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JOINT RESOLUTION MEMORIALIZING THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO SUPPORT THE FISCAL YEAR 2011 FEDERAL APPROPRIATION FOR THE NORTHEAST GREAT WATERS RESTORATION AND CONSERVATION INITIATIVE
WE, your Memorialists, the Members of the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Maine now assembled in the Second Regular Session, most respectfully present and petition the United States Congress as follows:
WHEREAS, the Northeast Great Waters Restoration and Conservation Initiative, now before the United States Congress, was created in direct response to the success of regions, such as the Chesapeake Bay, Puget Sound and Great Lakes regions, in securing federal funds for their individual ecosystem restoration plans; and
WHEREAS,  the Gulf of Maine was left out entirely because it does not have a comprehensive program of the size and scale of the other regions, and the restoration, conservation and preservation of the great waters of our State and nation are of economic and environmental benefit to all our people; and
WHEREAS,  the well-being of the freshwater and saltwater shorelines of the New England region are vital to human health and our regional economy, providing food, recreation, transportation and drinking water; and
WHEREAS,  the Gulf of Maine has been recognized as a great water by the America's Great Waters Coalition, an unprecedented collaboration of state and federal agencies, nonprofit organizations, scientific research institutions and others concerned with the health of the Gulf of Maine and interested in creating and implementing a comprehensive plan for restoration and conservation; and
WHEREAS,  the State of Maine has the longest coastline on the Eastern Seaboard and is a region of ecological variety and vitality, from the sand beaches of York County to the bold coast of Acadia and the greatest tidal surges in the United States in Washington County, containing regions of beauty, plenty and opportunity and providing sea harvests, tourism and ocean-generated clean energy; and
WHEREAS,  6 northeastern states have joined in the Northeast Regional Ocean Council, an organization created by New England governors, in an appeal for a unified $70,000,000 fiscal year appropriation to advance implementation of restoration plans for the regions' 4 great waters ecosystems, including Lake Champlain, Long Island Sound, Narragansett Bay and the Gulf of Maine; and
WHEREAS,  the Gulf of Maine would receive approximately $30,000,000 of the regional request, of which $10,000,000 would be spent in the State, for efforts including combined sewer overflow abatement, nutrient modeling, invasive species control and toxic pollution monitoring and the international Gulfwatch Contaminants Monitoring Program, among other ongoing efforts; and
WHEREAS,  governmental and nongovernmental agencies and parties are working together with their counterparts in all other New England states in support of this fiscal year 2011 request for balanced development and protection of our critical shoreline resources; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED: That We, your Memorialists, on behalf of the people we represent, take this opportunity to urge and request that the Congress of the United States support this important project of restoring and conserving the Northeast Great Waters and we urge each Member of the Maine Congressional Delegation to work to support a $70,000,000 appropriation in fiscal year 2011 for the Northeast Great Waters Restoration and Conservation Initiative; and be it further
RESOLVED: That suitable copies of this resolution, duly authenticated by the Secretary of State, be transmitted to the President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and to each Member of the Maine Congressional Delegation.