Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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Farm Bureau Challenges E.P.A. on Chesapeake Pollution
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/farm-bureau-challenges-e-p-a-on-chesapeake-pollution/
January 10, 2011, 3:15 pm

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.

Yet Beth McGee, a senior scientist at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said the 
American Farm Bureau did not represent the views of all of the farmers in the 
watershed. She said her organization had spoken to farmers there who were 
already in compliance with the regulations and who supported efforts to 
further protect the bay.

“We see a disconnect between what individual farmers will tell us and what we 
hear out of the farm bureau,” Dr. McGee said.