Health of Chesapeake Bay Tied to Politicans Votes
Tom Horton March 22, 2002

BALTIMORE -- The Senate's refusal to require significantly higher mileage, and safer and cleaner vehicles by 2015 was a huge blow to human health and to the health of places such as the Chesapeake Bay. Almost a third of the nitrogen, the single largest source of the bay's decline, entering the bay - 98 million pounds a year - comes from the fallout of polluted air on the water and on 64,000 square miles of bay watershed, where rains wash it into streams and rivers. However, the "bay watershed" vote in the Senate including the six senators representing Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania (states that have signed a commitment to restore the bay) voted 5 to 1 against rasing CAFE standards and reducing auto emssions. It was 5-to-1 for fouler air, 5-to-1 against a real bay cleanup. Unfortunately, this type of voting is not confined to the Chesapeake area. According to the League of Conservation Voters, members of the U.S. House of Representatives only voted for the environment on key issues an avergae of 48 percent of the time. The Senate only averages 46 percent.