That has me greatly concerned.

The protective grasses are being affected by pollution and global climate change.

the related issue is that there is an intentional introduction of an invasive species, the Asian oyster

Well, what worries me is that, if you are correct, that this all of a sudden you see a huge increase

I think about our efforts on the Chesapeake Bay, which has been regional.

We, in this region, look at the Chesapeake Bay partnership with the Federal Government as an area of major national priority, but also a model that could be used in other parts of the country where you have multi-jurisdictional issues.

We already have a problem with the survival of juvenile crabs, the blue crabs.

I will introduce legislation to list the bighead carp as injurious under the Lacey Act.

Senator Whitehouse has indicated that he will be back after the first vote.

Thirteen thousand nutria have been removed. That is quite an impressive effort.

the Congress, in a bipartisan manner, has added funds to these accounts over the President's budget because of the importance that we place on moving forward and modernizing our infrastructure.

I want to reiterate my support for those core values of strong science, transparency and the rule of law.

I must tell you, I have been pleased this year to see EPA and DOD working together on clean up issues in my own State, both at Fort Meade and Fort Detrick, where we have made significant progress.

I think we could do a better job.

Today we are having a joint subcommittee hearing of the Environment and Public Works Committee of the Water and Wildlife and Oversight Committees.

We are talking about the threats to native wildlife species.

In my own State of Maryland, we have dealt with the nutria.

There is a disease, white-nose syndrome, which is causing us to lose a lot of our bat colonies.