Preliminary Congress Budget Bolsters Chesapeake Bay Restoration
(ANNAPOLIS, MD)—Today, the U.S. House of Representative’s Appropriations Committee released their House FY26 Interior and Environment Appropriations Bill. The legislation contains funding updates on programs critical to the Chesapeake Bay restoration effort. These include:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Chesapeake Bay Program, which coordinates the federal-state partnership to restore the Chesapeake Bay's rivers and streams: $92,000,000
U.S. Geological Survey’s Chesapeake Science and Monitoring Program, which provides critical water quality monitoring data and analysis: $17,577,000
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Chesapeake WILD Program, a grant program managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that assists local partners with on-the-ground habitat restoration and protection: $8,000,000
U.S. National Park Service’s Chesapeake Gateways Program, a network of places and partners that increases accessibility to waterways throughout the Chesapeake Bay region: $3,027,000
These numbers represent maintained funding levels from FY25. This trend is also reflected in the Senate’s Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations Bill, which increases funding for Bay programs that support practices such as oyster restoration, environmental education, and studying the state of the menhaden fishery.
The House and Senate funding levels are a notable diversion from the President’s proposed budget which zeroes out support from these programs critical to realizing clean water. In response, Choose Clean Water Coalition Director Kristin Reilly issued the following statement:
"Clean water is at the heart of every healthy community. We are thrilled to see Congress unite behind crucial programs that protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay and the rivers and streams that feed it.
"States and local governments are implementing projects throughout the Chesapeake Bay region to improve their local waterways. But these projects are not possible without federal support.
"This first step of Congress demonstrating their continued commitment to clean water is an encouraging sign. We are grateful for the strong bipartisan support for clean water and look forward to working with all members of Congress to maintain these federal investments."
The Choose Clean Water Coalition is an organization that harnesses the collective power of more than 300 local, state, regional and national groups to advocate for clean rivers and streams in all communities in the Chesapeake region.
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Media Contact:
Drew Robinson
Choose Clean Water Coalition
443-927-8049
RobinsonAQ@nwf.org
