Amidst this uncertainty of shifting polities, we may hew to one of our most basic principles: the conservation of natural resources. Edward Abbey wrote that “wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit.” We are blessed to live upon this immense watershed, its dendritic pathways flowing for hundreds of thousands of miles, connecting us to its waters and ultimately to the largest estuary in the country, the Chesapeake Bay. It provides vast acreages of wetlands and forests, supporting thousands of plant and animal species. The Bay and its nearly 12,000 miles of coastline sustains hundreds of aquatic species. Nature is our sanctuary, a necessity of both the spirit and of biology. But it also drives economies. Together, the watershed’s natural resources provide over $100 billion in economic productivity.
Now more than ever, the region's natural resources are in jeopardy. Notwithstanding the imminent dismantling of the EPA, and with that, federal enforcement of our environmental laws, we already face the degradation of federal protections of our waterways and air quality. The conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court has enabled and encouraged a slow and insidious march of deep-pocketed special interests, with the sole purpose of degrading 50 years of hard won regulatory protections for clean air and water. An army of republican Attorneys General are pushing to undermine state enforcement of environmental laws and -you can’t make this up - limit citizens’ rights to enforce clean water laws. As a result, we have a generation of environmental legal fights ahead of us.
Discussing state powers and shared natural resources, Oliver Wendell Holmes observed that “a river is more than an amenity, it is a treasure. It offers a necessity of life that must be rationed among those who have power over it.” It is up to us to protect these treasures, and that power, it turns out, lies with the states. As citizens of the Bay-region, we must reclaim it, and now is the time. The Chesapeake Legal Alliance has become a leader in the region to protect and restore the Bay watershed and its communities. We start with the states, where our legal and political strategies are most effective, not only because this is where we live and work, but because it matters most at the local level. Our work in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia continues to deepen, taking on the most difficult environmental challenges in the region, issue by issue, project by project. And we don’t do this alone—we work as an alliance—our staff is supported by a network of more than350 attorneys and experts, donating their time and expertise to protect the watershed. In fact, every dollar we receive produces more than seven dollars of legal services to protect the Bay, and leveraging the immense resource that is our pro bono network. More than ever, your voice and support are needed to protect the Bay, and to mount a defense when our waterways and airways are at their most vulnerable.
The time for exercising your rights in this participatory democracy did not lapse yesterday—it continues every day through the environmental laws we seek to uphold. Now is the time to stand up for what you hold most dear, and we need your help.
With gratitude for your support,
David Reed
Executive Director
