[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 912 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 912

  Recognizing the importance of the Chesapeake Bay and supporting the 
              efforts and goals of the Clean the Bay Day.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 24, 2018

   Mr. Brat (for himself, Mr. McEachin, Mr. Goodlatte, Mr. Scott of 
   Virginia, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Wittman, Mr. Griffith, Mr. Beyer, Mrs. 
 Comstock, and Mr. Garrett) submitted the following resolution; which 
           was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Recognizing the importance of the Chesapeake Bay and supporting the 
              efforts and goals of the Clean the Bay Day.

Whereas the word Chesepiooc is an Algonquian word referring to a village ``at a 
        big river'';
Whereas there were many different tribes in the region before Europeans arrived, 
        but the dominant group were Algonquin speakers known collectively as the 
        Powhatan tribes;
Whereas, in 1524, Italian Captain Giovanni da Verrazano became the first 
        recorded European to enter the Chesapeake Bay;
Whereas, in 1608, Captain John Smith set off on two voyages where he charted the 
        land and waterways, and later drew an elaborate and remarkably accurate 
        map of the Chesapeake Bay;
Whereas the Chesapeake Bay is the Nation's largest estuary;
Whereas the Chesapeake Bay is the third largest estuary in the world;
Whereas the area of the Chesapeake Bay watershed is about 64,000 square miles 
        and includes parts of New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, West 
        Virginia, Virginia, and Washington, DC;
Whereas the Bay itself is about 200 miles long, stretching from Havre de Grace, 
        Maryland, to Virginia Beach, Virginia;
Whereas the surface area of the Bay and its tidal tributaries is approximately 
        4,480 square miles;
Whereas the Bay and its tidal tributaries have 11,684 miles of shoreline, more 
        than the entire west coast of the United States;
Whereas the average depth of the Bay is 21 feet;
Whereas the deepest part of the Bay, located southeast of Annapolis near Bloody 
        Point, is called ``The Hole'' and is 174 feet deep;
Whereas the Bay receives about half of its water volume from the Atlantic Ocean 
        in the form of saltwater, and the other half which is freshwater drains 
        into the Bay from the enormous watershed;
Whereas the major tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay include the Susquehanna, 
        Gunpowder, Sassafras, Chester, Severn, South, Potomac, Choptank, 
        Patuxent, Nanticoke, Wicomico Potomac Tributary, Wicomico Eastern Shore, 
        Rappahannock, Pocomoke, Piankatank, York, James, and Elizabeth Rivers;
Whereas the Bay supports more than 3,600 species of plants and animals, 
        including 348 species of finfish, 173 species of shellfish, over 2,700 
        plant species, and more than 16 species of underwater grasses;
Whereas the Chesapeake region is home to at least 29 species of waterfowl;
Whereas nearly 80,000 acres of underwater grasses grow in the shallows of the 
        Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries;
Whereas young and molting blue crabs rely on underwater grass beds for 
        protection from predators;
Whereas 70 to 90 percent of all striped bass, known locally as rockfish, were 
        spawned in the Bay;
Whereas the Bay watershed is home to more than 18 million people, and about 
        150,000 new people move into the watershed each year;
Whereas two of the United States major east coast ports, the Port of Baltimore 
        and the Port of Virginia, are on the Chesapeake Bay;
Whereas there are more than 700 public access points on the Bay and its 
        tributaries;
Whereas the Bay produces about 500 million pounds of seafood per year;
Whereas the average annual blue crab commercial harvest in Maryland and Virginia 
        between 2000 and 2009 was more than 55 million pounds;
Whereas the Chesapeake Bay provides half of the total blue crab harvest in the 
        United States;
Whereas the commercial seafood industry in Maryland and Virginia combined equals 
        $3.39 billion in sales, $890 million in income, and nearly 34,000 jobs 
        to the local economy per year;
Whereas to restore and protect this national treasure, the Chesapeake Bay 
        Program partnership (the ``Partnership'') was formed in 1983;
Whereas for more than 30 years, this regional Partnership has become recognized 
        as one of the Nation's premier estuarine restoration efforts, 
        implementing policies, engaging in scientific investigation, and 
        coordinating actions among the States, the District of Columbia, and the 
        Federal Government;
Whereas through the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, the Partnership 
        recommitted to the Bay watershed restoration effort based in and guided 
        by science and the lessons learned from experiences;
Whereas one of the most important lessons the partners have learned from the 
        past three decades is that although watershed-wide partnerships can help 
        to coordinate and catalyze progress, implementation happens locally;
Whereas individual citizens, businesses, watershed groups, and other 
        nongovernmental organizations are key partners;
Whereas 70 percent of watershed residents want to do more to help make their 
        local creeks, rivers, and lakes healthier;
Whereas 86 percent of watershed residents believe if people work together, water 
        pollution can be fixed;
Whereas each year, on the first Saturday of June, thousands of Virginians 
        simultaneously descend on the rivers, streams, and beaches of the 
        Chesapeake Bay watershed to remove harmful litter and debris for the 
        Clean the Bay Day;
Whereas as of 2017, Clean the Bay Day engaged over 152,000 volunteers, who 
        removed approximately 6.4 million pounds of debris from nearly 7,390 
        miles of shoreline in Virginia; and
Whereas Saturday, June 2, 2018, is the 30th Annual Clean the Bay Day, a Virginia 
        tradition: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes the historical, environmental, cultural, and 
        economic importance of the Chesapeake Bay; and
            (2) supports the efforts and goals of the Clean the Bay 
        Day.
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