Nutrient Management Advisory Board
(Continumf from Pago Al)
deferred by two years.
What is unclear and could cause
some legal problems from those
rejected from getting an extension
on compliance, is that the term
isn’t clearcut, from a legal view, as
to how the commission would
determine what is a ’’substantial"
expense.
That issue was considered still
open for discussion with the Attor
ney General’s office. It was
expressed that perhaps that con
cern from the Attorney General
could be worked out without caus
ing any changes to the regulations.
Any changes to regulations dur
ing die approval process requires
those changed regulations to be
resubmitted through the approval
system. As aresult, delays in fina
lizing regulations could scuttle
plans to get public educational
programs offered during critical
months.
What was cause for most unre
solved discussion during Wednes
day’s board meeting was a request
to alter another set of regulations
involving the Nutrient Manage
ment Act
According to the Act, the
Department of Agriculture was to
promulgate regulations in order to
certify nutrient management
specialists.
The PDA was given that respon
sibility, since, in opinions express
ed by the authon of the Act, the
PDA has already been certifying
pesticide applicators it should be
able to create and administer a
similar certification system for
nutrient management
Work on those regulations was
done by PDA in consultation of the
advisory board and its subcommit
tee. The board then recommended
them for approval to the SCC.
However, advisory board mem
ber William Brubaker on Wednes
day requested that the board now
consider recommending a change
to those proposed regulations.
Brubaker is involved in crop
consulting and has been involved
in the formation and continuation
of a commercial industry program
that tests and certifies crop
consultants.
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As a board member, Brubaker
recommended that those receiving
a certificate as a recognized crop
consultant be given pre
certification status for nutrient
management. That entitled those
people to get special attention from
the state and receive training and
information that could advance
them toward full certification as a
nutrient management specialist
The pre-certification
meaningless except for receiving
educational efforts from the
state was used to expedite the
creation of a sufficient cadre of
qualified and trained specialists so
that those forms required to have
nutrient management plans can
have the planning service when it
is needed.
Also, it was the consensus of the
board that the educational and
training process should not have to
wait until die certification regula
tions were finalized.
While none of that has changed,
Brubaker’s recommendation to the
board was to do something extra in
order to prevent public
employees namely conserva
tion district employees who. as it
stands, could be qualified to write
and review nutrient management
plans from offering fine plan
ning services.
The majority of board members
held silent or balked at Brubaker’s
requests to alter the regulations so
that only commercially certified
nutrient management specialists
could write plans.
The Nutrient Management Act
is specific in that it calls for in the
creation of a certification program
for commercial, public and private
planners.
In the regulations already
recommended by the board, the
time categories are separata in
what is required in fees. Commer
cial and public specialist share
almost equally in the amount of
proven expertise required, though
a public specialist would be
required to show competency to
review a plan.
However, the certification fee
for a commerical planner is prop
osed as $lOO every three years,
while the public planner would be
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charged $lO every three years.
(That’s a paperwork payment,
since it would be the government’s
collected tax money being used to
pay the government for certifica
tion of a public employee.)
While Brubaker specifically
. made a motion before the board for
the word “develops” to be dropped
&om the definition of a public
nutrient management specialist,
the intent as he expressed it, was to
“level the playing field.”
He recommended that the con
servation district be required to
pay the same commercial fee, or
that they be required to test and
certify separately as a commercial
planner.
He told the board that without
some measure to ensure that the
private sector would be able to get
enough income from completing
the training and certification pro
cess, that the board risked not hav
ing sufficient planners.
He also suggested that those
board members employeed by
nonprofit organizations didn’t
understand his position because
they “weren’t in private industry."
The way Brubaker suggested
the board deal with the issue was to
prevent all public employees from
performing free planning services,
even though qualified and even if
they would have time to actually
do it fir free.
Despite a series of proposals
from the conservation districts that
outlined that the districts would
consider free planning as a lowest
priority and that the districts would
require people to seek out the pri
vate sector, and that the districts
would provide lists of names and
phone numbers of commercial
H
planners to farmers needing the
work done, Brubaker called on the
board to do something to ensure
that the private sector be able to
make some money or else they
would not be around to help admi
nister the program.
Though more than an hour past
the scheduled meeting end, five of
eight board members voted to
approve Brubakers request How
ever, that was insufficient to carry
the motion, since the bylaws
require a two-thirds majority of the
board to pass such a measure, not
just approval from a simple major
ity of a quorum.
Early in the development of the
regulations, Brubaker voiced simi
lar concern that Unless the regula
tions were written so as to ensure
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delighted to have an individual
with his ability and commitment
serve in this important position.”
Corbin, a York County resident,
has been employed by die depart
ment for 25 years.
After being hired as a food
inspector in 1969, Corbin was
promoted to regional supervising
food inspector in 1971,and then to
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 18, 1995-Adi
that public service could not com
pete with commercial service, that
the private sector would not invest
its people, money or time.
However, for those areas of the
state that private business does not
now serve because of low custom
er density, most board members
and advisors expressed concern
that if the regulations did reflect
Brubaker’s request then some far
mers would be without planning
services.
In other business, the board
spent the majority of the morning
reviewing its strategy for holding
public meetings on the Nutrient
Management Act and what it
means.
The board is to meet again Dec.
20, at a'place to be determined.
chief of the Division of Food Con
trol in 1976.
In 1987, Corbin was named
director of the Bureau of Foods
and Chemistry, which was
renamed to the Bureau of Food
Safety and Laboratory Services
last year. Corbin was appointed
acting director of the bureau ear
lier this year.
Prior to his employment with
the department, Corbin was a food
inspector for the United States Air
Force. He has taken a number., of
educational courses dealing with
the food industry and is affiliated
with the Association of Food and
Drug Officials, the Central Atlan
tic Slates Association of Food and
Drug Officials and the Susquehan
na Association of Food and Drug
Officials.
—Jeff Moore
Centreville, MD