John Sarbanes: “So you have sameness issues now that are kind of initiated from the innovator brand side of the equation.”

This bill takes important steps to support the ongoing restoration of the Chesapeake Bay by reauthorizing NOAA's Chesapeake Bay Office and authorizing the agency's long-running Bay Watershed Education and Training, or B-WET Grant program.

Each of which--each of which--would hamper EPA's ability to regulate air pollution and, unfortunately, continues this Republican agenda of putting Big Oil interests over the interests of the public.

Congress gave EPA this role more than 50 years ago under the Clean Air Act and reaffirmed that responsibility in 2005 under the Energy Policy Act.

I hope that today's hearing is the first step in continuing that legacy of strong bipartisan support for the Chesapeake Bay in this Congress.