Lawmakers Deliver Menhaden Research Funding in Budget, but Shortchange Other Conservation Priorities

The Virginia House and Senate this week gave final approval to the Commonwealth’s two-year budget plan for the period starting July 1, shortchanging clean water and conservation priorities even as they delivered long-sought research funding for the menhaden population in the Chesapeake Bay.

Regrettably, the budget steers revenues from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a regional carbon trading program for power plants, away from resilience programs in order to accommodate scare tactics from the power industry.

The budget does include an important first step toward requiring water conservation measures from energy-hungry data centers. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) will work with the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to ensure the development of protective regulations. Unfortunately, the deal largely fails to tackle the environmental impacts of data centers, which are increasingly threatening the water and air quality in Virginia and helping drive up consumer utility bills.

Negotiators also fell short on funding other clean water and conservation priorities, including:

• Wastewater treatment plant funding. The budget would add almost $189 million for matching grants for wastewater treatment improvement projects, bringing investments up to $329.5 million for the state share of wastewater treatment plant improvements. Virginia’s 2023 assessment estimated the total wastewater infrastructure need over a 20-year period is about $15.8 billion. The ongoing modernization of wastewater treatment plants has greatly reduced pollution to the Chesapeake Bay.
• Virginia Conservation Assistance Program. The deal includes $4 million for the Virginia Conservation Assistance Program, which helps private property owners and community groups install nature-based projects that cut stormwater pollution. CBF had pushed to increase funding to at least $8 million over the biennium, as the highly successful program is consistently over-subscribed.
• Stormwater upgrades. The budget invests $43.5 million in the Stormwater Local Assistance Fund, which provides grants for stormwater design with an eye toward cutting water pollution. CBF had advocated for $50 million.
• Urban and Community Forestry. The budget did not include funding for two community forestry positions within the Department of Forestry to support the Urban and Community Forestry program, which helps communities and local governments develop programs to expand urban tree canopy. CBF had advocated to include funding for the positions in the budget.

The legislature did deliver good news by approving an amendment from Governor Abigail Spanberger to provide $2 million to study menhaden, a critical forage fish, after funding for the study had failed two years in a row. The Virginia Institute of Marine Science has stated that data on menhaden in the Bay remain “woefully inadequate.” The research could indicate whether the ongoing reduction fishery industry is sustainable there.

Everyone, including the industry, now apparently recognizes that more science is needed to properly manage this colossal fishery in the Bay.

The Bay is facing a crisis, and this research must be completed without delay. Virginia can’t allow the industry to slow roll this study to dodge new harvest limits. There must be a completely impartial study, not industry-rigged science.

Chesapeake Bay Foundation Virginia Policy Manager Jay Ford issued the following statement:

“Lawmakers missed a major opportunity to invest in clean air and water in this budget. Virginia’s environment and the health of the Bay will be worse off over the next two years and beyond because of it.”

“The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative has been an unqualified success, and we’re disappointed that scare tactics from the power industry now mean resilience programs will get shortchanged. We urge lawmakers to continue examining and improving RGGI before next year.”

“We are excited that, with the governor’s support, the legislature has finally recognized the importance of funding state-led, impartial research on menhaden. This is a major step forward to protect menhaden, as a lack of science has held back desperately needed reforms of the fishery.”