Chesapeake Cleanup Plan Raises Concerns Beyond Bay Area

More needs to be done to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, said Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in early September. They announced new strategies for accelerating cleanup of the nation’s largest estuary, including targeting voluntary conservation programs and imposing
strict limits on the amount of pollution allowed into the Bay watershed under Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) rules.

Jointly announcing the initiative, Vilsack focused his comments on how farmers and ranchers could use incentive programs run by USDA to improve water quality and “not get themselves into a situation that EPA has to deal with.” He said $638 million of USDA conservation program funding would be targeted to Bay watershed projects. Jackson, however, focused less on the carrot and more on the stick, repeatedly
mentioning “increased enforceability and oversight.”

TMDL limitations, in effect pollution caps, would be applied to more farms under EPA’s plan to broaden the definition of a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO)—a class of large livestock farms subject to the strictest requirements to manage waste and prevent nutrient runoff.

The Virginia Farm Bureau Federation says farmers are willing to do their part but that it is “wary” of the Bay cleanup plans.

Maryland Farm Bureau says that EPA figures show that while agricultural nutrients are often cited as the leading cause of trouble in the Bay, 93 percent of the nitrogen and 92 percent of the phosphorous comes from sources other than Maryland farms.

“You could stop all of the farming in Maryland and still not make a significant reduction in Bay nutrients,” said Maryland Farm Bureau President Mike Phipps. “And if you replaced farms with housing developments you are likely to make the problem worse.” But EPA and USDA in effect said that existing conservation efforts were not enough.

They released on Sept. 10 seven draft reports required by President Obama’s May 12 executive order calling for an intensified Chesapeake Bay cleanup effort. The reports recommended, among other things, that EPA regulate more farms and ranches through the TMDL permitting program.

Coming to a watershed near you Don Parrish, American Farm Bureau Federation water quality specialist, says farmers and ranchers outside the Chesapeake Bay watershed might be tempted to think they are off the hook, but they should think again.

“EPA officials have said that the approach they are taking with the Chesapeake Bay could be a model for other watersheds,” Parrish said. “If the federal government is allowed to expand TMDL regulations in this one area, you can be fairly sure they will use that to try to also broaden regulation of agriculture in other parts of the country.”

Parrish said the impact also will not be limited to agriculture. If the federal government bans new pollution discharge permits, he explained, it would essentially freeze growth in the affected areas. At a minimum, EPA could require that any new discharges be offset by reductions elsewhere.

If reductions could not be achieved, new discharge permits would not be granted. “I hope people wake up and smell the coffee,” he said. “Some administration officials have been refreshingly blunt and have been quoted in the press as saying, ‘the move could pose challenges because it will stifle economic growth’ and ‘bar an expansion
of existing permits.’”

According to the multi-state Chesapeake Bay Program Office, currently 16.6 million people call the Bay watershed home and population is forecast to rise to 20 million by 2020. The watershed encompasses all of Washington, D.C., and parts of six states:
Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.

The growth limits will affec the griculture as well, according to Wilmer Stoneman, Virginia Farm Bureau’s director of governmental relations. “Ultimately, farmers will not be able to afford to buy offsets to expand their farming operations,” he said, “which will force them to remain small and inefficient.” That could lead to many of them leaving agriculture, he added.

Implementation of the recommendations The government’s draft strategy will be published in the Federal Register on or about Nov. 9 for public comment. The goal is to finalize the Chesapeake Bay strategy by May 12, 2010, one year after Obama issued his executive order.

In addition, the government will have to propose new CAFO rules in the coming months in order to expand the scope of livestock operations that would fall under the strict permitting and discharge elimination rules that apply to CAFOs. Parrish said Farm Bureau would monitor the rulemaking process closely and weigh in.