Key Chesapeake Bay Funding Introduced in Senate

(WASHINGTON, DC)—On Thursday, U.S. Senators Tom Carper (D-DE) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) introduced the America's Conservation Enhancement (ACE) Reauthorization Act of 2024 (S. 3791), which includes funding reauthorization for programs critical to protecting and restoring the more than 100,000 miles of rivers and streams throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed. These programs include:

• Increased annual funding for EPA's Chesapeake Bay Program from $92 million to $100 million.

• Continued annual funding of $15 million for the Chesapeake Watershed Investments and Landscape Defense (WILD) Program, a grant program managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that assists local partners with on-the-ground habitat restoration and protection.

• Continued annual funding of $3 million for the Chesapeake Gateways Program, a National Park Service administered network of partners and places that increases accessibility to waterways throughout the Chesapeake Bay region.

In response, Choose Clean Water Coalition Director Kristin Reilly issued the following statement:

"We are very pleased with the Senate's proposed reauthorization of the America's Conservation Enhancement Act. When this legislation passed in 2020, it was the most important piece of federal legislation to help the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers and streams in more than 30 years. And we have seen tremendous results from investments made in the ACE Act over the past three years.

"Paramount to attaining our clean water goals is strong federal investments in programs that make a difference on-the-ground in communities throughout the region. The ACE Act supports these programs, including the Chesapeake Bay Program, which plays the essential role of coordinating the partnership of federal, state, and local governments, conservation groups, and educational institutions.

"We want to thank Senators Tom Carper and Shelley Moore Capito, who represent the headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay, for their leadership on this bill. We also want to thank Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen for their tremendous support for the ACE Act and his work to ensure the inclusion of critical programs which are vital to protecting the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers and streams.

"With strong bipartisan support for the ACE Act, we urge its passage to secure critical investments for clean water."

The Choose Clean Water Coalition is an organization that harnesses the collective power of more than 290 local, state, regional and national groups to advocate for clean rivers and streams in all communities in the Chesapeake region.

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Media contact:
Drew Robinson
443-927-8049                                                            
RobinsonAQ@nwf.org