Potomac River May Lose a Friend: Virginia

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, in a cost-saving effort, is taking Virginia out of a 71-year-old multi-state compact to clean and maintain the Potomac River. The Governor's $85 billion biennial budget package does not include $151,500 to fund the Commonwealth's membership in the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin.  

"Our membership fee in ICPRB is expensive, particularly when compared to other interstate organizations—in fact, at least three times the cost of other groups," wrote Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources Doug Domenech in an Oct. 27 letter to Del. Scott Surovell (D-44). "This membership fee represents the equivalent cost for two full-time state employees who could be working on core water quality programs within the Commonwealth… Virginia's membership in the ICPRB is no longer needed to provide quality management of the state's interest in the river basin."

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