Cardin to Chair Water Subcommittee Hearing Examining Two of America’s Great Water Bodies the Chesapeake Bay and Gulf Of Mexico

On Monday, November 9 at 3:00pm, U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), chairman of the Water and Wildlife Subcommittee of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, will chair a legislative hearing on Great Water Body Legislation: S. 1816 and S. 1311. Senator Cardin is the author of S. 1816, the Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act of 2009. S. 1311, the Gulf of Mexico Restoration and Protection Act, is sponsored by Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS).

The Chesapeake Bay and Gulf of Mexico are two of our nation’s most treasured water bodies. The Bay is home to 17 million people as well as our Nation’s Capital. It is the largest estuary in North America, and has been internationally recognized as a region of ecological significance. The Gulf of Mexico is the ninth-largest body of water in the world and contains half of the coastal wetlands in the United States. It links five of our states to Mexico, Cuba, and the Caribbean Sea.

Witnesses participating in this hearing will share their views on the pending legislation. This will be the first legislative hearing following the introduction of the Chesapeake Bay Program reauthorization bill and follows two oversight hearings on the Chesapeake Bay Program. This also is the first legislative hearing covering the Gulf of Mexico Restoration and Protection Act.

WHAT: EPW Water & Wildlife Subcommittee Legislative Hearing on the Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act of 2009 and the Gulf of Mexico Restoration and Protection Act

WHEN: Monday, November 9 at 3:00pm ET

WHERE: 406 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC

WITNESSES: (Order subject to change)

Panel I:

Bryon Griffith, Director, Gulf of Mexico Program, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4

J. Charles Fox, Special Assistant to the Administrator, Chesapeake Bay Program

Panel II:

Donald F. Boesch, Ph. D., President, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science

Ann Swanson, Executive Director, Chesapeake Bay Commission

Peter Hughes, President, Red Barn Trading Company

Susan Parker Bodine, Partner, Barnes and Thornburg