Washington


, DC


– U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, released the following statement following meetings with Lisa Jackson, nominee for EPA Administrator, and Nancy Sutley, nominee to head the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).

“Yesterday I met with two of President-elect Barack Obama’s senior nominees who will help shape the environmental future of our nation. Based on my discussions, I have renewed faith that the Chesapeake Bay restoration effort under the Obama Administration will remain a federal priority that deserves renewed attention and resources. 

“During our meetings, I invited both Lisa Jackson, nominee for EPA Administrator, and Nancy Sutley, nominee to head the Council on Environmental Quality, to visit Maryland so they can witness the beauty and the challenges of the Chesapeake Bay firsthand. I look forward to the first of many official visits.

“I was encouraged by our conversations about the need for new leadership and strengthened regulatory oversight of the Chesapeake Bay restoration effort. Transparency and results should be the hallmark of the new EPA leadership team. The last eight years of failed leadership are about to end. Positive spin is about to be replaced by a focus on real accomplishments.

“Ms. Jackson and I also discussed the critical problem of polluted run-off from storm water, which is the major challenge facing the Bay and many other waters of the United States. Non-point pollution like storm water is the least regulated source of pollution and the only pollution sector still growing in the Bay watershed.

“In my meeting with Ms. Sutley, we also discussed the need to make Bay cleanup a priority across all agencies of the federal government. We talked in detail about the need for immediate attention to the long-simmering dispute over environmental cleanups at military installations. I feel confident that Nancy Sutley will ensure that cleanups at Federal facilities will be just as stringent and with the same oversight that we require of the private sector. Our communities of Fort Meade and Fort Detrick can be sure that the environmental experts at EPA will have ultimate responsibility for cleanup standards and methods. Our military families and the local communities who support our installations deserve no less.”