WASINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced Senate passage of the 2010 Energy and Water Development Conference Report. The bill includes more than $15 million for Eastern Shore priorities. It now heads to the President to be signed into law.

“The Chesapeake Bay is part of who we are as Marylanders – it is part of our heritage and part of our culture – and it’s our greatest natural resource. This funding is a federal investment in the lives and livelihoods that depend on the Bay,” Senator Mikulski said. “I will continue to fight to keep the Bay and Eastern Shore communities priorities in the federal checkbook.”

The bill includes:

• $8 million for the continuation of the Poplar Island environmental restoration project, which involves taking clean dredged materials from the shipping lanes leading to the Port of Baltimore and using it to stabilize the shoreline, create habitat areas, and restore the wetlands of one of the Chesapeake Bay’s most valuable island ecosystems in Talbot County.

• $2.9 million for storm protection on Maryland’s Atlantic Coast to safeguard Ocean City and Worcester County from hurricanes, coastal flooding and erosion. This project protects the residents of the County as well as billions of dollars in public and private infrastructure and jobs.

• $2 million for the Chesapeake Bay Oyster Restoration program to continue efforts to increase the oyster population in the Chesapeake Bay by restoring oyster habitat, creating new reefs, and planting disease-free oysters on the reefs.

• $656,000 to dredge the Ocean City Harbor and Inlet in Worcester County. The Ocean City Harbor and Inlet serves several packing houses, offshore commercial fishing fleets, marinas and recreational vessels. It also is port for a U.S. Coast Guard station that dispatches search and rescues missions to the Atlantic.

• $1 million for dredging of Somerset County Channels to maintain the proper depth and width required in waterways to support the livelihood of the local watermen and the seafood industry.

• $800,000 for Assateague Island in Worcester County for restoration efforts that will protect the northern end of the island and its fragile habitat from erosion.

• $314,000 for the Mid-Chesapeake Bay Island Study, which is examining the potential beneficial use of placing clean dredged material from the Port of Baltimore’s shipping channels to restore the habitat and protect the shoreline of James and Barren Islands in Dorchester County.