The Obama administration has declared the Chesapeake Bay a national treasure, but a national treasure in need of “urgent help,” according to an article by Timothy B. Wheeler in the Baltimore Sun. To that end, the administration announced on Thursday, September 10, 2009 restoration plans for the bay. These plans include a “crack down on pollution from farming and development in the six-state region that drains into North America’s largest estuary.”Part of the proposals call for the federal government to have more involvement in setting bay-wide regulations to protect key fisheries. As Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa P. Jackson stated in her briefing with reporters, ‘“This is a new era of federal leadership.” Joining Jackson at the briefing was U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack.
Federal agencies released a series of reports on Thursday that the administration ordered in the spring, “when he called for greater federal involvement in the largely state-led effort, which has repeatedly failed to achieve its goals for reducing pollution over the past 26 years.” According to the Baltimore Sun article, one of the biggest challenges facing the bay is pollution from farm fertilizers.
The reports contain proposals that would tighten federal regulations and “oversight of polluted rainfall runoff from poultry and other livestock farms . . .” The EPA would also like to hold states accountable for their failures to curb pollution, “even by blocking permits for new businesses or development if sufficient progress is not being made.” The proposals are, ultimately, going to be part of cleanup strategy that should be completed and ready for implementation in November.
While environmentalists and state officials praised the proposals, farm groups and home builders were unsure of what effect these proposals will actually have on their businesses. “Valerie Connolly, spokeswoman for the Maryland Farm Bureau, said she needs time to absorb the many reports, but she cautioned that farmers make so little money that ‘any kind of regulation ... may be unfeasible.’ Bill Satterfield of Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc., contended that that Maryland's chicken farms already are ‘highly regulated.’”
Currently, roughly 480 of the 800 Maryland chicken farms, most located along the Eastern Shore according to the Baltimore Sun, that have applied this year for pollution permits that regulate how much animal manure must be “collected and stored.” Jackson did not know how many more farms the agency will regulate, but she did acknowledge that farmers have taken steps, many of them voluntarily, and used the aid of federal and state funds to reduce pollution from field and feedlot runoff. Still, Jackson wants to see more done.
For his part, USDA Secretary Vilsack said the department is ready to spend $635 million over five years in payments and incentives to farmers to help them take the voluntary steps that will control pollution from runoff. “Examples include fencing livestock out of streams and planting ‘cover’ crops in winter that keep rain and snow from washing leftover fertilizer from fallow fields into streams.” Vilsack said the moneys will be prioritized and distributed to areas where the most help is needed.
Both secretaries said they want farming in the region to remain a viable enterprise, and they noted the benefits of locally raised food and the value derived from farms preserving open spaces and habitats for wildlife. Maryland’s environment secretary, Shari Wilson, noted that the state “recently strengthened rules meant to curb runoff from development and poultry
farms . . .” Wilson is hopeful this will ease any impact felt by new federal regulations.
To read the Baltimore Sun article by Timothy B. Wheeler, click here.
To read the Baltimore Sun article by Timothy B. Wheeler, click here.
Posted: 09/11/09
