Farmers in a broad swath in six states
that drain into Chesapeake Bay face much stricter pollution controls as a
result of an appeals court ruling this week.
Poultry and hog farmers are likely to be
forced to make the greatest changes. There will also be limits on commercial
fertilizers applied to land that drains into waterways feeding into Chesapeake
Bay.
That includes Pennsylvania, New York,
Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and the Washington capital area.
"The Chesapeake Bay (plan) will
require sacrifice by many, but that is a consequence of the tremendous effort
it will take to restore health to the Bay — to make it once again a part of our
'land of living,' a goal our elected representatives have repeatedly
endorsed," Circuit Judge Thomas Ambro wrote, quoting American poet Robert
Frost.
The bay, the nation's largest estuary,
serves a growing population in nearby cities and towns, and supports commercial
ventures that include fishing, farming, shipping and tourism. Pollutants have
led to dead zones with opaque water and algae blooms that make it difficult for
aquatic life to survive, environmentalists argued.
The judges called pollution in the bay a
complex problem with clear winners and losers that affects 17 million people.
"The winners are environmental
groups, the states that border the Bay, tourists, fishermen, municipal waste
water treatment works, and urban centers. The losers are rural counties with
farming operations, nonpoint source polluters, the agricultural industry, and
those states that would prefer a lighter touch from the EPA," Ambro wrote
in his unanimous opinion.
Animal waste and fertilizer that moves
from streams into the Chesapeake is the single largest source of bay pollution,
according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
Scientists have said the bay absorbs too
much nitrogen, phosphorous and sediment to maintain a healthy ecosystem. The
decision Monday upholds a September 2013 decision by U.S. District Judge Sylvia
Rambo in Harrisburg.
The American Farm Bureau last its
argument that the federal government can’t intrude in what is state
jurisdiction. It says it will decide within about a week whether it plans to
file an appeal.
Farmers are fast losing their "special status" in American society. Can Canadians be far behind?
