Marvin Mandel, Governor                       1903

Whereas, The Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the Nation,
provides the livelihoods of thousands of people m the State of
Maryland and her sister State of Virginia, resulting annually in
millions of dollars in wages and products; and

Whereas, The Chesapeake Bay serves as one of the world's
major waterways, each year carrying millions of tons of water-
borne shipping to and from all parts of the globe; and

Whereas, In recent years the productivity and beauty of the
Chesapeake Bay has been diminished and threatened by shore ero-
sion, pollution, sedimentation and changes in the Bay's ecology; and

Whereas, The Congress of the United States recognized the
need to preserve and protect the valuable national resource which
is the Chesapeake Bay by its enactment of Section 312 of the
Rivers and Harbors Act of 1965 authorizing the construction of
the Chesapeake Bay Study and Hydraulic Model to be located at
Matapeake in Queen Anne's County, Maryland; and

Whereas, The President of the United States has included in
the proposed fiscal 1972-1973 Federal budget now pending before
the Congress of the United States a requested appropriation in
the sum of $4,350,000 to accomplish the construction and imple-
mentation of the Chesapeake Bay Study and Hydraulic Model,
which appropriation is now being considered by the Committees on
Appropriations of the United States Senate and House of Repre-
sentatives; and

Whereas, The funds requested by the President are vitally
needed immediately to carry out a complete investigation and
study of future water utilization and control of the Chesapeake
Bay and its surrounding tributaries and basin, including naviga-
tion, fisheries, flood control, water pollution, nuclear power plant
siting, water quality control, industrialization, beach erosion and
recreation; and

Whereas, The government of the State of Maryland has pledged
its full cooperation and support for the construction and operation
of the Chesapeake Bay Study and Hydraulic Model project; now,
therefore, be it

Resolved by the General Assembly of Maryland, That on behalf
of the people of the State of Maryland the General Assembly
pledges its complete endorsement and support for the immediate
appropriation by the Congress of the United States of the funds
requested by the President for this project and requests that the
Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and House of Repre-
sentatives approve such appropriations in the full amount requested
as soon as possible; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate is directed to send
copies of this joint resolution to the President of the United States,
the members of the Maryland Congressional Delegation and to the
Chairman and each member of the Committee on Appropriations
of the United States Senate and the Committee on Appropriations
of the United States House of Representatives.

Approved May 5, 1972.