Farm Bureau has sued the Environmental Protection Agency regarding a Chesapeake Bay cleanup plan. The American Farm Bureau as well as the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau are asking a judge to keep the plan's pollution standards from being enforced.
In effort to reduce the pollutants and sediments that can harm the wildlife of the bay, the EPA provided limits on levels of nitrogen and phosphorous. Farm Bureau asserted in its complaint that the EPA does not have the authority to set those limits, the standards are based on incorrect information, and the public was not given the opportunity to provide input on the standards.
Farm Bureau argues that these determinations should be made by the states according to the Clean Water Act and that the rules, if applied, would detrimentally impact agriculture in the bay area. The EPA has countered in a statement that clean water is the obligation of everyone and that the regulations, once put in place, will provide a local benefit.
