VIRGINIA LAW PORTAL

• Code of Virginia
• Virginia Administrative Code
• Constitution of Virginia
• Charters
• Authorities
• Compacts
• Uncodified Acts
• RIS Users (account required)

SEARCHABLE DATABASES

• Bills & Resolutions
  session legislation
• Bill Summaries
  session summaries
• Reports to the General Assembly
  House and Senate documents
• Legislative Liaisons
  State agency contacts

ACROSS SESSIONS

• Subject Index: Since 1995
• Bills & Resolutions: Since 1994
• Summaries: Since 1994

Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.

2003 SESSION

• history | pdf | print version

HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 38 Memorializing the Congress of the United States to adopt legislation in support of funding for nitrogen reduction technology (NRT) in the 108th Congress.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, January 30, 2003

WHEREAS, the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries are national treasures that play a vital role in many sectors of Virginia's economy including the commercial seafood, recreational fishing, and tourism industries; and

WHEREAS, while significant progress has been made in restoring the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, they remain in a significantly degraded condition; and

WHEREAS, nitrogen pollution, the most serious problem facing water quality in the Bay today, results in excessive algae growth that clouds water, depletes oxygen, and severely impacts vital bay grasses, young fish, and crabs; and

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth is a signatory to the Chesapeake 2000 Agreement, in which Virginia pledged to significantly reduce nitrogen pollution sufficient to remove the Chesapeake Bay from the United States Environmental Protection Agency's impaired waters list by 2010; and

WHEREAS, upgrading sewage treatment plants, which currently contribute 61 million pounds of nitrogen annually to the Bay, is one of the most cost-effective steps that can be taken to significantly reduce nitrogen pollution; and

WHEREAS, sewage treatment plants in Virginia discharge up to 25 milligrams of nitrogen per liter of wastewater, while current technology allows the nitrogen content of treated wastewater to be reduced to only 3 milligrams per liter; and

WHEREAS, United States Senators of Virginia and the United States House of Representatives from the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, and 11th Virginia Congressional Districts have introduced legislation to provide cost-share grant funding to allow Bay watershed sewage treatment plants to substantially reduce their nitrogen pollution by installing NRT; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, That the Congress of the United States be urged to adopt legislation in support of funding for nitrogen reduction technology (NRT) in the 108th Congress; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and the members of the Virginia Congressional Delegation so that they may be apprised of the sense of the House of Delegates of Virginia in this matter.