ANNAPOLIS, MD—Governor Larry Hogan, chairman of the Chesapeake Executive Council, issued the following statement this week after the Trump administration proposed cutting funding for the Chesapeake Bay Program by 91 percent to $7.3 million:

“The Chesapeake Bay is a national treasure, and our administration has committed $6 billion, the most ever in history, to restoration efforts.

“Maryland is leading the charge to safeguard the Bay—we are simply asking our federal partners to keep up their share. At his confirmation hearing, the EPA administrator said: ‘I am very much committed to the Chesapeake Bay and the Chesapeake Bay Program.’ Instead, the Trump administration recklessly and repeatedly proposes gutting Chesapeake Bay funding.

“As chairman of the six-state regional commission, the Chesapeake Executive Council, I will again lead a bipartisan effort to restore this funding. While the Trump administration continues to turn its back on the Bay, we will keep fighting to protect one of our most precious natural assets.”

Each of the last two years, Governor Hogan led a successful bipartisan push to protect federal funding for Chesapeake Bay restoration. In his FY21 budget, Governor Hogan fully funds Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts, including record funding for the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund.

The Chesapeake Executive Council consists of the governors of the six watershed states, the mayor of the District of Columbia, the chair of the Chesapeake Bay Commission, and the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.