Written
by M. Sean High – Staff Attorney
On
January 21, 2016, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) issued a
press release announcing a new strategy, “developed jointly by the Pennsylvania
Departments of Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), and
Environmental Protection (DEP),” to enable Pennsylvania to achieve federal
Chesapeake Bay requirements.
According
to the press release, the newly developed strategy stems from the commonwealth receiving
“immense pressure from the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to
improve water quality,” resulting from Pennsylvania’s inability to meet EPA “requirements
to reduce water pollution under the requirements of federal court orders and
regulations.”
According
to the new strategy, titled A DEP Strategy to Enhance Pennsylvania’s Chesapeake Bay Restoration Effort, Pennsylvania’s
inability to meet established EPA reduction goals has caused EPA to: 1) “withhold
$2,896,723 in federal funding for Chesapeake Bay-related activities and grants”;
and 2) identify potential targets, under federal authority, “to address the
Pennsylvania Bay restoration shortfalls.”
According
to the new strategy, Pennsylvania has not been compliant with EPA regulations
regarding pollution reduction due to: 1) lack of farm inspection,
documentation, and verification of pollution reduction activities; and 2) improper
funding. To correct these short comings,
the new strategy proposes the following six recommendations:
1. Establish
a Chesapeake Bay Office within DEP to coordinate and implement Chesapeake Bay
efforts and requirements.
2. DEP
and Conservation District staff should annually inspect 10% of all Pennsylvania
farms in the Chesapeake Bay watershed (an increase from the current 1.8% annual
inspection rate).
3. Improve reporting, record keeping, and data systems (with the possibility of mandatory
reporting requirements).
4. Shift $1,250,000 of state water quality funding to Best Management Practices (BMP)
programs and document the use of all BMPs (especially those previously
unreported).
5. Obtain
additional sources of funding to assist in improving water quality and meeting
federal Chesapeake Bay requirements.
6. Identify
any program, regulatory, or legislative changes that will allow Pennsylvania to
achieve federal reduction goals by 2025.
