Bay reports call for more livestock, runoff regs
WASHINGTON - WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal officials on Thursday began revealing the building blocks of a strategy to restore the Chesapeake Bay, using federal leadership to encourage states to cut pollution and federal muscle, when necessary, to ensure it happens.
Among recommendations in draft reports from federal agencies: expanded regulation of large-scale animal farms and municipal stormwater runoff, and requirements that increases in pollution be offset by reductions from other sources.
The details, such as how many more animal feeding operations would be regulated, have not been decided, but "the message here is that there will be, there is a commitment at EPA to increased enforcement and increased oversight of state programs," EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said Thursday.
The reports will be used to develop a bay restoration strategy, scheduled for release Nov. 9, that was mandated by an executive order issued earlier this year by President Obama.
The EPA said it was working with Chesapeake Bay states and the District of Columbia to establish limits for nitrogen, phosphorus and sediments. States would have to develop detailed plans on how to reduce levels of those pollutants from sources such as farms, highways and lawns. The EPA said it would step in if states don't take sufficient action.
While large operations such as industrial chicken farms would be regulated, the EPA said it would also expand regulation of municipal stormwater programs to include high-growth areas.
Jackson said the goal was to use federal leadership, and "federal muscle when necessary."
Agriculture is responsible for about half the pollution entering the bay, but Jackson noted there is more turf grass in the bay watershed than corn acreage and the region is much different from when bay restoration efforts began decades ago.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said farms and forest lands are also part of the solution, adding that they are the anchors of rural communities and provide important open space. He said he was concerned about the loss of agricultural and forest land, adding that one acre of parking lot produces 16 times more runoff than an acre of meadow.
USDA spokesman David Sandretti said that while the recommendations call for increased regulation, they also call for increases in the $638 million in incentives already in place to encourage voluntary conservation measures by farmers.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which sued the EPA this year over bay restoration efforts, said the EPA's agenda was ambitious, but the environmental group said recommendations for dealing with air pollutants entering the bay are inadequate.
However, Doug Siglin, federal affairs director for the foundation, said "if they can do what they say they are going to do, it could well be the dawn of a new day for the Chesapeake."
"So Nov. 9 is the next big day for us to see if these intentions really make it into the final plan," Siglin said.
The reports were released a day after Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., released his bill on reauthorization of the Chesapeake Bay Program, the joint state-federal program that has guided bay restoration efforts for decades. Cardin's bill contains a new cap-and-trade program for nitrogen and phosphorous pollution credits and a 2020 deadline for restoration efforts to be in place.
Obama's order followed years of efforts that have failed to improve blue crab and oyster stocks or eliminate low-oxygen dead zones created by nitrogen- and phosphorus-fed algae blooms.
The governors of Maryland and Virginia issued statements Thursday following the release of the reports, applauding the EPA action.
Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine said "it is clear that President Obama recognizes the Bay is a national treasure" and added the state has invested $57 million in incentives for farmers to address agricultural runoff and more than $1 billion for sewage treatment upgrades.
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said the federal commitment "will forever change the way we work together to recover the health of this national treasure."
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