CBF: Sad Day for Maryland
(ANNAPOLIS, MD) — Alison Prost, Maryland Executive Director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), issued this statement following Governor Hogan's withdrawal Wednesday of the Phosphorus Management Tool and nitrate oxide reduction regulations:
"This is a sad day in the long fight to make Maryland waters clean enough for swimming and fishing. Governor Hogan's decision has hurt the rivers and streams on Maryland's Eastern Shore where 228,000 tons of excess manure will continue to be applied to farm fields each year, and to wash off into nearby creeks and river. The new governor rolled back 10 years of progress when he withdrew the Phosphorus Management Tool, a common sense, science-based solution to the manure crisis.
"Agriculture is the largest source of pollution to the Chesapeake Bay, and is also the cheapest to reduce by far. Many farmers deserve credit for their efforts to stem pollution from their barn yards and fields. But just as those who live in our cities and suburbs are doing more to clean the Bay, so must farmers.
"Businesses with technologies to help reduce phosphorus pollution from poultry manure are ready to come to Maryland and help ease the burden of excess manure. But these technologies will only have a significant impact if farmers are required to not apply excessive amounts of phosphorus to their crops. Regulations create demand for problem-solving technologies that otherwise would languish.
"Additionally, by withdrawing regulations that would have reduced pollution from coal-fired power plants, Governor Hogan's decision also has put corporate interests above the people of Greater Baltimore. Nitrous oxides are linked to ozone which can be harmful to children and sensitive adults. As a greenhouse gas, nitrous oxides are 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Also, nitrogen from coal plants and vehicles adds millions of pounds of harmful pollution to the Bay each year. The power industry used the same hardship argument in 2006 when the legislature approved the Maryland Healthy Air Act. In the years afterwards, electricity prices dropped, and the industry prospered.
"The Chesapeake Bay Foundation welcomes the opportunity to work with the Administration to ensure farmers have the resources they need to implement the PMT, and all residents see cleaner water. But we can't compromise on science, or accept further delays on cleaning up Maryland's rivers, streams, and the Chesapeake Bay."
21 comments:
Its a great day in MD. No new taxes and a balanced budget. Unless all other states commit to clean the bay we in Maryland are wasting our time and money in futility.
Ditto 4:49 it is an awesome day keep up the good work Governor Hogan
Clean up the upper bay and the lower bay will follow...never had an issue swimming in the Nanticoke river but would dare swim in the wicomico because of the SWTP.
Yup, I agree, 449! And whenever somebody can come up with quantitative proof of how much is too much, how much is actually getting there, and where it's all coming from, (Chickens or humans' waste), THEN it may be addressed!
Meanwhile, look upstream and do nothing until all upstreamers agree to the exact same mandates!
Great Day for Maryland, Common Sense has come to replace the Common Core Ptopaganda. After years of darkness imposed on us by Marty OweMalley and iberal hacks, we can see the light at the end of the tunnell. Next, get rid of Rain Tax and 40 plus more fees and taxes, so WE THE WORKING PEOPLE can put food on our tables for our children. Thank You Larry Hogan and keep it coming. Amen!
The chemicals used on golf courses are doing more to harm the bay than chicken manure but no politican would dare suggest that be investigated.
Commie propaganda-plain and simple.
it's the best day Maryland has seen in a long time.
Simple solution. Have each farmer plant 10 feet of mushrooms on the edges of a runoff area and they will clean it up. Mushrooms will survive anything. Some actually eat oil, and for some nitrates are like desert.
No, Alison, Its not a bad day for Maryland. The CBF has been ripping off people since 1975 begging and pleading for money to "clean up the Bay". 40 damn years of whining a griping but yet all the funding and begging has not produced one bit of difference to the Bay. The quality of the water is just as it was in 1975. Why don't you take your tree huggers and go to Baltimore and upriver where the real problem is. Leave us the hell alone.
Great News. 5:23, if this is for "real", need to push this...
Allowing development along the waterways with all those plush green lawns should be looked at also. The pollution coming out of the Potomac River into the Bay is much worse than any other area along the Chesapeake.
Yes Allison, it is a sad day for you. So sad in fact I'm quite sure you are deeply troubled by your failure and insignificance, your lies of inflated and exaggerated data, your hypocrisy.
There is just nothing left for you to do... GO... be one with the bay... become one with the bottom feeding fish and crabs you so intensely love and adore!
Whenever I see someone with one of those CBF license plates in front of me, I give a long honk then pass while waving that famous sign made with the middle digit of the hand.
I wonder how much CBF is getting paid and by who to say this?? Just look at the article this week about the billions of gallons of improperly treated waste water that the DC water treatment improperly releases into the Chesapeake Bay. I wonder why the Daily Times does not report this?????
Dear Alison,
You are not correct. I won't say how, but I have a GREAT deal of familiarity on what is polluting the Chesapeake and you better start pounding on your political pals in Pennsylvania. The S*** still being put in the Susquehanna is unbelievable.
While you are at it, go take a look at industry on Maryland's waterways.
The farmers here have worked harder than anyone in the last 10 years to recover the Bay, including manure reduction, new planting routines, installing big tree buffers, etc.
We know all about that study by Beacon that got delayed, too. Bet it got delayed because it didn't say the right things.
Come down hard on agriculture and you won't have anything to eat, darling, except what Monsanto wants you to have, and that ain't food.
That's a bunch of nay say. The Maryland dept of agriculture has hit the turf trades just as hard as farming. We follow strict rules and regulations just as our brothers in the farming industry. So before you point fingers as us for "polluting" the bay with our fertilizers and fungicides and chemicals do some homework. We use the same chemicals as farmers use. Get your facts straight!
someone should ask the chesapeake bay foundation some serious questions. how about a full financial statement. tell us exactly what they have done in the last ten years. full disclousure ofall their assets and where they are. thanks sjd
Hopefully what the Governor does realize is that even if Maryland does make change at the cost of our local farmers expense the impact to our local waters will be minimal. The fact is that our local aquifer is polluted far before it comes to us. The water in our aquifer is funneled down from the Appalachians and is affected by waste from more than just our State. The only way to solve this problem is to address the source but a joint effort between Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania is needed to do so. Not having looked long and hard at the data collected during the PMT testing site's myself I can not speak on the impact that the legislation would have on phosphorous or dissolved oxygen levels in our waters but im sure if there was any result that our new Governor is weighing the result compared to the cost to the tax payers for the subsidies that would have to be levied to help the farmers to make ends meet on top of the ones they are already given by the GOV. Until we locally and globally become more aware of how our current efforts to over farm specific genetically modified crops and not go back to a traditional approach of crop rotation to renew the Earth naturally farmers will continue to need to add noxious fertilizers to produce the output that we are used to in order to have the excessive waste we have become accustomed to.
Something smells here and it isn't poultry manure!
The "workers" of CBF are just trying save and increase their personal income by trying to expand their field of endeavor and authority. Typical of any government-type organization.
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