This time the federal government means business about cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay, and the imminent "big stick" should not be ignored by local farmers, officials and residents.
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That's the view of a key state legislator and state and federal environmental officials who were brought to Lancaster on Thursday for one of the "Wake Up to the Issues" forums hosted by The Lancaster Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
Since the early 1980s, Pennsylvania and four other states, as well as Washington, D.C, have signed commitments to save the Bay by reducing runoff of nutrients, largely from farms and lawns, and soil.
None of the goals have been met.
Then, in May, President Barack Obama took the extraordinary step of signing an executive order that promised more aggressive efforts to protect the Bay, which he referred to as a national treasure.
"Noncompliance does not look like an attractive option any longer," said state Sen. Michael Brubaker, a Warwick Township Republican who heads Pennsylvania's legislative delegation on the state-federal Chesapeake Bay Commission.
As if to emphasize the point, Jennifer Sincock of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said, "This won't be just another paper exercise. It is focused on implementation."
Brubaker said during the forum at the Eden Resort Inn & Suites that the road to ramping up soon-to-be-mandated nutrient reductions goes through Pennsylvania, where half the Chesapeake Bay's vital freshwater originates.
But to grasp the magnitude of what is now expected, consider that Pennsylvania is currently preventing an additional 1.2 million to 1.5 million pounds of nitrogen from entering waterways each year.
To reach new goals, another 30 million pounds will have to be prevented from reaching waterways. At current rates, that would take 20 to 25 years.
So what now?
Expect more no-till farming, manure digesters on a regional scale, sewage plant upgrades and nutrient trading between farmers and industries.
And there could be more controls on smaller farmers, not just the big boys.
On the nonagriculture side, expect more pressure for "smarter" growth of housing developments and businesses.
The acres of lawns, athletic fields and other "turf" sources of runoff now exceed that of farm fields, Brubaker said.
In October, EPA will announce proposed nutrient limits, or a "pollution budget," for each state, broken down into river basins.
After several rounds of public comment, the limits are expected to become law in December 2010.
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection officials have the thankless task of meeting those nutrient limits for all sizes of streams and rivers draining into the Susquehanna. About two-thirds of the land mass sends water into the Susquehanna.
John Hines, DEP's deputy secretary of water management, promised a "common-sense approach."
Pat Buckley, the agency's Chesapeake Bay Program coordinator, said DEP will try to convince the feds that a "one size fits all" system would be unfair in Pennsylvania.
"The rural landscape of Pennsylvania does not need as much regulation," she said. But she said to expect EPA "to proceed very rigorously after we get our allocations."
Hines said, "It's not going to be easy. It never is."
E-mail: acrable@lnpnews.com
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