Pennsylvania Among First to Use Nutrient Trading to Improve Water Quality

PA Governor Rendell introduced a nutrient and sediment trading policy that he hopes will help farmers, communities, and industry meet and exceed state and federal water quality goals. 

Trading has long been a staple of state and federal air quality programs, but Pennsylvania is among the first to apply this strategy to water quality programs. Market-based programs such as trading provide incentives for entities to create credits by going beyond statutory, regulatory or voluntary obligations and goals. These programs provide a structure where environmental improvement credits can be traded to others to help them meet their obligations.

In Pennsylvania, yearly nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment discharges to the Chesapeake Bay must be reduced as part of the Chesapeake 2000 Agreement. The nutrient trading program provides a low-cost approach to compliance for significant sewage and industrial dischargers faced with the challenge of reducing their nutrient loads to meet the criteria. http://www.dep.state.pa.us/newsreleases/default.asp?ID=3634