When the decision was made to publish a full page ad in the Eastern Shore News regarding the Bay TMDL, the intention was pretty clear: We need to get the public involved in the discussion of this issue, and we need them to be informed. This decision was not made lightly, and it was made with the consultation of many community leaders from both Accomack and Northampton Counties.
Of course we knew that not everyone would like this. There are plenty of people who would prefer that the public not worry about the details and debate over when, how, or why our government makes the decisions it does. Most of those people are the ones who make the decisions. You see, governing is a messy job (trust me, I did a little bit of it), and you have to balance competing interests in a way that generally ensures that someone is going to be upset with you. On the Shore we have some powerful special interest groups who do apply a lot of pressure to our elected officials. Unfortunately the environmental movement is not generally considered one of these powerful forces. We tend to look for compromises and accept that anyone saying the word “jobs” is going to win any debate, whether they have the facts or track record to back up their promises or not.
As we saw the direction that the discussion over the Bay TMDL was taking in the public forum, it was easy to see that the folks who think that the government should stay away from regulating pollution and just leave us all alone were controlling the tone and content. We could talk privately with individuals and make a little bit of progress, but it was getting clearer and clearer that when it came time to vote, nobody else was going to stand up in front of their Board members and make a strong argument for supporting the Bay TMDL.
This issue is important because we are standing at a unique crossroads in time for the Bay. For the first time we have a Federal mandate with some teeth to it that will compel all of the Bay States and the District of Columbia to take meaningful steps to reduce pollution flowing in to the Chesapeake Bay. Everyone is going to have to make sacrifices, and it’s going to be hard, but we actually have people who are willing to hold our feet to the fire and make us clean up our mess.
With pressure mounting form special interests to join in to a lawsuit filed by the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Association of Homebuilders, we recognized that two of our most influential lobbying groups were ahead of the game in the public discourse. Last month I spoke at the Northampton Board of Supervisors meeting to encourage them to reject the temptation to join this lawsuit designed to stall the Bay cleanup efforts. Not one word about it was reported in either of our papers. I have spoken to Accomack Supervisors about the Bay TMDL, and asked to be included on their meeting agenda so that we could discuss the issue in public. I have received no response to this request.
While it may be uncomfortable for our local leaders to have this discussion in public, I believe that it is important for the citizens of the Eastern Shore to have their voices heard regarding clean water and the vital importance of the health of the Chesapeake Bay. This is an issue that affects all of us, and failing to address it because it’s politically difficult is not an option. We do have some political leaders who don’t want to have difficult discussions about difficult issues. I have no sympathy for them.
Having sat on the Board of Supervisors and listened intently to a wide range of viewpoints on highly contentious issues, I know how hard it can be to be assaulted on all sides of an issue, and I think that this type of contentious public discourse forces leaders to have courage and conviction in their decisions. I am not here to demand that anyone do as I say, but I will demand to be heard, and so should you.
If the leaders of our Counties want to vote against cleaning up the Bay, and spend our money fighting for the right of special interests to keep polluting, then they can make that decision, but our job is to ensure that they’re going to have to make it in public and they’re going to have to justify their actions with more than mumbled platitudes about mom and apple pie.
For some more information on why the TMDL is being implemented and what it means, please check out this article in the Bay Journal: http://www.bayjournal.com/article.cfm?article=3417
They also have an interview with the head of the EPA’s Senior Advisor on the Chesapeake Bay, Jeff Corbin here: http://www.bayjournal.com/article.cfm?article=4058
It’s not the most challenging interview, but gives you a little bit of insight into how Mr. Corbin sees his job and the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.
(Incidentally, during his time with the Kaine Administration Mr. Corbin spent some time on the Shore and has expressed an affinity for what he recognized as one of the Commonwealth’s most significant natural areas.
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