Farm Bureau Federation Announces Plan To Sue EPA Over Chesapeake Bay Cleanup - NYT

[hatrack]

In late December, the Environmental Protection Agency put the six states in the Chesapeake Bay’s 64,000-square-mile watershed on a “pollution diet,” requiring steep cuts in the urban and farm runoff that has imperiled the health of the bay. The enhanced regulations are to be enforced by the states but could fall under direct federal control if pollution benchmarks are not met, the agency has said. The plan, developed over several years in coordination with states, industry and other stakeholders, has drawn praise from advocacy groups like the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. But others are not so pleased.

In a speech on Sunday, Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, which represents more than 6.2 million member families, said his organization would file suit against the E.P.A. over the new regulations. The lawsuit will be just the first salvo in a broader struggle with the agency over pollution controls, including pending greenhouse gas regulations, Mr. Stallman said. “It is clear to us that over the last two years, E.P.A. has established some of the most burdensome, and we believe illegal, environmental regulations ever,” he said.

The agency’s plan for the Chesapeake requires the six watershed states to reduce nitrogen runoff by 25 percent, phosphorus by 24 percent, and sediment by 20 percent, all by 2025. Responsibility for the reductions will be shared by rural, suburban, urban, agricultural and industrial sources. The farm bureau’s lawsuit will argue that the E.P.A. exceeded its statutory authority in setting specific runoff limits, failed to allow sufficient time for public comment, and relied on faulty scientific models, the Farm Bureau says.

“Our lawsuit is not whether farmers will work to achieve clean water,” Mr. Stallman said in his speech. “Our lawsuit is about whether E.P.A. can dictate how we get there — and at what cost.” “I know who I trust in that scenario — America’s farmers and ranchers, who, day after day, are our nation’s true environmentalists,” he added.

Ed. - :puke:

EDIT

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/farm-bureau-challenges-e-p-a-on-chesapeake-pollution/?ref=earth

[jwirr]

1. I suggest before he trust those farmers too far he take a look at the

lakes, ponds and rivers in some real farm states like Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. There is a lot of green algae on top of a lot of them. The fish coming out of them are not too healthy either. From someone who remembers swimming in those lakes and ponds and drinking that water. NO MORE.

[Kolesar]

5. The kettle lakes in Wisconsin are turning into bogs...

...and will eventually turn into dry land because of the nitrate and fertilizer run off.

Those lakes are relics of the ice age. They are located where the last blocks of glacial ice set in Wisconsin.

[Sinistrous]

2. An insight into Mr. Stallman's mindset:

http://washingtonexaminer.com/news/nation/2011/01/farm-group-chesapeake-bay-plan-could-ruin-farmers

The plan sets a so-called "pollution diet" that calls for big cuts in the primary pollutants flowing into the Chesapeake: nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment. It would be achieved in part by reducing the runoff of farm fertilizer and placing controls on large animal feeding operations. Cattlemen and growers have argued that it will cost them millions to comply with the plan and adopt practices that contribute less to pollution and erosion.

"This diet threatens to starve agriculture out of the entire 64,000-square-mile Chesapeake Bay watershed," Stallman said, speaking at the opening of an annual Farm Bureau convention.

Stallman said state governments, not the EPA, should decide how to regulate farming practices. An EPA spokesman did not return messages seeking comment.

(Emphasis mine.)

I note that he raises the much-abused "states rights" issue that is a main fallback argument for the right wing.

I also note that he is trying to protect large animal feeding operations. In other words, the big players in agribusiness.

[hatrack]

4. All about the CAFOs - Smithfield, Montfort, DeCoster, Perdue, world without end, Amen . . .

nt

[DCKit]

3. Those same farmers have had twenty years to voluntarily comply with these regulations.

Too many have chosen to continue business-as-usual, and have continued to pollute the bay.

I think I speak for many when I say "We want our Bay back."