ANNAPOLIS - An Anne Arundel County judge has ruled an environmental group may view records on farmers’ compliance with a state pollution law, but only after key information has been deleted.
Circuit Court Judge William C. Mulford II ordered the Maryland Department of Agriculture to redact any information identifying individual farmers from documents it is releasing concerning “nutrient management plans,” which spell out how much animal manure or chemical fertilizer is being spread on fields to grow crops.
The Assateague Coastkeeper had filed a Public Information Act request last year seeking a variety of records on Worcester County farms, including their compliance with a 1997 law requiring them to have and follow plans for limiting how much fertilizer they use so it won’t pollute the Chesapeake Bay.
The Maryland Farm Bureau went to court to block the state from releasing the information, which it argued was confidential under the law. In a July 14 order, Judge Mulford declared that the state may disclose if farmers are complying, but must redact any information that might be in the plan, including the farm’s size and what it grows.
Jane Barrett, director of the University of Maryland environmental law clinic, which represents the Worcester group, said she was still studying the order and had not decided whether to appeal.
2 comments:
Enviromentalists control this state and that is why it will continue to lose farms and business.
Wait--- the CITIZENS are being TAXED to "Save the Bay", which is being polluted by runoff from farms. But, we are not allowed to know who's polluting and how much? So, it seems to me the judge is saying "just give us the money (or the State of MD's central collection agency will TAKE it from you) and shut the heck up"! No surprise there. And the farmers are saying "we don't care about "runoff" or pollution. Just don't tell people who we are. The names of child support debtors are posted publicly and so are sex offenders and drunk drivers. But people who contribute to the death of the Bay? A secret....now shut up!
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