Chesapeake Executive Council Meeting In Annapolis

Statement from Chanté Coleman, Director of the Choose Clean Water Coalition,  on the Chesapeake Executive Council Meeting

(Annapolis, MD) – Today, members of the Chesapeake Executive Council, representing the six watershed states, the District of Columbia, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Chesapeake Bay Commission, met to discuss the restoration effort, its progress, and the importance of the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership. The members of the Council signed a resolution in response to the President’s proposed fiscal year 2018 budget, which eliminates funding for the Bay restoration effort.

In response, the Choose Clean Water Coalition is releasing this statement from Chanté Coleman, director of the Coalition.

“The Choose Clean Water Coalition applauds the members of the Chesapeake Executive Council for demonstrating their commitment to the Bay clean up.

“By signing this resolution, the Chesapeake Bay states are acknowledging the importance of the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership to the success of the restoration effort.

 “Without funding from the EPA for the Chesapeake Bay Program, not only would the Bay restoration effort lack coordination, the models, monitoring, and science that we depend on as an environmental community would be lost.

“Local communities, including nonprofit organizations, across the watershed, depend on funding from the EPA to implement on the ground restoration work that is making a difference for the Bay and its rivers and streams.

“As a Coalition of more than 230 organizations around the watershed, we will continue to work with our local, state, and federal clean water champions to protect the federal funding necessary to continue the progress being made for our watershed.

The Choose Clean Water Coalition is an organization that harnesses the collective power of 231 local, state, regional and national groups to advocate for clean rivers and streams in all communities in the Chesapeake region.

Press inquiries can be directed to, Kristin Reilly, 240-888-3345.