A22*Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 12, 1998 State, Industry Environmental Programs (Part 3) VERNON ACHENBACH JR. Lancaster Fanning Staff UNION DEPOSIT (Dauphin Co.) Up until recently, the long, ongoing battle between Pen nsylvania's agricultural industry and anti-agricultural forces over how to deal with overloading of nutrients in some of the state's waters was considered settled by many with the passage of the state's Nutrient Management Act. But, the heat of battle in the state has been recently re-ignited by the federal government with its prop osal for federal oversight The Clinton Administration’s newest proposal is to broaden the interpretation of existing authori ties granted under the nation’s Clean Water Act, supercede state authority and essentially micro manage the nation's livestock operations. In September, the USDA and EPA released the draft USDA EPA Unified National Strategy for Animal Feeding Operations for public comment. ■ The comment period ends Jan. 19. The gist of the Uni fied Strategy is that all livestock operations develop, file and imple ment comprehensive nutrient management plans as described by the federal government. While the strategy holds out volunterism as an option for small fanning operations, it purports that the federal government can declare any livestock operation to be required to have mandatory nutrient management planning, depending upon the cause-effect suspicions of a field agent, and the general water quality of the watershed in which the farm sits. The main excuse for the proposed plan is that the Clean Water Act provides that high den sity livestock operations (ERA calls them con centrated animal feed ing operations or CAJFOs) can be consid ered point sources of pollution and therefore be required to have an operating permit under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program. The EPA is reported ly disastisGed with the success it has had in get ting all of the nation’s estimated 6,000 CAFOs to operate under NPDES permit While Pennsylvania is in the middle of a pro cess of compromising with EPA over its Nutri ent Management Act regulations which have been in effect for less than a year, the new strategy would seem to dispense with the value of a customized state program, such as Pen nsylvania’s Nutrient Management Act. At a recent “listening ses sion” a newly coined term to describe a public comment hearing held at the Sheraton Inn Harrisburg East in Union Deposit, professional representa tives of environmental groups tes tified to their support for federal oversight, but complained that it didn’t call for more of a heavy hand over farming, such as requir ing phosphorus planning, etc. While the environmentalists generally called for greater federal government control over all lives tock operations in the United States, a few agricultural advo cates did express concern about the possible effects the draft Strategy would have on state programs and on agricultural industry prog rams established to control nutri ent pollution of water. In other words, unlike the spokespeople for environmentalist publicity groups, not everybody at the meeting expressed a desire for increased governmental control of day-to-day farming activities and Aa E ENTERPRISES, INC. 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He rep resented the Pennsylvania Pork Producers. “I'm one of the thin line of folks (who are) out there in the field dealing with producers one-on one, trying to help them become better environmental stewards. “The draft Unified Strategy for Animal Feeding Operations pro vides a solid basis for recommend ing that all livestock producers handle manure in a responsible manner. “However, there are currently several educational programs sponsored by the National Pork Producers Council which arc already accomplishing many of the same goals and objective found in the draft strategy,” he said, refer ring to the National Pork Council’s national Pork Dialogue of 1997 which established an ideal for ■ ■ Should Be Given Chance environmentally responsible hog production. “For example,” he said, “the pollution prevention strategics program (of the Pork Dialogue) helps recognize producers who strive for environmental excellence. “More importantly, through this program we can show producers firsthand specific strategies for improving their environmental stewardship,” Mikesell said. “In the past three years, we have conducted more than 130 environ mental audits of Pennsylvania swine producers through this program. “A second program just under way in this state is the On-farm Odor and Environmental Assess ment Program. “This effort provides a more intensive evaluation of a produc er's environmental efforts and delivers detailed documentation of the producer's strengths and chal lenges in regard to odor control and nutrient management.” He said that Pennsylvania has recently completed its own envir onmental program similar to the national Pork Dialogue. “Our document, which will be published before the end of the year, is entitled, ‘Environmental Standards of Production for Larger Pork Producers in Pennsylvania.’ “The document, which includes many recommendations that exceed current regulations, pro vides standards under which we believe Pennsylvania pork produc ers should operate. “Finally, we have in Pennsylva nia the Nutrient Management Act, HAMMER MILLS for. 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"Since the enforcement of this regulation commenced in October 1997, Penn State and other profes sionals have provided dozens of training and certification work shops to help producers come into compliance. “All of these programs and efforts, which I have briefly sum marized, support the same con cepts that arc outlined in the Draft UniGed Strategy. “While we ate not opposed to regulations that protect our envi ronment, we believe that regula tions must be based on sound science. “Decisions and assumptions made based only on a farm size, rather than its environmental track record, have no place in regula tions of any kind. “While Pennsylvania’s pork producers generally support the goals of the Unified Strategy, we oppose any and all instances where the Draft Strategy allows social policy and unfounded public hys teria to supplant sound science." Don Robinson, director of the Lancaster County Conservation District, who was also involved in helping provide research- and experience-based information in support and guidance of the deve lopment of Pennsylvania’s Nutri ent Management Act regulations, commented on behalf of the Pen nsylvania Association of Conser vation Districts. He discussed several issues of (Turn to Page A 33) ♦ ■* “'
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