[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 6]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 8731-8732]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     MARKING THE TWENTY-FIFTH ANNUAL BERNIE FOWLER PATUXENT WADE-IN

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 7, 2012

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to mark the twenty-fifth Patuxent 
River Wade-In, begun by former Maryland State Senator Bernie Fowler in 
1988. This year's wade-in will take place on June 10 at Jefferson 
Patterson Park in St. Leonard.
  We rely on a multitude of measurements to take stock of our economic 
health, such as the Industrial Production Index, the Consumer Price 
Index, and the S&P 500 index. However, to take stock of the health of 
the Patuxent River--and, indeed, of our stewardship of the Chesapeake 
Bay--there is no index more important than Bernie's annual ``Sneaker 
Index.'' Bernie's sneakers have now been the leading non-scientific 
measure of the river's health for a quarter century.
  Each year, in order to gauge the health and water quality of the 
Patuxent River, Bernie has waded into its water to measure its clarity, 
stopping at the point at which he can no longer see his sneakers. As a 
young man, he recalled being able to see them clearly when the water 
was already up to his chest--through as much as sixty inches of river 
water. When Bernie first waded in the river to measure in 1988, he 
could only get as far as his shins, recording only eight inches of 
water before his sneakers disappeared beneath the polluted waters. In 
2011, Bernie measured this level at 31.25 inches--slightly lower than 
the previous year and much lower than the over-42 inch record in 2004. 
This is a sign that we still have much work to do.
  I have had the honor of joining him, along with other Maryland 
elected officials, at the banks of the Patuxent for many years at this

[[Page 8732]]

annual event. Throughout his career, Bernie has done much to draw 
attention to the health of the river and the Chesapeake Bay into which 
it flows. The Patuxent is the Chesapeake's only tributary to flow 
entirely through our State, and Marylanders feel a special 
responsibility to protect it for future generations.
  Let us continue to follow in Bernie Fowler's footsteps and heed his 
call to conserve and protect the Patuxent River and the Chesapeake Bay, 
and let us leave our children and grandchildren a cleaner and clearer 
Patuxent and Chesapeake to enjoy and treasure.