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Washington, Aug 2, 2012 - Washington, D.C. – Congressman Scott Rigell (VA-2) voted against the Agricultural Disaster Assistance bill today because it would adversely impact efforts to conserve the Chesapeake Bay. Rigell released the following statement after the vote: 

“While I am acutely aware of the drought-related difficulties facing the agricultural community in the Midwest, I cannot support legislation that takes conservation funds away from the Chesapeake Bay. Farmers in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed region are going to great lengths to restore the Chesapeake Bay by implementing expensive management practices that reduce nitrogen, phosphorous, and sediment runoff, and the funds that they rely on to do this work are targeted by this bill. 

“We have a deep obligation to leave our children with clean air, clean water, and clean soil. To pay for drought relief by cutting the cost share programs Bay area farmers rely on will only make it more difficult to restore the health of our nation’s greatest estuary, the Chesapeake Bay.”