Congressman Connolly raises a good point about the fact that you are dealing with so many different local governments within the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Without objection, we will include the report in our committee record for today's hearing.

I could not agree with you more about your statement that Maryland farmers are willing to do more to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay if the programs are reasonable, economically feasible, based on sound science, and equal to the efforts being made by other sources of bay nutrients.

We need to think beyond just the current structure as to what structure will give you the tools you need to accomplish the results without imposing undue burdens on the private sector.

I do think with a new administration, there are always new opportunities. We should try to take advantage of this.

I think we really need to think out of just the current structure because it was well-intended, but I am not sure it gives us the effect of monitoring to reach the goals that we set and that you are going to need a stronger framework to deal with it.

To me, this is one of the low-hanging fruit areas that we should be able to do much more effective work in and it can be done in a cost-effective manner.

What can you do in working with local governments to have a more effective way of dealing with the stormwater issues affecting the bay?

As you point out, we are not going to meet the goals set out in the 2000 agreement by 2010.

I think it is an opportunity perhaps for us to institutionalize a better public transparency on how decisions are made.

I would be concerned that if we are not more specific in statute, we could fall back to a time where it may not be as high a priority.