ICPRB; joint subcommittee to study State's withdrawal & effects upon source of drinking water, etc. (HJ113)

Introduced By

Del. Kaye Kory (D-Falls Church)

Progress

Introduced
Passed Committee
Passed House
Passed Senate

Description

Study; joint subcommittee to study Virginia's withdrawal from ICPRB; report.  Establishes a joint subcommittee to study Virginia's withdrawal from the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin and its effects upon the viability of the Potomac as a source of drinking water, recreation, and other benefits. Read the Bill »

Outcome

Bill Has Failed

History

DateAction
01/11/2012Committee
01/11/2012Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/12 12103538D
01/11/2012Referred to Committee on Rules
01/20/2012Assigned Rules sub: Studies
02/02/2012Subcommittee recommends laying on the table
02/14/2012Left in Rules

Duplicate Bills

The following bills are identical to this one: SJ96.

Comments

Mari Lou Livingood writes:

As a Virginia resident and the Development Director of Living Classrooms of the National Capital Region (a non-profit organization that works with 15,000 youth in the Potomac watershed), I urge you to reconsider your decision to pull VA membership from ICPRB. My organization works with 4,000 youth in a shad restoration project in partnership with ICRPB and it is critical to continue to provide funding for the continued restoration of shad in the Potomac River with ICPRB’s leadership. Additionally, we have 17 VA schools that will be affected by this decision who are participating with us this year in this restoration/conservation program.

The economics and conservation benefits of the shad program far outweigh the $151,000 membership fee, not to mention the educational benefits to youth in Virginia.

Thank you for your consideration and I hope that you will reconsider your withdrawal of membership to ICPRB.

Eliza Saunders writes:

I am writing to request that Virginia continue its membership in ICPRB. As an employee of Living Classrooms of the National Capital Region, an educational nonprofit with an emphasis on the environment, dedicated to serving at-risk youth, and also as a lontime resident of Alexandria, Virginia, I am most interested in Virginia's commitment to ICPRB. IBPRB is crucial to the good stewardship of the wonderful natural resource that is the Potomac, and its tributaries and surrounding lands, and quitting that membership would diminish such stewardship and be an exercise in shortsightedness. Living Classrooms sponsors extraordinarily successful "Schools in Schools," one of our programs in the schools in northern Virginia, DC and Maryland, which allows youth to hatch and release shad into the Potomac each spring. ICPRB is our main partner in this program and losing them would be a terrific loss to thousands of youth - not to mention the economy and the environment. Please re-think this issue and keep Virginia in the ICPRB. Thank you.

Stephanie Blades writes:

I am writing to express my concern over Virgina pulling out of the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin (ICPRB). The ICPRB has been and continues to be a vital organization coordinating all jurisdictions with vested interested economically, socially, recreationally, environmentally and politically in the Potomac River and its resources. This river has a rich history but also an important future in the lives of those in the state of Virginia.

I work with an organization that works directly with ICPRB and funding cuts that this would cause would be a real travesty to an organization with documented success in raising awareness, research and actions to protect this tremendous natural resource for generations to come.

The ICPRB's mission is to enhance, protect, and conserve the water and associated land resources of the Potomac River and its tributaries through regional and interstate cooperation. Considered the "Nation's River," for more than five million basin residents, the river plays an important role in the lives of all (including SO many that live in Virgina). Through regional cooperation and partnerships, ICPRB is protecting the river and improving the quality of life in the watershed, as it has since 1940.

I strongly urge you to reconsider pulling Virginia out of the ICPRB and continue funding in the future.

Thank you very much!