Chesapeake Bay Blues

Book excerpt: The Chesapeake Bay restoration effort has been touted as the nation's premier environmental restoration program. Yet the Bay and the living systems it supports remain in dismally poor condition, with fisheries in decline and drinking water in danger. This book addresses the Chesapeake Bay as a political problem and reveals how the political process has worked against the interests of science, the public, and environmental advocates all at once. Author Howard Ernst shows that the forces driving environmental degradation are sown deeply into the political soul of America, posing menacing challenges to those fighting to restore large ecosystems like the Chesapeake Bay. The book serves as a political roadmap for the future, suggesting how a different course of policy action is needed to 'Save the Bay.'