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Chesapeake Bay Leaders Say 2010 Bay Cleanup Goal Will Not Be Met, But Progress is Being Made The Chesapeake Bay cleanup's top policymaking body formally acknowledged that 2010 will come and go without meeting its goals to clean up the Chesapeake. The reason for the 2010 deadline dates to the resolution of a lawsuit against the EPA in 1999. As part of the settlement, the agency must write a Total Maximum Daily Load for the the Bay unless it meets water quality standards by May 2011. The Executive Council set the 2010 deadline in its Chesapeake 2000 agreement, hoping to head off the need for a TMDL, which has more regulatory provisions and more rigid requirements than the tributary strategies states have written to reduce Bay pollution. However, the Chesapeake Executive Council insisted that cleanup efforts were
accelerating and the region should have policies in place by the end of
2010 that would ultimately achieve the clean Bay goal. To help accomplish that, the
Council signed a pledge to protect
695,000 acres of forest by 2020. Individual council members also agreed to "champion"
various issues that could move restoration efforts forward, such as
promoting cellulosic ethanol production and "green"
infrastructure in cities. The Chesapeake Bay states expect to come close to goals for sewage plants in
2010 or shortly thereafter. But the more vexing problem of controlling nutrient runoff from the
land remains. Pollution from agriculture, the largest single source of nutrients to
the Bay, could increase substantially in coming years as farmers plant
more corn to meet demand for ethanol.
In related news, PA DEP has announced that Pennsylvania’s farmers are meeting the mandatory nutrient reduction targets required under Pennsylvania’s Chesapeake Bay Compliance Plan. Pennsylvania’s Compliance Plan requires 25 million pounds of nutrient reduction from Pennsylvania farmlands. More than 5,000 farms will soon have full nutrient management plans, as well as stream setbacks or buffers, increasing the number of highly regulated farms in Pennsylvania by 600 percent. The farmers are exhibiting their willingness to invest in conservation measures and clean water as evidenced by the $10 million in Resource Enhancement and Protection, or REAP, program requests received to date. REAP gives farmers and businesses the opportunity to earn tax credits in exchange for best management practices on agricultural operations that enhance farm production, protect natural resources and ultimately benefit the bay. http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/news/cwp/view.asp?Q=533291&A=3 |