A bipartisan array of state officials went to bat for the Chesapeake Bay yesterday, lobbying their Congressional representatives to restore $73 million in bay restoration funds that was chopped out of the 2018 federal budget.

Among them was Virginia’s Secretary of Natural Resources Molly Ward, appointed by Democratic Governor terry McAuliffe.

“This is a perfect example of when you need federal oversight and coordination between localities,” she said. “The water doesn’t know boundaries. It doesn’t know where the states start and stop.”

President Donald Trump’s budget would eliminate all of the Chesapeake Bay Program’s $73 million as well as other funds used for bay restoration.

Bay scientists say this comes at a time when they’re finally seeing progress after decades of effort.

Ben Grumbles, secretary of environment to Maryland’s Republican Gov. Larry Hogan said he was to “deliver in the strongest bipartisan way possible the message of fight the cuts keep the backstops and grow the partnerships for the Chesapeake Bay.

“We all need to stick together and continue making the progress,” who served as an assistant administrator for water at the Environmental Protection Agency under President George W. Bush.

The gathering of regulators, legislators, scientists and environmentalists are asking people who live in the bay watershed to contact their senators and congressmen to lobby for restoration of the bay funds.

Chesapeake: A Journalism Collaborative is funded with grant support from the Clayton Baker Trust, The Bancroft Foundation, Michael and Ann Hankin, The Jim and Patty Rouse Foundation, The Rob and Elizabeth Tyler Foundation, and the Mid-Shore Community Foundation.