Quote published by: Chesapeake Bay Foundation October 6, 2014 Press Release
“Trees are our natural
carbon offsets. Nine years ago I planted 15 trees on a school yard in
Baltimore City, because my children and countless others were suffering from
environmental asthma. Today, through my efforts trees has been planted on
school yards throughout the city so that our children, residents, visitors and
commuters to Baltimore City can all take a deeper, cleaner breath.”
Cathy Allen, The
Green Ambassador - pioneer of greening Baltimore City
Monday,
October 6, 2014
For Immediate
Release
Contact: Tom Zolper, 443/482-2066, tzolper@cbf.org
REPORT IDENTIFIES NATURAL BENEFITS OF RESTORED BAY,
PEGS VALUE AT $130 BILLION ANNUALLY TO REGION, $20.4
BILLION ANNUALLY TO MD.
ANNAPOLIS,
MD. – A first-ever analysis released today by the
Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) finds that the economic benefits provided by
nature in the Chesapeake Bay watershed will total $130 billion annually when
the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint is fully implemented. In
Maryland those Bay benefits will top $20 billion a year.
“We all know that reducing pollution
makes great sense for our health and our environment, and today we can confirm
what we have long thought. It makes good economic sense as well,” said CBF President
William C. Baker. “The benefits nature provides to us will increase in value by
more than $22 billion, a 21 percent increase as a result of fully implementing
the Blueprint. And we reap those added benefits every year.”
In Maryland, the report finds the Blueprint will increase
natural benefits of the Bay and its river and streams to the state from $15.8
billion a year in 2009 to $20.4 billion annually, an increase of $4.6 billion a
year.
“Just like planting trees can ease
our children’s breathing, reduce our heating bills, and increase the beauty and
vitality of a city or suburb, so restoring Maryland’s polluted creeks, rivers
and the Bay can bring a multitude of benefits. This report quantifies those
benefits. It also totals the benefits lost, in dollars, if we fail,” said
Alison Prost, Maryland Executive Director. “It’s up to us whether we invest or
not, and the return we reap.”
To ensure that Maryland is on pace to achieve its
commitments in the Chesapeake Bay restoration plan, CBF is calling on the next
governor and the next Maryland General Assembly to take a series of critical
actions. They include: ensure less manure ends up in our local creeks and
rivers, prevent the destruction of forests, and increase tree-planting along
all streams in our cities, suburbs and rural areas.
“We recognize government leaders must spend public dollars
judiciously. We can take common sense and cost-effective steps that will
provide a substantial return on our investment,” said Prost.
Nature provides many benefits to
the region: cleaner water, cleaner air, hurricane and flood protection,
recreation, and fresh, healthy food and seafood. These benefits extend to
everyone in the Bay’s 64,000-sqare-mile drainage basin, from headwater streams
to the Atlantic Ocean.
The peer-reviewed report, produced by economist Spencer
Phillips and CBF Senior Scientist Dr. Beth McGee, compared the value of those
benefits in 2009, the year before the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint began
being implemented, to the benefits that can be expected as a result of fully
implementing the Blueprint.
The report estimates the value of natural benefits from the
pre-Blueprint Bay watershed at $107 billion. Once the Blueprint is fully
implemented, and the benefits realized, that amount grows by 21 percent to
$129.7 billion a year. Equally telling, if the region relaxes efforts and does
little more to clean up the Bay than what has been done to date, pollution will
worsen and the value of Bay benefits will decline by almost $6 billion.
“The conclusion is clear: The region’s environmental and economic health
will improve when we fully implement the
Blueprint,” said co-author Phillips, an economist and one of the report’s
authors. “The cleanup plan was designed with the understanding that all people
and communities in the watershed can contribute to making the Bay cleaner, and
that everyone will benefit when pollution is reduced. Our analysis confirms
this.”
The report also identified
impressive annual benefit gains in other Bay states from fully implementing the
Blueprint. Pennsylvania would see an increase of $6.1 billion, Virginia $8.3
billion, New York $1.9 billion, West Virginia $1.3 billion, and Delaware $205
million.
CBF’s
study addressed only benefits, not costs. While there are no recent estimates
of the total costs of implementation, a 2004 estimate put costs in the range of
roughly $6 billion per year.
Considering
federal, state and local investments in clean water in the 10 years since that
time, we estimate the current number is closer to $5 billion annually. And once
capital investments are made, the long-term annual operations and maintenance
costs will be much lower. The result--the Blueprint will return benefits to the
region each year at a rate of more than four times the cost of the clean-up
plan.
The full CBF report is available at:
Cbf.org/economicbenefits
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