In a Pennsylvania county with 5,100 farms, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency visited four this spring to assess any potential for water quality problems locally or for the Chesapeake Bay.
That may seem like a drop in the bucket. Nonetheless, work in Lancaster County constitutes something of a sea change in the agency’s approach to addressing farm runoff.
While pledging to ramp up such oversight, the EPA is also working closely with the county conservation district, Farm Bureau and others to encourage farmers to adopt runoff control measures on their land.
“We think it’s a good concept, but we want to really kick the tires and figure out what works,” said Adam Ortiz, administrator of the EPA’s Mid-Atlantic region, which covers most of the Bay watershed. He described the first farm assessments as “sort of a first testing phase.”
More are likely. Last year, Ortiz said the agency would increase water-related compliance and inspection efforts in Pennsylvania because the state is far behind in its Bay cleanup efforts.
And the EPA recently committed to making such farm assessments under the terms of a settlement agreement for a suit brought against it by environmental groups and other states that want the agency to pressure Pennsylvania to do more for the Bay cleanup.
Most states in the Chesapeake region will miss their 2025 goals for reducing nutrient pollution, which is the main cause of the Bay’s water quality woes. The majority of it comes from excess manure and fertilizer on farmland. Pennsylvania is furthest behind, primarily because it has more farms in the Bay watershed than any other state — more than 38,000.
It’s unlikely any state will meet its agricultural nutrient reduction goal anytime soon, which has proven far more difficult than once thought. Many believe it could take decades.
Those sentiments were echoed in a recent report from the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee to the state-federal Chesapeake Bay Program. The report also cautioned that existing programs were insufficient to reach the goals.
But Ortiz said he hoped the new multipronged Pennsylvania Conservation Assessment Initiative, which combines increased federal oversight, greater out-reach and record amounts of funding to help farmers put conservation practices on the ground, will help change the trajectory.
“Really, the key we have to unlock is widespread adoption of conservation practices on small– and medium-size farms,” Ortiz said. “I think that this conservation assessment is a step in that direction.”
Source: bayjournal.com
Photo Credit: environmental-protection-agency
Categories: Pennsylvania, Government & Policy