The recently introduced Chesapeake Clean Water and Ecosystem Restoration Act of 2009 ("Cardin Bill") proposes to amend the Clean Water Act. The Bill purports to address the continuing decline of the Chesapeake Bay watershed by introducing some very fundamental changes to the way the Act has functioned for almost 40 years. In addition, this bill is being touted as a national model for amending the Clean Water Act in years to come. Despite allocating $2.5 billion into Bay restoration, the proposed Amendment contains some very troubling provisions. Some of these proposed fundamental changes to the Act include:

Requiring states to create CWA point source permitting exemptions which could apply to developers, wastewater utilities, agricultural producers and other industrial polluters that are required to have permits under current law;

Providing safe harbor from Clean Water Act enforcement for agricultural operations, often among the biggest watershed polluters;

Mandating a pollutant trading scheme whereby polluters can claim nutrient and sediment discharge reductions without any required verifications and then sell the rights to these unverified pollutant reductions to another polluter.

The Cardin Bill is a step backwards in the protection of our waterways, weakening the existing provisions of the Clean Water Act and threatening the beneficial services, drinking water, recreation, habitat and economic prosperity, that our lakes, rivers and streams provide. Write Your Senators and Representative Now! and say NO to weakening the Clean Water Act.

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