The president’s new budget is out and it would slash federal funding for cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay by 90 percent.
It cuts the Environmental Protection Agency’s annual spending for Bay clean up from $73 million to $7.3 million.
The Salisbury Daily Times reports that this would provide money only for monitoring the progress of the cleanup but not for restoration projects carried out by the six watershed states and the District of Columbia.
Last year the EPA provided $48 million to the states including $13 million for the state of Maryland.
The paper reports that while the states spend millions of their own money on cleanup the federal funds help keep efforts on track to meet a deadline in 2025.
