesapeake Bay pollution aimed at restoring the estuary’s health.
Named the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Task Force, Stuart announced the effort on Thursday (Aug. 14) at an organizational meeting of the new Virginia State Waterman’s Association at the Virginia Watermen’s Museum in Yorktown.
His objective, Stuart said, is to hold educational workshops in the Bay region and to develop legislation and other approaches to fix the Bay’s problems. He said he hopes to expand the effort with similar task forces elsewhere in the Bay watershed, especially in Maryland and Pennsylvania.
“This is absolutely a non-partisan group,” Stuart said. “We are not seeking individuals with political agendas. The only agenda members of this task force will have is to fix the Chesapeake Bay.”
Stuart grew up in Westmoreland County and as a youth worked as a waterman on the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.
“The condition into which we have let the Bay and its tributaries lapse is nothing less than criminal,” he said. “Having grown up on the water and crabbed and fished all my life, I’m afraid now to let my children swim in the Potomac River. This precious watershed must be restored.”
As the task force’s organizer, Stuart already has brought on board Congressman Rob Wittman (R., 1st District); State Sens. Ralph Northam (D., 6th District) and Ryan T. McDougle (R., 4th District), members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources; House of Delegates Speaker William J. Howell (R., 28th District); Del. Albert C. Pollard, Jr. (D, 99th District); Del. Harvey B. Morgan (R., 98th District), chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources; and R. Michael McKenney (D), a member of the Virginia State Water Control Board and Northumberland County commonwealth’s attorney.
Stuart said he also will seek to enlist the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Virginia Farm Bureau, The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, The League of Conservation Voters, The Virginia State Waterman’s Association, and others who exhibit a clear dedication to restoring the Bay.
Volunteers are being sought, Stuart said, to work with the task force in organizing and carrying out the regional educational workshops.
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I am interested in helping with the task force. How can I?
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O.K.
You want to save the bay.
The first thing you need to do is to take on honest all inclusive look at all of the different things we as a population do that is harmful to the bay.
Overfishing is not the problem at present, it was the problem that started the bay into decline however, remember how steam dredges were used to break up the oyster reefs to supply the North Eastern Big city markets.
I believe that the newest and potentially deadliest problem for the bay is the increase in population density along the waters feeding into the bay.
This new population insists on having the greenest neatest lawns, pet horseys, large houses and unlimited access to the water as a sort of play ground.
You have herbicides, pestacides, untreated fecal matter of animal origin, human waste, chemical fertilizers, silt run-off and just plain trash all going straight into the bay from the ditches of these newly developed households.
I have personally watched an individual in my neighborhood (Mobjack Bay Area Glo.) quite deliberatley allowing his horses manure to run into a ditch leading directly into the bay. This is the same ditch he sprayed full of "Round-Up" to keep the weeds down.
I don't think it takes much imagination to see where all of this can go. There are areas nearby that cannot be harvested by law due to the large amount of coliform fecal bacteria in the water.
The local Government inspected and cited septic systems to try to reduce the amount of untreated sewage to safe levels, it has not helped much. I suppose they don't believe that sewage can come out of horses butts as well.
You need to control what is wantonly dumped into the bay.
Start to educate home owners on the dangers of the chemicals they use outside their houses. regulate them if needed.
Remove the barrier against the counties ability to tax and inspect how large pet animals are kept. Emphasis should be on how to SAFELY dispose of animal waste products. Presently the horse owners of Glo. Co. are not taxed or checked because they say their animals are PETS.
Farmers are already subject regulation and control for the very same sorts of large animals.
Reduce or more tightly regulate the building codes for properties along the waters leading into the bay. Fewer houses means fewer septic tanks and barnyards leaking into the bay.
Put oil extraction systems in for the run off from the cities streets and keep a closer watch on the sewage treatment facilities near the water.
I believe that if such things as I have discussed are considered the health of the bay can be improved and more waters presently closed to harvesting can be reopened to watermen.
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